


A Love Like War

by laurenjauregui



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, High School AU, but they're all on the side, finn and fp aren't main pairing, neither are gumlee and fiolee and jake/lady
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-04 03:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 100
Words: 433,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4123887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenjauregui/pseuds/laurenjauregui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bonnibel moves from New York to a small town in Minnesota. Upon arrival, she makes new friends, and one person in particular will turn her life around completely. (this is on ff.net but i wanted to put it up on here, too)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one.

** Saturday 4th January 2014 **

The chamomile tea wasn’t helping her relax one bit. In all honesty, Bonnibel was terrified; so terrified that she had sat in the same position for around a half hour, and all of the warmth from the red cup in her hands had slowly faded until her drink was a dissatisfying lukewarm. She wasn’t listening to her parents’ remarks over how easily she’d settle into her new school – she was too focused on worrying about the other kids.

For most of her life, she'd been ignored by other people her age; Bonnie had never fit in, and she knew it wouldn't be any different here. Her parents just didn't understand that - all they were doing was giving her false hope.

She leant back on the uncomfortable wicker chair she was perched on in her father’s new office of their new house, her blue eyes darting around the room. It was as boring as any usual office, somehow much more boring than the one back in New York – it was just a simple desk and chair, with her father’s computer in the middle. She missed the many bookcases hung up on the walls and the calm blue shade of the wallpaper; his old office was much better than the drab room she was in now. Of course, he would decorate, but it wouldn't be the same.

It would never be home.

“Bonnibel, are you even listening to us?” Her mother asked, an impatient glare directed her daughter’s way.

Bonnibel’s gaze shot towards her mother whom she much resembled – minus the pink shade that Bonnibel had dyed her hair. “Of course.”

“What did I just say?” Her mother challenged, raising a competitive eyebrow and sending Bonnibel a smirk.

Bonnibel exhaled. “Fine, I wasn’t listening. I just want to be by myself for a little while.”

Her father spoke up, and he was much more calming than her mother; he'd always had that effect. Bonnie's Mom had always been slightly high strung, although at times she was incredibly understanding - she just didn't get that her daughter didn't fit in. Bonnie was like a jigsaw piece in the wrong box. “We know that you didn’t particularly want to move here, but I can promise you that you’ll be okay at the new school. I know that your biggest worry is making new friends, and I can assure you that everyone will be all over you the second you walk into that school.”

Bonnibel scoffed, but she saw the genuine smile on her father’s face and managed to force one back. “I’ll try to make friends.” _Lie._

“Thank you.” Her father smiled. “You can go to your room if you’d like. You have a big day tomorrow.”

She nodded. “Yeah…I’m going to go to bed early. Don’t wake me up for dinner. I need to sleep off my nerves.”

Her parents dismissed her, and she walked through the dark, unfamiliar house they now resided in and into what was now her bedroom. She sighed, flopping down on her warm, familiar bed – the only thing in these new surroundings that could actually give her a sense of home. The rest of her room was dull. The walls were painted a soulless grey, and she hadn’t gotten around to sticking up her old posters yet; her favourite one was of the periodic table. Her desk that was worn from years of use was shoved into a corner and was disorganised; anything that could be thrown out of her suitcase was temporarily residing on there - her pet rat, Science, wasn't too pleased with all of the junk surrounding his cage. The room itself was messy; there were cardboard boxes lying on the white carpet, with clothes strewn around. Moving could never be organised, Bonnibel decided.

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself back home in New York – she knew where everything was there. She could almost smell the hot-dog stands and hear the cabs zooming past her. She missed her sense of direction - everything here seemed upside down.

She was cut off from her daydream by her mother bursting into her room with yet another box. _How many of these things were there?_ “Put this away somewhere.”

Bonnibel sighed, staring up at the white ceiling, ignoring her mother’s comment. “I’m really scared, Mom.”

“I know, but you’ll be fine. Just wait a week – then you’ll be laughing and wondering what you were scared of!” Her mother assured, kissing her on the forehead.

Bonnibel watched as her mother fumbled about with the latest addition to the pile of moving boxes in Bonnibel’s room. She was momentarily amused by her mom nearly tripping over a stray wire from her TV which hadn’t been set up yet, but feelings of melancholy consumed her once again. “You know I’ve never had any friends, right?”

Her mom leant down and placed the box labelled ‘Bonnibel’s clothes' by her desk, huffing as she stood up. “That’s because you never tried to make any, Bonnibel. Every time we’d ask, you’d talk about how much you needed to study. Don’t get me wrong – we love how good your grades are – but it would be nice to see you having fun.”

“I have fun when I study, Mom.” Bonnibel reasoned. “And I do have one friend.”

“Your pet rat doesn’t count.” Her mother motioned to the cage on the left hand side of Bonnibel’s desk, where her rat, Science, was currently trying to ignore the clutter surrounding him and take a nap.

Bonnibel sighed. “I told you I’d try here. If I’m unsuccessful then I’ll throw myself into my schoolwork. It really doesn’t bother me too much if I don’t make friends. I just don’t want to get bullied or anything.”

“You won’t be.” Her mother assured, sitting down on Bonnibel’s pink bedspread. “The kids should be nice.”

Bonnibel let out a harsh laugh. “When are teenagers ever nice, Mom?”

Her mother chuckled a little, and Bonnibel finally looked to her to see her Mom smiling back at her with warm blue eyes much like her own. “You’ve got a point, there.”

“Exactly.” Bonnibel bobbed her head, a smile of her own creeping onto her face.

Her Mom touched a gentle hand to her shoulder. “I can promise you that you’ll be fine. You always have been right?”

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah.”

Her mother stood up and stretched, before turning back to Bonnibel with a stern look. “Unpack these boxes. You don’t want to be doing it all tomorrow, do you?”

Bonnibel laughed and moved a strand of her pink hair from her face. “Okay, Mom. Goodnight.”

“Night.” Her mother called as she bustled out of the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Bonnibel alone with her thoughts.

Bonnibel almost immediately flopped back on her bed with a loud sigh, eyeing the growing pile of boxes and groaning. She just couldn’t be bothered to unpack; it’s not like she even wanted to move in the first place. Bonnibel didn’t know how she was going to adjust from the change of setting. She’d lived in the hectic city of New York for her entire life; now she was in the much smaller town of Glassrock, Minnesota - which she hadn't even known had _existed_ just few months prior. Her Mom had been offered a job transfer, and her parents had decided it would be a good idea to get away from all of the stress of living in a big city. She didn’t exactly like their idea to move, but it’s not like she had a choice in the matter. She hadn’t even left anyone or anything behind in New York.

You know, aside from her home and every sense of familiarity she had.

* * *

 

** Sunday 5th January 2014 **

Bonnibel had always hated waking up. She hated how disoriented she felt and how her eyesight was blurry and how her senses seemed jumbled. It made her feel vulnerable, and that was one thing she didn’t like. Vulnerability was weakness.

Bonnibel especially hated waking up knowing that she had a lot of unpacking to do.

She groaned and shuffled about in her bed until her fingers touched her cold phone that had been left to charge overnight. Her fingers wrapped around it and she unlocked it, her eyes squinted from the bright light of her screen. 9:36AM. No notifications.

She didn’t know what she was expecting.

She locked her phone and sat up, her pink hair a tangled mess. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, sticking one leg over the edge of her bed, proceeding to quickly hide it back under the duvet. Her new bedroom was _freezing_. She wrapped her duvet around her body and swung her bare legs over the edge of her bed, standing up. She walked across her room – still wrapped up in her pink blanket – and fished through the many cardboard boxes until she found her favourite purple sweater. She tugged it on, and continued searching though the boxes until she found a pair of grey sweatpants. She pulled them on, thankful that they were both warm and comfy. She threw her duvet back onto her bed, not bothering to make it as she usually would, and emptied the three boxes of clothes she found. She walked over to her wardrobe which had been pushed against a wall adjacent to the window, opening the doors. She frowned; there were no hangers for her clothes. “Mom!”

Her mother appeared within minutes, opening her bedroom door a crack and peeking her head around the corner. “Yes?”

“I don’t have any hangers for my clothes.”

“There’s a box of them downstairs.” Her mother told her, nodding her head towards the landing outside Bonnibel’s room.

Bonnibel sighed and followed her mother through her bedroom door and down the creaky stairs to the living room, which was in the same state as Bonnibel’s room, multiplied by about 1000. There were boxes everywhere. Somebody had cleared a pathway so they could navigate through the living room, albeit not a very good one, as Bonnibel nearly tripped over one or two stray boxes a few times.

Her Mom thrust a box into her hands. “There. That should be enough.”

Bonnibel nodded and stumbled out of the room, desperately trying not to fall over a box she couldn’t see due to her vision being cut off by the box in her arms. She somehow managed to escape from the cluttered living room unscathed and slowly made her way up the stairs, dumping the box at the top of them. She pushed the box against the back wall of the landing and grabbed a handful of hangers, entering her room.

The trivial yet tiring task of hanging up all of her clothes took quicker than expected, and Bonnibel was soon unpacking random things she couldn’t even remember owning and shoving them into the closest drawer until her room was filled with empty boxes. She checked the time on her phone. 13:17PM. She was pleased with how quickly she’d managed to unpack everything.

She wasn’t pleased with how she had nothing else to do for the day. She didn’t enjoy being unproductive and lazy; she always ended up wrapped up in her own thoughts and anxieties - namely about school the next day - which ended up overpowering her and then she’d be upset and in a bad mood until she went to bed that night. Bonnibel considered conducting a science experiment, until she realised that she’d packed all of her science stuff away and she really could not be bothered in getting everything out. Her TV had not been hooked up yet, same with the internet connection.

She dug around in the backpack she’d taken with her in the car on the drive here, pulling out her book; _Jurassic Park_. She’d seen the film when she was just eight years old, and she’d only just gotten her hands on the book. The science behind it fascinated her. When she was younger, she marvelled in the thought of dinosaurs being brought back to life by science. Of course, she’d realised it would be impossible pretty quickly, but the concept of the book still captivated her.

Reading her book managed to pass some time, and she had finished it by 6:30PM when her mother called her down for dinner. The book was much more detailed than the film – especially in the science aspect – so she concluded that she preferred the book.

Dinner with her parents was as it always was back in New York – dull. They chatted with her about recent events, how she was coping with the moving, if she was excited for school the next day. Honestly, it was tiring. Bonnibel didn’t want to talk about school. She knew that she wouldn’t fit in with the other students. She never has.

After dinner, she decided to take a shower and go to bed early to be well rested for the next day. She got into bed at 8PM.

She didn’t sleep until 11.


	2. two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meet marceline.

** Monday 6th January 2014 **

Both of her parents drove her to school the next day. It was comforting for Bonnibel; at least they cared about her. The drive itself, however, was _far_ from comforting. It seemed agonisingly long for a such a small town, and her nerves didn't exactly help the journey be any less torturous. 

When she first got out of the car, she didn’t know what to think of the school. It was quiet compared to her old school back in New York, but still alive with the buzz of chatter from passing students - she overheard conversations about presents people had been given over the Christmas break, if people had been to see all of these different movies which Bonnie was sure probably _weren't_ that interesting. 

The hum of the car reminded her that she still needed to dismiss her parents, so Bonnibel turned back to the car and feigned a smile. “I’ll see you guys later.”

“We’ll pick you up here at 3. Remember to go to the main office to get your schedule. Have fun!” Her mother grinned.

Bonnibel kept up a happy façade until her parents had driven down the road and were out of sight. Then, her smile dropped, and she let out a groan which was accompanied by her condensed breath, reminding her of the times when she was a child and she’d pretend she was a fire breathing dragon, chasing her Dad around Central Park.

She wished she could be there now.

After loitering outside for a few moments, she decided that staring apprehensively at the dull grey school buildings wouldn't help her calm down. Taking in a deep breath, she pushed open the two double doors at the front of her school and took a shy glance around the hallway she was in. Grey lockers lined the halls, and cliques of friends strutted past, chattering to one another - again, with stupid, trivial conversations about music or TV shows. There were stupid ‘believe in yourself’ posters every 5 feet, which Bonnibel was certain that nobody even took a second glance at. The school was hopelessly drab, and Bonnibel already disliked it; even though she was alone back at her old school, she much preferred it to this dump.

Bonnibel knew she wouldn’t be invited to join any of the friend groups strolling past her. In all honesty, Bonnibel didn’t see herself as a teenager. Sure, she was 17, but Bonnibel didn’t feel like a 17 year old, or at least, a normal one. She never fit in with other kids her age because she was much too interested in science for it to be healthy for a girl her age. Many of her parents’ friends had said they’d never heard of a teenager conducting science experiments in their free time.

Unless Bonnibel found a person her age that enjoyed science as much as she did, she didn’t see herself hanging out with anyone or making any friends.

Bonnibel watched her fellow students as she walked past, successfully finding the main office with help from her map. She smiled at the lady on the desk as politely as she could; she'd been brought up to be well mannered. “Hi, I’m a new student -”

“Ah, Bonnibel, is it?” The woman smiled. “I have your schedule right here. Am I safe to assume you already have a map of the school?”

Bonnibel nodded, holding it up to confirm its existence. “Yeah.”

“Okay. You can make your way to your first lesson.” The lady replied. “Have a nice day.”

Bonnibel walked out of the main office and leant against a wall, unfolding the crisp sheet of paper the woman had given her. She found the list of her lessons for the day and scanned it over.

Monday

  *          **9AM - 10:40AM:** Physics (Double Period)
  *          **11AM - 12:40PM:** History (Double Period)
  *          **12:40PM - 1:30PM** : Lunch
  *          **1:30PM -** **2:20PM:** English Literature
  *          **2:20** **PM - 3:10PM:** Chemistry



She smiled when she realised her first lesson was Physics. She’d always had a love for science; it just fascinated her. She found the room number on her map and searched for the quickest route, speed-walking through the halls to get there early; she wanted to make a good impression on her teacher. She pushed open the blue door which was marked identical to the room number on her schedule, and confidently strode into the classroom. She smiled at the teacher – a relatively old man with long white hair and a white beard. “Hi, I’m Bonnibel. I’m a new student.”

“Oh, someone mentioned something about that.” The man smiled. “I’m Mr Petrikov. I’m your teacher for all of your sciences.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Bonnibel grinned.

“You too.” He replied. “You can take a seat wherever. I have no seating plan in my classes.”

Bonnibel nodded and walked over to a seat in the middle of the class. She shrugged her pink backpack off her shoulders and pulled her notebook out, resting it on the table. She grabbed her pen and placed it on the desk, zipping her backpack back up and tucking it underneath the table.

She was about to talk to Mr Petrikov again, but a pale boy with messy black hair jogged into the room. “Simon,” Bonnibel looked him over as she watched his attempt to bring his breathing back to normal. He was dressed in a red plaid shirt and ripped skinny jeans and looked like he’d just run a marathon, “Look, Marceline is probably going to be late.”

Mr Petrikov frowned. “And why is that?”

“Well, I woke up late and I was halfway here until I realised I forgot to wake her up.”

“You’re an idiot, you know.” Mr Petrikov stated. “Call her and apologise before she gets here and rips your head off.”

The boy nodded and turned to run out, noticing Bonnibel. “Hey…who’s this?”

“This is Bonnibel, she’s new today.” Mr Petrikov introduced her, smiling.

“I’m Marshall.” The boy grinned.

Bonnibel attempted a smile, but she knew this was the type of person her parents wouldn’t want her to get to know when she smelt cigarette smoke on his clothes as he approached her; he was probably nothing more than a lazy stoner. “So where’d you move from?”

“New York.” Bonnibel replied; she tried to be polite to the boy, although she really didn't want to give him any ideas.

“Whoa, a city girl.” Marshall winked at her. “Must’ve been pretty wild there. Got a boyfriend waiting back there for you?”

Bonnibel frowned. “No. Why?”

She could see the little twinkle in his emerald green eyes when she said that. “In that case -,” Marshall began, but Mr Petrikov cut him off.

“Marshall, knock it off with the flirting and call your sister.”

Bonnibel was interested. Sister, huh? As soon as Marshall left the room, she turned to Mr Petrikov. “He has a sister?”

“Oh, yes.” Mr Petrikov nodded. “Marceline. She’s very talented when it comes to music, but she can be a little... _abrasive_.”

“How do you know both of them?” Bonnibel questioned, unsure if she was overstepping any boundaries.

“Oh, I’ve been looking after the two of them since they were little.”

Bonnibel was about to ask why, but the bell rang and she prepared herself for the rest of the class coming in. She knew that nobody would talk to her, but the thought of stammering over her words or embarrassing herself terrified her; for a person who tried to seem confident and relaxed, she _did_ get nervous when people talked to her unexpectedly. She tried to make herself seem unapproachable by looking down at her notebook and pretending that she was much more interested in whatever she was doing than a petty conversation with one of her new classmates.

It didn’t work.

“Hi, I’m Lady!”

Bonnibel looked up and batted her pink hair from her face. She examined the girl who had just sat down on the desk next to her. She had blonde hair which flowed down to her ribs and shone like a model’s when hit by the light. The girl had the bluest eyes Bonnibel had ever seen and she was quite honestly entranced by them; and most importantly, she had the widest smile Bonnibel had ever seen on her face. “I’m Bonnibel.”

“You’re new today, right?” Lady asked, shooting Bonnie a warm smile.

“Yeah. I just moved here from New York.” Bonnibel smiled back at the girl. She seemed nice; maybe making friends wouldn’t be so hard.

“That’s so cool! I’ve never been to New York but it looks beautiful around Christmas time.” Lady excitedly announced. Bonnibel didn’t think she’d ever seen anyone grin as wide as Lady was at that moment - Bonnie assumed Lady was trying to make herself look more approachable.

Bonnibel looked down, a sad smile forming on her face. “Yeah, it is.”

Lady wasn’t put off by Bonnibel’s sudden change of mood. “I take it you miss it?”

Bonnibel chuckled a little, looking back up at Lady. “Yeah, I do. It was my home, you know?”

“Yeah. Well, you can always make a home out of this place, too.” Lady was incredibly optimistic, and Bonnibel found comfort in this. “Do you want to talk about something else?”

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay!” Lady had many topics to converse about, apparently. “Who’s your favourite band? Also, is it cool if I call you Bubblegum? You know, because of your hair, and it's written here.” Lady tapped on the front cover of Bonnie's notebook.

“Yeah, sure. I don’t really listen to much music, but I do have a liking for Ed Sheeran.” Bonnibel mused. “Mostly for the music. I can’t relate to many songs but the acoustic tone is calming.”

Lady smiled. “Yeah, he’s pretty cool. My favourite artist is probably Taylor Swift.”

“She’s cool. I like her slower songs.”

“See, I’m the opposite. I like jamming to fun songs like 22, you know?” Lady explained. “It makes me a whole load more optimistic.”

Lady asked Bonnibel a series of questions about her interests and favourite things, and when the bell rang, she announced something that Bonnibel never thought anybody her age would ever say to her. “You’re hanging with me. Come on, I’ll take you to meet my other friends.”

Bonnibel was stunned and didn’t have a chance to reply before Lady had grabbed onto the sleeve of her pink cardigan and was pulling her out of the classroom. Lady kept hold of Bubblegum’s cardigan as the two of them wove through the crowds of students filing through the halls, and held onto her until they walked through two double-doors at the end of a hall. “We sit outside at breaks and lunch.”

Bonnibel nodded and followed Lady over to a hill of grass where a group of about 5 or 6 kids were sat talking to one another. Admittedly, Bonnibel was pretty nervous. She may have managed to talk to Lady, but that still didn’t mean she was used to socialising just yet. “Guys, this is Bonnibel. Bonnibel, this is Finn, Jake, Fionna, Cake and Gumball.”

Bonnibel didn’t question any of the nicknames and smiled. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you guys.”

She sat down in between Lady and the blond boy wearing an animal hat who Lady had introduced as Finn. The boy’s face flushed, and Bonnibel noticed he seemed a little nervous around her. She was about to talk to him, but the boy Lady had introduced as Jake talked to her first.

“So where’d you move from?”

“New York.”

“You miss it?”

“Yeah.”

“Talked to anyone else here yet?”

“This guy called Marshall tried to flirt with me this morning.” This seemed to elicit a collective gasp within the group.

“Marshall as in Marshall Lee Abadeer?” A redheaded boy - Bonnie thought his name was something like Gumball - asked her with wide eyes.

Bubblegum frowned. “I don’t know. He only told me his first name.”

“Don’t get mixed up with him, Bonnibel.” Finn warned, his cheeks flushed red. “Him and his sister are like, the biggest troublemakers in school!”

“Why, what do they do?”

“Marshall’s a huge player. He even flirts with _Gumball_ , for crying out loud!” Fionna exclaimed, as Gumball went bright red. “Marceline is pretty much a bitch to everyone. They both stand out the front of school smoking.”

“Marceline gives me the creeps.” Jake stated. “It’s unnatural for someone to have red eyes.”

This fascinated Bonnie. “She had red eyes? Do you know why?”

“I think it’s because that freak is a god damn vampire or something.” A nasally voice coming towards them stated.

Everyone looked up, and the rest of the group smiled at a blonde girl dressed in mostly purple. “Hey LSP.”

Bonnie frowned, leaning towards Finn. “LSP?”

“We just call her by her initials. Just roll with it.” Finn blushed.

Bonnibel smiled. “Thanks, Finn.”

“Why are we talking about creepy Abadeer anyway?” LSP frowned, sitting down next to Fionna. “I hate her.”

“Bubblegum talked to Marshall this morning.” Cake stated.

Bonnibel smiled at LSP, who looked her over. Bonnie couldn't help but feel a little nervous under LSP's judgemental stare; popular teenage girls like LSP intimidated her. “Are you new?”

“Yeah.”

“Figured.” LSP replied. “You’re not friends with those two creeps, are you?”

“No, I don’t plan on it.” Bonnibel replied.

“Good.”

“So what’s this about you thinking they’re vampires?” Cake laughed.

“Well they’re both super pale and Marceline has red eyes!” LSP defended. “It’s possible.”

“You’re delusional.” Fionna laughed, just as the bell rang signalling their next class.

Lady turned and smiled at Bonnibel. “What class do you have next?”

Bonnibel fumbled with her bag, pulling out her schedule. “Uh…History.”

Lady nodded and leant forward to see the rest of the group. “Anyone have History next?”

LSP spoke up. “I do, but I’m ditching to hang out with Brad.”

Lady turned back to Bonnibel and smiled sadly. “I’ll show you the way.”

The two walked in an oddly comfortable silence and Lady dropped Bonnibel off at History. “I’ll meet you here at lunch.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Okay. Thanks, Lady.”

Lady swiftly walked down the hall, and Bonnibel watched after her until she was out of sight. Then, she took a deep breath, and opened the door to her History class, where all of her classmates were already sat down, writing the title that was on the board. All eyes turned to Bonnibel as she scanned the room for a seat. Her new teacher smiled. “You must be Bonnibel.”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

The teacher went to call for the class’ attention, until he realised he didn’t have to. “Class, this is Bonnibel. She’s new here today. Everyone be nice.”

She scanned the room. All of the desks were in pairs, and there was only one available seat that she could see at the back. Bonnibel nervously did the walk of shame past all of her new classmates and sat down next to a girl with messy jet black hair which fell all the way to her hips, spilling off of the chair she was sat in. Bonnibel examined the girl. She was very pale, skinny and looked to be pretty tall - taller than Bonnie, at least. She was dressed in a grey tank top and black skinny jeans, and a black hoodie was thrown over the back of the girl’s chair. Bonnibel smiled; from behind, the girl was quite beautiful. The girl was scribbling in her notebook and didn’t seem to notice the new presence beside her.

Bonnibel turned her attention to the teacher who was addressing the class, and was caught up with the work pretty quickly. The teacher passed around worksheets, before coming over to Bonnibel. “This will be your seat from now on; I’ve already marked it on my seating plan. Most homework is individual, but for big assignments, you’ll work with the person sitting next to you. For you, that’s Marceline.”

Bonnibel’s eyes widened. Marceline, as in Marshall’s sister?

She didn’t have to ask when the girl’s head snapped up and Bonnibel was being glared at with two blood red eyes. Bonnibel gulped, and Marceline went back to whatever she was doing in her notebook. The second their teacher left, Marceline looked up and scowled at Bonnibel. “I don’t like you.”

Bonnibel gulped; this Marceline girl was as intimidating as her new friends had said. “Okay…”

“We’re not friends, and we never will be.” Marceline continued; she held her glare and Bonnie knew that if looks could kill, she'd be dead. “I don’t care if we have to work on projects together or whatever. I’m not your friend. I don’t like you. Don’t talk to me.”

Bonnibel nodded, admittedly a little frightened. “Understood.”

They didn’t talk again all lesson, but it was clear that Bonnibel was now terrified of Marceline. She was confused that although Marceline seemed to be like her brother; a troublemaker, slacker and one of those kids that ends up dropping out of high school to smoke all day, Bonnibel noticed how the girl flew through most of the work in class, and how instead of the smell of cigarette smoke on her clothes, there was a faint smell of strawberries emitting from her.

The second Bonnibel heard the bell ring, she jumped up and packed her things away as quickly as she could, eager to get away from the terrifying girl next to her, sprinting out of the classroom and straight into Lady. “In a rush, huh?”

Bonnibel nodded. “You were right; Marceline is terrifying.”

Lady laughed. “She’s in your class?”

“Yeah. I have to sit next to her.” Bonnibel replied. “She told me she doesn’t like me and basically glared at me all of class.”

“Yeah, don’t take it personally. She’s just like that.” Lady stated. “You coming to the cafeteria? Or do you have a packed lunch?”

Bonnibel nodded. “I have my own lunch. I’ll meet you outside; I just have to go to the bathroom.”

Lady nodded, and the two friends went their separate ways – Lady to the cafeteria, and Bonnibel to the girl’s bathrooms. It took Bonnibel about ten minutes to arrive and meet her new friends outside. She would’ve been quicker if she hadn’t have run into Marshall on her way there. “Yo, new girl!”

She turned and saw him, sighing; after what she'd been told, she had her heart set on avoiding Marshall _and_ his sister. “Hi, Marshall.”

He smiled, walking over to her and following her down the grey hallway. “Made any new friends yet? You know, besides me.”

She frowned. He thought they were friends? “Yes, actually. Your sister isn’t one of them.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, she’s pretty grumpy. I’ll make her give you a break.”

“Thanks, Marshall.” Bonnibel smiled a little.

“Marsh, where the _fuck_ were you?”

Bonnibel’s gaze directed onto the voice, and she saw a very angry Marceline coming their way, so she decided that was her cue to leave. “I’m going to go. I’ll see you around, Marshall.”

“Later, Bonnibel.” He winked at her, which made her feel rather uncomfortable, but she shrugged it off and ran down the hall before Marceline could say anything to her.

She headed through school and outside, meeting up with her new friends. Lady was already there, eating the sandwich she bought from the cafeteria. “What took you so long?”

“Oh, Marshall started talking to me.” Bonnibel replied.

“Didn’t we tell you _not_ to make friends with the Abadeer twins?” Jake asked through eating a cupcake.

“I only made friends with one of them.” Bonnibel defended. “It’s not like I intended to.”

“Bubblegum is scared of Marceline.” Lady explained. “She has to sit with her in History.”

LSP sighed. “Now I feel bad. If I hadn’t ditched you’d have had me to sit with.”

“You can always move next lesson.” Finn suggested, his cheeks flushed. Bonnibel wondered if he was blushing or if he’d just been running around.

“I can’t, the teacher put me on the seating plan there.” Bonnibel said. “I’m just going to put up with it.”

“That bites.” Jake stated. “At least you don’t have to talk to her.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah.”

Lady laughed. “Anyways, how’re you liking school so far, Bonnibel?”

That was the exact same question her Mom asked her on the way home.

She thought. Her first day wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.

“I made some cool friends.” Bonnibel smiled, and she saw her Mom’s face light up. “A girl called Lady introduced me to all of her friends, Finn, Jake, Gumball, Cake and Fionna, and I met a guy called Marshall as well.”

“See, I knew you’d make friends!” Her Mom smiled. “I’m proud of you.”

Bonnibel smiled. She had a pretty good first day. Sure, she already had someone who disliked her, but apparently Marceline disliked everyone, so Bonnibel could live with that, and it’s not like Marceline was a nice person or anything.

At least, that’s what she tried to convince herself on the drive home.


	3. three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bonnie spends time with some of her new friends.

** Friday 10th January 2014. **

Bonnibel thought she’d had a quite successful first week at school. She’d hung around with Finn, Jake, Lady, Gumball, Cake and Fionna at all of her breaks and she’d managed to avoid Marshall after she saw him outside smoking on the Tuesday.

She’d seen Marceline once within the week, in History. Other than that, the intimidating girl may as well have not even gone to the same school as Bonnibel, as she always seemed to disappear through the day.

She only ever saw Marceline on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the days she had History. Of course, Bonnibel never talked to the angry girl. Bonnibel did her best to ignore Marceline, but she did enjoy the sweet strawberry scent emitting from the girl. It was much nicer than the smell of smoke on her brother. Bonnibel was tempted to ask Marceline what perfume she used, but she felt like talking to her would get her punched in the face, so she refrained from it.

She was surprised when Marceline talked to her in History that Friday.

“Yo, Bonnibutt.”

“Marceline, that’s rather distasteful.” Bonnibel chided, before she realised who she was talking to and her eyes widened.

 _Why did I say that, why did I say that? Do I want to die? I'm so stupid!_ Bonnie inwardly cursed.

Marceline glared at her, her blood red eyes burning into Bonnibel’s blue ones. “What’d you get for question 9?”

“Do it yourself.” Honestly, Bonnibel was terrified that Marceline was going to kill her for being stubborn.

“I have. I put Stalin.” Marceline said. “I just want to know if that’s right or not.”

“Oh.” Bonnibel gulped and looked down at her paper. “You’re right.”

Marceline nodded and looked down at her paper, and Bonnibel felt relieved, but after a few seconds she looked back up at Bonnibel and glared. “Oh, and talk to me like that again and I’ll rip your head off and use it as a basketball.”

 _Yep, there it is_ , Bonnibel thought. “Sorry.”

Bonnibel told Lady about her encounter when she met her friends outside at break.

“I can’t believe you made it out of that alive.” Lady joked.

Bonnibel found herself chuckling as she sat down on the crisp, frosty grass. “Yeah, I know.”

“Hey, Bubblegum!” She turned to see Finn waving at her on his way over.

“Hi, Finn.” She smiled at him.

“You should come and hang out with us at the weekend!” Finn exclaimed. “Every Saturday we have a movie day.”

Bonnibel was about to decline, but Gumball spoke up. “Yeah, you should come. We’re watching the entire High School Musical box set. It’s going to be hilarious.”

“I really shouldn’t, I do have a lot of studying to do -,” Bonnibel tried to explain, but Cake cut her off.

“Don’t be a nerd, Bubblegum.”

Jake laughed. “Yeah, you nerd!”

Bonnibel sighed. “Fine, I guess I can come for an hour or so.”

“It’s at mine this week.” Lady said. “I’ll get your phone number and then I’ll text you my address.”

Bonnibel smiled and gave Lady her phone so the two could exchange numbers. Finn blushed and passed his phone to Bubblegum. “You can put your number in my phone if you want.”

“Okay.” Bonnibel took his phone and typed her number in, and ended up doing that for everyone else.

She was happy; she’d never had friends before, and although this was a new experience for her, she was genuinely loving every minute.

* * *

 

** Saturday 11th January 2014. **

Bonnibel arrived at Lady’s house when the rest of the group were already there and were getting junk food – such as popcorn and numerous types of candy – prepared so they could stuff their faces during the movie.

Lady’s house was very big, and Bonnibel was pretty intimidated by the sheer size of the house. It was incredibly prestigious and Bonnibel was almost certain she’d gotten the wrong address, because she could’ve sworn it was a mansion she was stood outside.

Bonnibel tried looking for the bell on the black door, and when she couldn’t find it, she settled on the cold knocker. Lady was the one to answer. “Bubblegum, hey!”

“Hi, Lady.”

“We’re all in the kitchen making popcorn.” Lady led Bonnibel through her gigantic house – which Bonnibel was grateful for as she was sure she’d end up getting lost – all the way into the huge kitchen where the rest of their friends were making as much noise as possible as the popcorn was in the microwave.

“Guys, Bubblegum is here!”

They all greeted her and Finn even came over and gave her a hug. “Hi, Bubblegum.”

“Hey Finn.” Bonnibel smiled; Finn really was sweet.

Gumball passed her a few packets of ‘fun-sized’ chocolate bars. “Would you mind taking these up to Lady’s room? Jake’s going up there with one of the popcorn bowls so he’ll show you the way.”

“C’mon, Bubblegum.” Jake beckoned her towards the door, and she followed him through Lady’s huge house and up the stairs onto the landing. He walked her towards the door at the end of the landing and opened it to reveal a huge bedroom. Bonnibel was amazed; Lady had a queen sized bed with a pink canopy that Bonnibel took a liking to. Her walls were white and there were posters of boybands and pop singers over them. Lady’s room was organised, much like Bonnibel’s; everything had its place. There wasn’t a speck of dust on anything.

Bonnibel sat herself down on Lady’s bed, placing the packets of chocolate in her arms on the floor by Jake’s popcorn bowl. She stayed on the edge of the bed, unsure if she should make herself comfortable or if she and Jake would be going back downstairs. He answered that question before she could even ask it. “They’ll be up in like 5 minutes. We can pick out the first DVD.”

“What happened to watching all of the High School Musical movies?” Bonnibel chuckled.

“Cake vetoed that.” Jake stated. “She said it was too ‘immature’ or whatever.”

Bonnibel laughed. “It would’ve been pretty funny watching you guys sing along to all of the songs.”

“Yeah…” Jake changed the subject. “So what’s with you being BFFs with Marceline Abadeer, huh?”

Bonnibel laughed. “I wouldn’t call us BFFs. She doesn’t like me.”

“Clearly she does.” Jake exclaimed. “Lady told me about what happened yesterday and her not killing you when you talked back to her. If I did that she’d punch me!”

“She threatened to kill me.” Bonnibel defended. “She definitely does _not_ like me.”

Jake was about to argue with her, but everybody else came into the room with more food and placed it on Lady’s rug where the rest of it was. “Guys, what’re we watching?”

“We should watch something scary.” Cake suggested. “Like, Nightmare on Elm Street or something.”

“No way.” Finn mumbled, looking down and blushing. “I hate scary movies, unless they’re stupid. What about an adventure movie?”

“Comedy.” Jake stated.

“I’m with Jake.” Lady said.

“Same.” Gumball replied.

Fionna nodded. “Definitely a comedy.”

They all turned to look at Bonnibel. Lady smiled. “It’s up to you, Bubblegum.”

Bonnibel frowned. “Comedy, I guess.”

Finn blushed, nodding. “Yeah, comedy. Good call, Bubblegum.”

“You literally just said adventure movie.” Jake scoffed. “Does somebody have a little crush on Bubblegum?”

Bonnibel frowned, although it did seem to make sense. Finn was always blushing around her, and he went out of his way to talk to her as much as he could. She thought it was cute, but she wouldn’t date Finn. He was two years younger than her and he wasn’t exactly her type.

Finn was bright red. “I do _not_! You’re full of it, Jake.”

Fionna laughed. “It’s pretty obvious, Finn.”

“Shut up.” Finn shouted. “I don’t like Bubblegum like that.”

“Finn, stop lying.” Jake laughed.

“It’s okay, Finn.” Bonnibel cut in. “If you do, I don’t mind.”

Finn smiled. “Would you go on a date with me sometime?”

Bonnibel froze. She didn’t know how to let Finn down easy; sure, she'd been asked out before, but she never had an interest or a friendship with the other people she'd rejected. She really didn't want to make things awkward with Finn, and the only person Bonnibel had ever asked out herself didn’t take it very well. “Actually, I don’t date. Sorry, Finn.”

Finn frowned. “Why not?”

She was aware of everyone’s eyes on her. “It would interfere with my studies.”

Jake snorted. “You’re such a nerd, Bubblegum.”

Finn nervously laughed. “Yeah, nerd!”

Lady changed the subject by holding up her Bridesmaids DVD. “How about we watch this?”

Everyone seemed to agree aside from a reluctant Jake who murmured something about how annoyed he was by the amount of chick-flicks they watched on movie day, but he didn’t complain while the movie was on.

Bonnibel was surprised by how quiet the group was while watching the movie. She expected everyone to be loud and talk over it about whatever gossip was going on, but apparently that only happened when LSP was there, which she wasn’t as she was hanging out with her sometimes best friend Melissa and her on-again off-again boyfriend Brad.

Bonnibel was also pretty shocked when she saw Jake and Lady cuddle up together, and everyone laughed at her wide-eyed expression when they kissed.

“They’ve been dating for like two years.” Fionna told her through her giggles. “They don’t really act like it, though.”

Bonnibel nodded. “They’re cute together.”

When the movie ended, Bonnibel stood up from her spot on Lady’s bed. “I’m going to go.”

“Aw, Bubblegum! Stay for one more movie!” Finn exclaimed.

Bonnibel shook her head. “I really should go do homework.”

“If you don’t want to watch another movie, then we can go for a walk or something.” Lady offered. “We don’t have to watch movies.”

“Actually, I quite like the idea of a walk.” Fionna stated.

Bonnibel smiled. “I guess I could stay for a little bit.”

“We’ll show you around town.” Jake grinned. “It’ll be fun.”

They did just that.

* * *

 

The town was much smaller than Bonnibel had originally thought, which was surprising as she already knew it was tiny. Her friends walked her through several neighbourhoods where the houses were identical. They were all the same size and colour and reminded Bonnibel of a stereotypical American neighbourhood from some dumb 60’s movie. The sidewalk was wet and the grass was frosty, and her friends’ breath was coming out in white clouds and their cheeks were red from the cold. Everyone was wrapped up in oversized sweaters and coats, and Finn had lent Bonnibel his backup white beanie.

They got to the centre of town, and Lady was determined to show Bonnibel the town mall, which was miniscule in comparison to the one Bubblegum’s mother always insisted on taking her to in New York. “ _This_ is where LSP, Cake and I spend our weekends. You’ll have to come shopping with us one day.”

Bonnibel chuckled a little. “I’m not really the shopping type.”

Fionna grinned. “Same here. Don’t worry, they drag me out too; you can be my co-complainer. Maybe we can leave early that way.”

Bonnibel smiled. “I guess I could go for an hour every once and a while.”

Lady’s face broke out into a smile. “Awesome! We’ll take you to all of the best shops, and by the end of the day, you’ll _love_ it!”

“That’s what you told me.” Fionna rolled her eyes.

Cake laughed. “You’ll always hate shopping, we can’t change that. You’re just a grump.”

“I’d much rather be hanging out with Finn and Jake and playing video games.” Fionna stated.

Finn grinned. “Yeah! Video games are awesome.”

“I kick your butt every time, though.” Jake laughed.

“Yeah, and I kick yours.” Fionna finished, nudging Jake with her elbow. “You both suck!”

Gumball laughed. “I just stick with studying.”

Bonnibel’s eyes widened for a second, and then a smile settled across her face. “Hey, me too!”

“If you want I can show you the library one night and show you the best study books.” Gumball offered.

Bonnibel saw Finn glaring at his strawberry-blond friend. “Sure, that’d be cool.”

Finn changed the subject before Gumball could make him any more jealous. “We should all go see that new Paranormal Activity movie down at the movie theatre! I want to see if it’s as hilarious as the first 4.”

Lady chuckled as she lead the group down a new street that had stores lined down both sides, each one advertising different things. “Like you’d be let into that. It’s R rated.”

“Yeah!” Jake laughed, taking hold of Lady’s hand. “You look like you’re twelve, dude.”

Finn’s cheeks flushed. “I do _not_!”

Cake laughed. “We’d have to let you into some kid area while we all go in. Like a ball pit or something.”

The group burst out laughing, and Fionna was the one to finally calm down. “Real talk; who actually wants to go to this? I’m up for it.”

Cake shrugged. “I’ll go if you’re all down.”

Gumball nodded. “Yeah, same.”

Jake grinned. “Hell yeah! Lady, what about you?”

Lady shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

“I want to go!” Finn chimed in. “What about you, Bubblegum?”

Bonnibel felt everyone’s eyes on her. “I don’t know, guys. I’m not big on horror movies. Even the bad ones scare me.”

Finn raised a fist in the air. “I’d protect you!”

“I think I’ll sit this one out.” Bonnibel concluded.

Lady smiled. “That’s fine. You’ll still come to movie day next week though, right?”

Bonnibel shrugged. “I’ll let you know.”

Jake frowned when he realised where they were. “You guys do realise we’re headed towards the bad side of town, right?”

Gumball frowned. “Why are we going here?”

Everyone turned to Lady and there was a concerned mutter within the group. Bonnibel stuffed her hands inside her coat pockets and looked up at Lady as the girl explained herself. “I want to show Bonnibel where to avoid.”

“I wouldn’t mind it if we were in a car, but I feel like we’re going to get stabbed or something.” Fionna muttered as the group neared a block of run-down apartment buildings.

“God, I hate the stoner house.” Jake stated, a tremble in his voice as the group turned a corner and walked parallel to the dirty building which had graffiti all over it.

They were just nearing the end of the street – and Bonnibel could feel how tense everyone was – when they heard a “Hey, Bonnibel!” from behind them. The entire group spun around to see Marshall running towards them, waving his hand.

Bonnibel was confused, but forced a smile. “Hi, Marshall.”

“Getting a tour, I see.” Marshall commented.

“Yeah…” Bonnibel nodded. “What’re you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m -,” He was cut off by someone shouting.

“Marshall, get your tits back here.”

“Chill, Marce.” Marshall shouted back. “Don’t you want to talk to Bonnibel?”

Bonnibel squinted and saw Marceline stood with three other people who looked to be in their twenties and all had tattoos and piercings. She swore she could see Marceline scowling at her. “Of course I don’t.”

Marshall rolled his eyes and turned back to Bonnibel. “I’m just here with my friends and sister.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Cool.”

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?” Marshall asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Oh!” Bonnibel’s eyes widened and she turned to her friends – who all looked pretty freaked out –, pointing out each one as she said their names. “This is Finn, Jake, Lady, Gumball, Fionna and Cake.”

Marshall smirked at Fionna. “Hey there. We’ve been at school together for 3 years and we still haven’t talked?”

Fionna glared at him. “That’s because you’re an asshole.”

“Can’t say I disagree with you there, blondie.” A new voice spoke up.

Bonnibel turned to see Marceline stood right behind her with an eyebrow raised. Marshall laughed at her. “Good one. I thought you weren’t coming over?”

“Yeah, well Guy and Keila started smoking and you know how I feel about that.” Marceline shrugged, flicking a stray strand of her inky black hair from her eyes.

“You smoke.” Jake stated, his attempt at sounding brave failing due to a tremble in his voice.

“For your information, dumbass,” Marceline spat, her voice filled with venom and menace. “I don’t. Never have, never will.”

Bonnibel smiled at this, and she caught Lady frowning at her with an eyebrow raised. She ignored the blonde girl and looked Marceline over, finding herself smiling even wider at the dark haired girl’s outfit. Marceline was wearing an oversized dark grey sweater with a red cat’s face in the centre, and black skinny jeans. Her midnight black hair was unkempt and messy and seemed to have a life of its own, but still managed to look soft, and for a moment, Bonnibel wanted to reach out and touch it.

Jake gulped and looked anywhere but Marceline, gripping onto Lady’s hand tighter. “Sorry.”

Bonnibel decided to speak up and distract Marceline’s attention from Jake. “Hi, Marceline. Did you do the History homework?”

“Fuck, we had homework?” Bonnibel saw Marceline’s eyes widen considerably, and she found herself chuckling.

“Not really. I just wanted to make conversation.”

“And apparently give me a fucking heart attack.”

Bonnibel giggled, and all of her friends stared at her with wide eyes. “You’re funny, Marceline.”

“Whatever.” Marceline rolled her eyes and then turned to her brother. “I’m going into Keila’s. If you don’t get your butt inside and practise with us, I’ll mount it on a wall.”

Bubblegum watched as Marceline stalked off over to her friends, and didn’t take her eyes off the girl until she disappeared into one of the apartment buildings that Jake had earlier described as ‘stoner house’.

Marshall chuckled. “I guess that’s my cue to leave. I’ll see you around, Bonnibel.”

“Bye.”

Lady waited until Marshall was out of sight and her and Bubblegum had walked ahead of the group to interrogate her. “How do you talk to her like that?”

“What do you mean?” Bubblegum frowned.

“You just say whatever you want to her and she doesn’t kill you!” Lady exclaimed. “Maybe she’s taken a liking to you.”

“Maybe Marshall just told her to give me a break like he said he would.” Bonnibel countered.

Lady sighed, her breath coming out like a puff of smoke. “I guess.”

They walked Bonnibel home, and the pink haired girl got hugs from all of her friends before she walked up her slippery driveway and onto her front porch. She watched as her friends disappeared down the street before opening the door and entering her house, sighing in content as she shook off her shoes and discarded her coat.

Maybe living here wouldn’t be as bad as she thought.


	4. four.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bonnie becomes a tutor, and marceline shows her a little bit of kindness.

** Monday 12th January 2014. **

Bonnibel was stunned when Marshall came over to her in Physics that morning and asked her to tutor him in science.

“What?”

“I heard Simon grading your work from last week and he was talking to himself and saying how it was really good and better than anyone else in the class and later on he came into my room and told me I needed a tutor so I picked you.” Marshall explained.

“Can’t Mr Petrikov tutor you?”

Marshall laughed. “No, we tried that. Even _Marceline_ tried tutoring me and she ended up throwing a book at my head.”

“Sounds like that went well.” Bonnibel joked. “I guess I could try tutoring you.”

“Thank you.” He grinned. “You’re a lifesaver, Bonnibel.”

She smiled back at him. “You’re welcome.”

“Meet me in the parking lot after school today and we can go to mine and study.” He said, walking off to his seat on the other side of the classroom as the rest of the class began filing in.

Bonnibel wasn’t sure how she felt about Marshall. Sure, he thought they were friends and Bonnibel was nice to him, but she knew he wasn’t the type of person she should be hanging around with. It was the same with Marceline, but Bonnibel did have a small soft spot for the female Abadeer – although that didn’t change the fact that she was pretty intimidated by her. Marceline didn’t do as many bad things as Marshall from what she’d gathered, but she’d seen some of their friends who all looked like drug addicts and she knew that in a few years that Marshall and Marceline would be like them too.

She sat with Lady and everyone at break, and Gumball asked her when she wanted to check out the library.

“I can’t tonight, but tomorrow would be good.” Bonnibel smiled.

He grinned. “Excellent.”

Finn sat in between the two and looked at Bubblegum. “If you want, we could hang out while they all go see Paranormal Activity.”

Bonnibel shrugged. “I don’t know. I was planning on studying all weekend.”

“You said you’d come to movie day!” Fionna exclaimed.

“I said I’d think about it.” Bonnibel laughed. “I don’t know, spending time with friends isn’t something I’m used to.”

Lady smiled. “Well, get used to it. We like hanging with you.”

Jake nodded. “You’re pretty awesome.”

Bonnibel felt a smile spread across her face that she just couldn’t contain. “I like you guys too.”

Cake grinned. “So you’ll come to movie day?”

Bonnibel laughed. “I guess so.”

* * *

 

History with Marceline wasn’t as bad as she’d expected. It was just a research lesson, and the teacher had allowed them to put their earphones in if they were working individually, so obviously Marceline had hers in hand and was listening to music before the teacher had finished his sentence.

Bonnibel dove her hand into her bag and searched around for some earphones, but typically that was the one day she’d left them at home. She did what she thought was the stupidest decision she could make; she asked Marceline if she had any spares. Obviously, due to the loud music she was listening to, Marceline couldn’t hear her, so Bonnibel tapped the girl on the shoulder. She took note of how Marceline flinched a little before composing herself and scowling up at Bonnibel. “Yes?”

“You don’t have any spare earphones, do you?” Bonnibel asked.

Marceline seemed pretty annoyed that Bonnibel was interrupting her music. “No, why?”

“Oh…it’s just, I forgot mine.” Bonnibel explained. “I just wanted to see if you had any spares.”

“Oh. Okay.” Marceline shrugged and put the earphone she’d taken out back into her ear.

Bonnibel sighed and went back to looking through the textbook on the table, and didn’t realise that Marceline was staring at her with an impatient glare until the girl kicked her under the table. “Ouch, what was that for?”

Bonnibel looked up at Marceline to see the pale girl holding out one of her earphones. Bonnibel frowned. “Are you sure?”

“I don’t really give a fuck either way, princess.” Marceline snapped.

Bonnibel didn’t like the way Marceline was looking at her; it made her feel inferior and vulnerable, two things Bonnibel hated, but she took the earphone from Marceline. “Thanks.”

Marceline just glared at her for a second before looking away and flicking through her textbook.

Bonnibel put the earphone in and was immediately hit by deafeningly loud rock music. She cringed a little; maybe the next song would be better.

It was. It was Bonnibel’s type of music; slow, relaxed and calming. Bonnibel was surprised by this. She didn’t expect Marceline to like this sort of music. She noticed the girl’s black iPhone on the table between them and pressed the button to bring up her lock screen. She saw Marceline watching her.

Bonnibel read the name of the song and the artist on the screen. Clairvoyant by The Story So Far. She nodded to herself and wrote the name down in the corner of her notepad so she could listen to their other songs later.

She looked back to Marceline. She was being watched by the girl, who had a quizzical look in her crimson eyes. “What were you doing?”

“Just getting the name of the artist so I can listen to more of their songs.” Bonnibel shrugged.

“Their other songs are all rock. This was just a one off acoustic thing.” Marceline stated. “So if you’re looking for that, you’re out of luck.”

Bonnibel didn’t care. “I like that song, so I wrote it down.”

Marceline frowned but didn’t reply, instead going back to her work.

They didn’t talk for the rest of the lesson, but Marceline did express her contempt when she saw Bonnibel with Marshall in the parking lot. “You have _got_ to be fucking kidding me. This one, Marshall? _Really_? This little pink princess? God, I thought you had taste.”

Marshall raised an eyebrow. “We’re not dating, Marce. She’s my science tutor.”

Marceline looked between Bonnibel and Marshall for a second, before her crimson gaze landed on Bonnibel. “Good luck.”

Bonnibel smiled a little. “Thanks, Marceline.”

Marshall pouted. “I’m not as bad as she makes out.”

Marceline and Marshall started walking through the freezing parking lot, and Bonnibel followed the two of them. Marshall pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his shirt pocket, pulling one out and lighting it. He turned to Bonnibel as he took a drag and breathed it back out. “You want one?”

Bonnibel was horrified. Marceline noticed and glared at her brother, disgusted. “Don’t be a dick, Marshall.”

Marshall frowned. “What did I do?”

Marceline eyed the cigarette between his teeth. “You know. Don’t offer people cigarettes who _clearly_ don’t smoke.”

“How am I supposed to know who smokes and who doesn’t?”

“Look at her, Marsh.”

He sighed. “Whatever.”

Bonnibel stayed silent until they stopped by a red car that was slightly battered up and had small dents in it. “Who’s is this?”

“Mine, idiot.” Marceline rolled her eyes, jumping in the driver’s seat.

Marshall went to get in the passenger side, and Marceline glared at him. “Nope. Stay out there until you’ve finished with your stupid cigarette.”

Bonnibel didn’t know whether or not to get in the back or sit in the front with Marceline or just wait until Marshall got in. He frowned at her. “Aren’t you going to get in the car?”

Bonnibel looked up to Marceline, who shrugged and patted the passenger seat. “Get in, I don’t bite.” She flashed her unusually sharp canines at Bonnibel, who gulped a little before getting into the car.

Marceline watched Bonnibel for a minute before showing an inch of a smile, then returning to her usual scowl. She didn’t say a word until Marshall jumped into the back of the car. “Will there be any more surprises on the way home,” Marceline jabbed her thumb Bonnibel’s way, “Or is pinkie over here the only one?”

Marshall rolled his eyes. “Just take us home.”

The engine jolted to life, and Marceline began reversing out of the parking space. The car was silent until they were finally driving down the road and away from the school, where crowds of students had already begun thinning out.

“So Bonnibel, why’d you move here?” Marshall asked her.

“My parents wanted to get away from the city and I didn’t exactly have any say in the matter.” Bonnibel shrugged. She saw Marceline’s crimson gaze was half directed on her and half on the road.

“Don’t you like it here?” Marshall questioned.

“I do, I just…I don’t know. It’s different.” Bonnibel sighed. “I’ve never really had friends before, and here I have a lot. It’s weird.”

“ _You_ never had friends?”

Bonnibel looked over to Marceline, who was frowning. “Yeah. Why?”

“You’re one of those annoying optimistic kids who tries to be friends with everyone.” Marceline stated. “Like your friend. The one that likes rainbows.”

“Lady?” Bonnibel questioned.

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Marceline deadpanned, keeping her crimson gaze directed at the road.

“What’re you getting at here?” Bonnibel frowned.

“How did you _possibly_ have had no friends?”

“I just didn’t make any.” Bonnibel replied. “Nobody tried talking to me and I didn’t try with anyone else. I focused on my schoolwork.”

“Nerd.” Marshall chimed in. “Do you just study in your free time?”

“Yes, actually.” Bonnibel confirmed. “I like learning.”

“You’re definitely going to help me get an A.” Marshall grinned, before glaring at the back of his sister’s head. “Unlike _Marceline_.”

“I tried.”

“You threw a book at me.”

“You were being a moron.” Marceline countered, casually shrugging her shoulders. “It was your own fault.”

“I asked you _one_ question!” Marshall exclaimed.

“It was a stupid question.”

Bonnibel found herself giggling at the two siblings arguing, until Marceline snapped at her. “Shut up with your stupid laughing. God, you’re so _annoying_.”

Bonnibel gulped a little, and decided to stay silent for the rest of the rather awkward car ride. She was thankful that Marceline put on some music, even though it was loud rock music that Bonnibel didn’t take a liking to. When they finally pulled up on a driveway, Bonnibel was quick in getting out of the car and sticking closer to Marshall.

She looked up at the house she was at. It was one of the houses that looked the same as every other house on the block; medium in size, two floors, built in red brick and as stereotypical as it could be.

She followed Marshall and Marceline onto the creaky front porch, and waited until Marceline unlocked the front door, before making her way inside. She saw both Marshall and Marceline taking their shoes off, so Bonnibel did the same, leaving them by the door.

She was surprised when she heard a shrill yapping coming from upstairs, and a little white poodle came running down and jumped up at Marceline. She picked the dog up, and disappeared up the blue carpeted stairs without so much as a goodbye, her footsteps fading until finally, they heard a door open and slam. Marshall opened the door to their right. “We’ll study in the living room. Don’t worry about Marceline; she’ll probably be upstairs for the rest of the night.”

Bonnibel nodded and followed Marshall into their sitting room. “You have a dog.”

“Yeah, that’s Marceline’s. He’s called Schwabl.” Marshall explained as Bonnibel examined the sitting room. It was relatively tidy. There was a dog basket in the corner by the TV, and a coffee table positioned in the centre of the room with coasters strewn across it. There were pictures on the mantel of Simon and Marceline and Marshall when they were little. Marshall hadn’t changed much, but Marceline had. In the pictures, she was holding a red plush toy that looked something like a monkey, and her black hair was just past her ears. She was wearing a red dress down to her knees and little black dress shoes; a high contrast to the Converse and skinny jeans she wore every time Bonnibel had seen her.

Bonnibel found herself smiling at the picture, taking a seat on the edge of their white couch. She shrugged her backpack from her shoulders and moved it to her lap, unzipping it and pulling her books out. “We can do Physics or Chemistry, because I don’t have my Biology books with me.”

“Cool. I suck at both of them so really it’s up to you what we do.” Marshall shrugged.

“Chemistry is my best, so we can go with that.” Bonnibel smiled, flicking through her Chemistry workbook and opening her textbook onto the correct page. “Okay, so this is the stuff we were doing in class.”

She talked him through the work, until eventually he could balance a few equations and answer most of the questions from class correctly. “Whoa, Bonnibel! You might be a better teacher than Simon!”

“I better not have heard what I thought I did!” Mr Petrikov chuckled as he walked into the room, setting his briefcase down by the coffee table in the middle of the room. He sat down on the second couch, which was adjacent to the one that Bonnibel and Marshall were on. “What brings you here, Bonnibel?”

“Marshall wanted me to tutor him.” Bonnibel replied.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” He asked, warmly smiling at her.

She looked to Marshall, who was nodding. “I guess I could.”

“Luckily you won’t have to endure my cooking; it’s pizza night.” Mr Petrikov smiled.

Marshall grinned. “I love pizza night. Every Monday we have pizza and play video games. Marceline always wins, though.”

Bonnibel frowned a little. Marceline wouldn’t be too happy she was imposing on her evening. “On second thought -,”

“Just because she’s going to be a grump doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stay.” Marshall interrupted her. “Come on! You deserve it from all your hard work.”

Bonnibel sighed. “Okay, I’ll stay.”

Bonnibel quickly texted her Mom to tell her she wouldn’t be home for dinner, and she and Marshall got back to studying while Simon ordered the pizzas. They were only interrupted once before the pizza came, when Marceline stuck her head round the door. “Marsh, is it cool if I borrow one of your guitars?”

He frowned. “What for?”

“I haven’t practised my six-string for a while and I went to go do it and my high E string broke and I don’t have any spares.” Marceline shrugged.

“I guess you could borrow it for a little.” Marshall replied.

Marceline smiled, a sight Bonnibel had never seen before. Bonnibel was stunned at how beautiful Marceline looked, and it made a smile of her own appear. “Thanks, dude.”

She was back upstairs as quickly as she’d arrived.

Bonnibel tried to focus on teaching Marshall some Chemistry, but she could hear Marceline playing guitar upstairs, and was much too distracted by that. What Simon had told her on her first day was true; Marceline was really talented. She realised she’d trailed off what she was saying by listening to the soft guitar playing from upstairs, and she snapped out of her little daydream and looked up at Marshall. “I’m sorry, I just started thinking and -,”

“It’s cool.” He interrupted. “If you want, we can ditch the studying for today and put on the TV until the pizzas come.”

Bonnibel smiled. “I like that idea.”

Marshall switched the TV onto a random channel that the Big Bang Theory was playing on, smirking up at Bonnibel as he laid back on the couch. “What? It’s science.”

Bonnibel chuckled. “I guess you’re right there.”

They were about halfway through the episode when Simon walked in with pizzas in hand, followed by Marceline – who had two or three video games in her hands – and Schwabl trailing at her feet. Marceline put the video games on the coffee table, and Bonnibel read front of the top case; Mario Kart. Bonnibel smiled a little. Her family always got super competitive when it came to games, _especially_ Mario Kart.

Simon handed round the pizzas, and sat down on the same couch Marceline had flopped back on, adjacent to the one Bonnibel and Marshall were on.

“I’m going to Keila’s after I’ve eaten.” Marceline announced.

Simon’s eyes widened in surprise. “But you love pizza night!”

Marceline shrugged. “She got a new guitar and wants me to go over to jam. Besides, I already put my bass in my car.”

Simon sighed. “Be back before 10.”

“I will.” Marceline replied, taking a bite of her pizza.

Bonnibel wondered if Marceline was going out because of her, and she didn’t want her missing out on anything. She was about to say something, but Marshall spoke up first. “What guitar did she get?”

“A cherry red Gibson Les Paul. It’s pretty rad.” Marceline replied. “She said she’s going to let me play it, and I can’t pass that up. Keila doesn’t let anyone touch her guitars.”

Marshall frowned. “I want to go. Why didn’t she tell me?”

“She texted me about it and then said she was going to tell you but I told her you had,” Marceline glanced over at Bonnibel, “Company.”

Marshall sighed. “Well, tell her I said hey.”

“Sure.”

“Are Guy and Bongo going over too?” Marshall questioned.

“Nah.” Marceline responded, picking up a second slice of pizza. “Just me. We’re not doing anything band related, we’re just going to fuck about.”

“ _Marceline._ ” Simon scolded. “Language.”

“Geez, chill.” Marceline held her hands up in defence. “It’s just a word.”

Simon occupied Bonnibel by asking her questions she’d been asked a thousand times since moving here, but she put on a smile and answered. Marceline ignored Bonnibel’s presence and talked to Marshall about music and their band which Bonnibel discovered were named the ‘Scream Queens’.

Bonnibel ignored Marceline until she stood up with her empty pizza box in hand and walked out of the room into where Bonnibel presumed was the kitchen. Marceline was back in the room within a minute with a can of Pepsi in one hand and car keys in the other. “I’ll be back by ten.”

“Okay, have fun.” Simon smiled at her.

She strolled out of the room and they heard the front door open and close and her car jolt to life outside.

Simon broke the silence in the room. “Well, let’s get the game set up.”

Marshall grinned. “I might actually have a chance of winning now that Marceline’s gone.”

Marshall got the Wii set up and passed around controllers, starting up the game. Bonnibel watched as he synchronised two extra Wii remotes and chucked one to Simon and nearly hitting Bonnibel right in the face with the other. “Oops. Sorry.”

Bonnibel laughed, picking up the smooth white controller. “It’s fine. I ducked.”

Marshall gave himself the main controller, and he flicked through the less important screens until he arrived at the character page. “Pick your characters!”

Bonnibel went with Princess Peach, Simon selected Yoshi, and Marshall was Luigi. Marshall then quickly skipped the next few pages until he arrived at the one listing all of the races, picking a random one. Simon frowned. “You picked the one I’m bad at!”

“Exactly!” Marshall exclaimed. “I want to win, and Marceline’s not here so I actually have a chance!”

Bonnibel laughed a little. “Isn’t that a form of cheating or something?”

“No, I’m just using his weaknesses against him.”

“Very fair.” A sarcastic drawl from the doorway stated.

They all looked up to see Marceline casually leaning against the white door frame. Simon smiled. “Marcy, you’re back.”

“Dammit, now I definitely won’t win.” Marshall cursed, slamming his controller on the floor with great force.

“Relax, dumbass.” Marceline rolled her eyes. “I just forgot my amp. You can have your little victory today but next week you’re going to get your butt kicked.”

Marshall frowned. “What makes you think you’ll win against me next week, huh?”

“Because you suck.”

“ _You_ suck.”

“Jerk.”

“Bitch.”

“Guys, knock it off.” Simon intervened. “We have company.”

Marceline rolled her eyes and pushed herself off the door frame, standing properly. “Have fun, nerds.”

“Be back by ten, Marcy.”

“I know, I know.” She waved Simon off and turned around, shutting the living room door and cutting off Bonnibel’s view of her.

She turned back to the TV to see that Marshall had started the race before her and Simon had turned around, and was cackling as he raced ahead of everyone. Bonnibel quickly gripped her controller and set off in an attempt to catch him up, and Simon was frowning. “Wait, how do I go again?”

Marshall waited until he was way ahead of everyone else to reply. “Hold down 2.”

Bonnibel didn’t let Marshall get too cocky and overtook him in the last second of their final lap, to which he cursed and threw his controller down. “Fuck! I can’t believe you did that!”

Bonnibel smirked. “Did I not mention that I have this game?”

“No, you didn’t!” Marshall exclaimed, his voice reaching a higher octave due to his annoyance. “Damn, I’ll never win this game.”

“You’re good at Guitar Hero.” Simon pointed out.

“Marceline’s better.”

“True.”

Marshall glared at Simon, who shrugged in response. “Didn’t you want me to be honest with you?”

Bonnibel ended up winning the game, and the game after that, and the game after that, and all of the rematches Marshall demanded, to his contempt. Simon was pretty amused at Marshall’s downfall but left the room with the empty pizza boxes when Marshall refused to get up from lying in the centre of the carpet by the TV. The boy was groaning and almost sounded as though he was in pain.

“You’re a bit of a sore loser.”

“I wanted to win.” Marshall complained. “I always lose.”

Bonnibel shrugged. “It’s not my fault I’m good at it.”

“You couldn’t have let me win?”

“Ah, no.” Bonnibel shook her head, her pink bangs moving from her eyes. “See, because you were talking about how you were going to win, it made it much more satisfactory to beat you.”

Marshall sat up and ran a hand through his hair. “I have to go for a smoke. I’ll be two minutes.”

Bonnibel nodded and watched him as he stood up and walked outside. She got herself as comfortable as possible on the couch and was sat in silence until Simon walked in. “What time are you wanting to go?”

“I don’t mind.” Bonnibel replied. “Hopefully around 8.”

“You’ll have to wait until Marceline is back; my car is in the garage for a couple of days to get serviced so she’ll be your ride unless your parents can pick you up.” Simon explained.

Bonnibel tensed a little at that. She knew Marceline wouldn’t like being her chauffeur. “I can text my parents now.”

She sent her Mom a quick text asking if they could pick her up, and her heart sunk at her Mom’s reply, which told her that they had gone out for a meal and wouldn’t be back until at least 10:30. Bonnibel checked the time on her phone. 7:16PM. They’d been playing Mario Kart for a good couple of hours.

“What did your parents say?” Simon asked.

“They can’t pick me up.” Bonnibel sighed. “Are you sure Marceline won’t kill me?”

Simon laughed. “I’m sure. She acts tougher than she is.”

“Can Marshall drive me?”

“If he did it’d be illegal.” Simon chuckled. “He hasn’t passed his driving test yet. I’ll text Marcy in a little and tell her.”

“I can walk.” Bonnibel offered. _Anything to not be alone in a car with Marceline._

“It’s fine, Marcy will give you a ride. Besides, it’s dark out now.” Simon replied. “And we don’t want you getting lost out in the cold.”

Bonnibel sighed in defeat. “I have a feeling she won’t like this.”

“I’ll call her in a bit and tell her.” Simon said.

He didn’t need to. Marceline came in about ten minutes after their conversation, flopping down on the couch adjacent to Bonnibel’s with a red bass shaped like a terrifying axe slung over her. She played a couple of notes before speaking up. “That guitar was rad.”

Simon smiled. “Glad you had fun with your friend. What else did you guys do?”

“We went to Walmart for milk and ended up buying a load of ice cream and binge eating it.” Marceline shrugged. “It was fun at the time but now I kind of want to puke.”

Simon laughed a little. “Hopefully you won’t get carsick.”

Marceline frowned. “Why would I be driving?”

“I need you to drive Bonnibel home.”

Marceline stood up, leaving her bass on the couch, her arms folded across her chest and a scowl on her face. “No way.”

“It would be a really big favour -,” Simon began, but Marceline was having none of it.

“No. I’m not driving her home.” She snapped. Bonnibel noticed the rage in the girl’s crimson eyes, and it made her want to curl up in a ball and hide away from the girl. If looks could kill, Bonnibel would be dead.

“Marcy, please.” Simon sighed. “I’ll give you ten bucks.”

Marceline seemingly calmed down. “Keep talking.”

“If you drive Bonnibel home I’ll give you ten bucks and we’ll have your favourite meal tomorrow for dinner.” Simon wagered.

Bonnibel saw that Marceline was considering it. “Can I go to that gig on Friday?”

Simon looked conflicted, and eventually he sighed. “Yes, fine.”

Marceline showed an inch of a smile. “Rad.” She then turned to Bonnibel and scowled. “Come on, pinkie. We haven’t got all night.”

Bonnibel stood up and followed Marceline out of the living room and onto the downstairs landing, where Schwabl was sat on the stairs wagging his tail, and an amp and wires were pushed in the corner. Bonnibel grabbed her shoes – pink Converse – and sat down on the bottom step next to Schwabl who barked at her. “I think he wants something.”

“Yeah, a walk.” Marceline rolled her eyes at Bonnibel, before looking down at the excitable poodle. “Later, okay?”

Bonnibel tied her shoes as quickly as she could so Marceline wouldn’t lose patience with her, and followed the dark haired girl outside and towards the car, where Marshall was stood at the bottom of the driveway talking to a guy with fairly long, messy, sandy coloured hair and stubble. He was dressed in ripped jeans and a grey t-shirt which hung loosely off his frame, and he had numerous tattoos on his arms as well as a lip piercing. Bonnibel already didn’t like this person.

“Oh, hey Guy.” Marceline nodded to him.

He smiled. “Sup, Marce? Who’s the nerd?”

“Some chick Marshall picked up.” Marceline shrugged.

Guy winked at Bonnibel. “Hey there.”

Bonnibel ignored him and got into Marceline’s car, closing the door behind her and blocking any attempts at conversation. She definitely didn’t want to be mixed up with Marshall’s friends. Initially, she didn’t want to be mixed with Marshall, but here, she drew the line. She stared down at the floor until she was startled by a knock on the window. She looked up and saw Marshall grinning at her. She opened the door a little.

“Later, Bonnibel. Same time next week?”

“I guess.”

“Okay, cool.” He smiled, stamping out his cigarette and walking back inside.

Marceline opened the door to the driver’s side and hopped in, starting up the car. “Where am I dropping you off?”

Bonnibel gave Marceline her address, and the paler girl nodded and pulled out of the driveway.

The ride was awkward and tense, there was no denying that. Neither of the two wanted to be in the other’s company, and Bonnibel was incredibly thankful when Marceline asked her if she wanted music on.

“Yes,” Bonnibel nodded, “But not rock.”

“No music, then.”

“Don’t you have anything acoustic?” Bonnibel asked. “Like, Ed Sheeran or something?”

Marceline kept her eyes on the road but dug around in a side pocket of the car until she found a specific album. “Here. One of the bands I used to like did an acoustic EP. Put that on.”

Bonnibel did as she said, and was surprised by the calming music. “You said you _used_ to like this band?”

“Yeah, I saw them live and they sucked, and the new album they brought out was just…no. I don’t mind their acoustic stuff though.”

“I like it.” Bonnibel concluded. “What’re they called?”

“Sleeping With Sirens.”

Bonnibel nodded and kept the name in her head, before resting against the cold window and closing her eyes. Ignoring Marceline, Bonnibel found herself rather relaxed, and didn’t even notice the car pulling up by her house until she hear Marceline mutter something along the lines of “She fell asleep? You have _got_ to be kidding me.”

Bonnibel opened her eyes a little to see an annoyed Marceline. “I’m awake.”

“Great.” Marceline sarcastically retorted. “Now get out of my car.”

Bonnibel leant down and grabbed her backpack from where she’d left it on the floor, opening the car door. She turned to Marceline. “Thanks for the ride.”

Marceline shrugged. “Whatever.”

Bonnibel climbed out of the car and shut the door, walking into her house. When she turned to lock the door, she saw that Marceline’s car was still there. She smiled; Marceline had waited for her to get in safe.

Inside her car, Marceline was changing the CD and muttering about what an annoyance Bonnibel was.


	5. five.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie makes progress with marceline. sort of.

** Tuesday 13th January 2014 **

“You’re tutoring _that_ asshole?” Fionna cried from her spot on the grass. “What has he ever done for you?”

Bonnibel shrugged. “He’s nice enough, I didn’t see why not. We had fun, anyway.”

“Bubblegum, didn’t we tell you he’s bad news?” Cake frowned. “We don’t want you ending up like him.”

LSP scoffed. “You guys! Marceline’s worse! She was smirking at me this morning and it creeped me the hell out.”

Bonnibel frowned. “Where?”

“In English.” LSP stated. “I looked up at she was looking at me weird and it freaked me out. Maybe she’s figuring out where to suck my blood from or something.”

Finn laughed. “You still think they’re vampires?”

“They _are._ ” LSP insisted.

Lady rolled her eyes. “Enough about Bubblegum’s new best friends! We need to decide what we’re doing for movie day.”

Jake shrugged. “We can go to mine or Finn’s if you guys want.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and then Lady turned to Bubblegum. “So when do we get to meet your parents, huh?”

Bonnibel chuckled a little. “I don’t think on a movie day would be a good idea. They’re not even used to me having one friend, let alone seven.”

Gumball nodded. “One at a time, then?”

Bonnibel shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll talk to them about it and let you guys know later this week. If I ask they might let us just have a pizza party or something.”

Fionna nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Bonnibel decided to go to her next class early, and was caught up to by Gumball on her way there. “Are we still on for the library tonight?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

He grinned. “Awesome. I’ll wait for you at the end of the day by your last class. What is it?”

“English Literature.” She replied.

He nodded. “Cool.”

* * *

 

At lunch, Bonnibel and Lady ran into Marshall and Marceline. She tried to get away unnoticed, but Marshall spotted her. “Hey, Bonnibel!”

She turned just in time to see Marceline scowl and roll her eyes. Bonnibel looked to Lady for a second, who was pretty terrified, before turning back to Marshall who was walking over and dragging Marceline along by her wrist. “Hi Marshall. Hey Marceline.”

Marceline grunted in response and crossed her arms, looking anywhere but Bonnibel and Lady.

Marshall smiled. “So can you tutor me next Monday?”

“I guess.” Bonnibel responded. “I don’t have anywhere else to be so I don’t see why not.”

Marshall looked to Lady. “You’re going to have to remind me on your name.”

Lady frowned. “Why?”

“We’re friends! Any friend of Bonnibel’s is a friend of ours, right Marce?”

“No.” Marceline stated.

Marshall shot her a glare, but then turned back to Lady and smiled. “She’s just grumpy.”

Bonnibel heard Marceline scoff, and Lady mumbled her name to Marshall, who nodded. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. Sorry about miss grumpy over here, she just got out of the wrong side of the bed.”

“Every day?” Bonnibel blurted out, earning her a hard glare from Marceline.

Marshall laughed. “True.”

“Listen,” Marceline kept her glare on Bonnibel. “I don’t care if you’re friends with my brother. I’ll beat you up if you fuck me off, so watch your step. You’re incredibly close to getting your fucking jaw broken, so I’d shut the fuck up and stay the fuck away from me if I were you.”

With that, she yanked her arm from Marshall’s hold and stormed down the hallway, shoving down some unsuspecting freshmen in her rage.

“Geez, she really _did_ get out of the wrong side of the bed today.” Marshall commented, watching after her until she disappeared. “Ignore her, okay?”

Bonnibel gulped a little, feeling rather shaken from what Marceline had just said. “I need to go do something. I’ll see you around, Marshall.”

She grabbed Lady by the arm and pulled her through the school until she arrived at her History classroom.

Lady was confused. “What’re we doing here?”

“I have to talk to my teacher about the seating plan.” Bonnibel explained. “You can stay here if you want.”

Lady shrugged. “I’ll meet you outside.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Okay. I’ll be five minutes.”

She entered her History classroom to see her teacher grading classwork, and she awkwardly announced her presence. “Uh…hey.”

He looked up and smiled. “Bonnibel. What can I do for you?”

“Can I talk to you about the seating?” She asked.

He frowned. “Why? Is there a problem?”

“I was just wondering if I’d be able to change seats.” Bonnibel stated.

Her teacher shook his head, and Bonnibel sighed. “I don’t let people change seats. If I let one person, everyone would want to.”

She nodded and headed towards the door. “Okay…thank you anyway.”

She walked out of the classroom to find Lady gone and the hallway practically deserted, so she headed to meet her friends outside. The second she sat down on the grass, Lady moved next to her. “What happened?”

“I asked him if I could change seats and he said no.” Bonnibel replied. “I’m stuck with Marceline.”

LSP shrugged. “I’m sat in front of you, I’ll just talk to you.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Thanks.”

* * *

 

Lunch was uninteresting aside from Bonnibel’s encounter with Marceline, and she found herself wishing that their lunch break was shorter so she could get to class and distract herself. She tried to tell herself she didn’t care about Marceline and what she thought. She knew that she shouldn’t care, but for some reason she did. Bonnibel thought that there was more to Marceline than the paler girl let on, and Bonnibel wanted to find out.

During her last lesson of the day, Bonnibel couldn’t stop thinking about how much she wanted to go home and go to sleep, but she remembered that she was meant to be seeing Gumball after school. Even though initially she didn’t want to go, she was glad she did.

Gumball met Bubblegum outside the classroom, and the first thing he did was smile and ask if he could carry her books. Bubblegum was surprised. “Uh, no. I can handle them.”

“You sure?” He asked.

She frowned and nodded. “I’m sure.”

“So how’re you liking living here?” Gumball questioned, a gentle smile rested on his lips.

Bonnibel couldn’t help but groan. “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that question in the past week?”

He laughed. “A lot, I take it.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Most of the time I just smile and nod and hope I don’t look like I’m internally sobbing.”

Gumball chuckled a little. “Seriously though; do you like it here?”

“It’s better than I thought.” She admitted. “But it’s a lot different from what I’m used to.”

“Too small for you, huh?”

“No, actually.” Bonnibel responded. “I was mostly by myself in New York and here I have you guys who always want to hang out. It’s strange not being in my usual routine of going to school, hiding in the library and then going home.”

Gumball laughed. “I might not show you the library if you’re going to use it to get away from us.”

“At least you’ll know where I am if I disappear.”

“True, true.” He replied, “Just round here.”

He put a hand on her back as the two of them turned the corner, and Bonnibel was about to question him about it, but he let go the second the library was in view. He pushed open the door for her, and the two of them walked inside. The school library wasn’t what Bonnibel was expecting; she honestly thought it’d be a darkened room the size of a cupboard, but it was actually rather spacious. The books were organised in an alphabetical order and not one was misplaced, and there were sets of white round tables dotted about in the back. Gumball walked Bonnibel over to the non-fiction books and to the Biology section. He pulled out a certain book that had an image of a cell on the front. “This is the best book for science. It has everything you need to know for finals. They have Chemistry and Physics ones, too.”

Bonnibel nodded, but was rather occupied by other thoughts. “Hey, Gumball?”

“Yes?”

“This isn’t a date, is it?”

He was shocked, his mouth gaped open and his eyes wide. “Bubblegum, I’m gay.”

Bonnibel found herself smiling. “You are?”

“I thought you knew that!” He exclaimed. “Everyone does.”

“Oh.” She chuckled. “I didn’t know.”

He wasn’t shocked anymore, and was instead laughing. “You thought this was a date!”

“I didn’t, I was just wondering!” Bonnibel defended. “I just didn’t want to let two of my new friends down.”

Gumball couldn’t stop laughing. “This is hilarious.”

“Shut up!” Bonnibel commanded, looking around for angry librarians out to get them because of the noise her friend was making. “Do you want to get kicked out?”

“I don’t care, this is too funny.”

“Seriously!” Bonnibel snapped in a hushed whisper. “We’re going to get kicked out!”

He pulled himself together the second he heard footsteps coming their way, and pretended as though he’d been looking through the books when an elderly lady peeked round the bookshelf and glared at the two of them. Bonnibel avoided eye contacted and pretended to be invested in a science book while Gumball shot the woman a nervous smile. “Sorry.”

The second she left, he smirked. “You thought this was a date.”

Bonnibel hit him with the book in her hands.

He walked her home, and almost the second she got in, her Mom walked out of the sitting room and grinned at her almost manically. “When do I get to meet your friends?”

Bonnibel shrugged. “Can they come over on Friday for a pizza night?”

“Definitely.” Her Mom nodded. “How many friends have you made?”

“Uh…” Bonnibel reeled them off, counting on her fingers. “Jake, Lady, Finn, Gumball, Cake, Fionna, LSP, and I guess Marshall. Eight.”

“I’m so proud of you.”

Bonnibel blushed. “It’s no big deal, Mom.”

* * *

 

** Friday 16th January 2014. **

“Hey.”

Bonnibel was doing her History work and ignoring Marceline as the pale girl had commanded, and was incredibly surprised when Marceline started talking to her. Bonnibel looked up at her to see Marceline’s crimson gaze directed on her.

“Uh…hi?” Bonnibel frowned, stopping herself from smiling when she saw that Marceline was wearing the jumper with the cat on it that Bonnibel thought she looked adorable in.

“Uh…I’m sorry for snapping at you the other day.” Marceline started, shuffling away from Bonnibel on her seat.

Bonnibel’s eyes widened. “You’re apologising?”

Marceline looked at her feet. “Yeah.”

“Is Marshall making you?” Bonnibel asked, an eyebrow raised.

“No.” Marceline said, “He’s not. I just felt kind of bad, okay?”

Bonnibel smiled. “Well, apology accepted.”

“This doesn’t make us friends.” Marceline added. “I still don’t like you.”

Bonnibel’s smile faltered a little, but she composed herself. “I know.”

“And don’t go telling people about this.”

“I won’t.” Bonnibel assured, “But thanks for apologising,” She went to put a hand on Marceline’s shoulder.

The dark haired girl ducked away and shook her head. Bonnibel saw her body tense up. “Don’t try that again.”

Bonnibel gulped, nodding. “Okay. Sorry.”

Marceline then went back to ignoring Bonnibel, and Bonnibel hesitated for a second, watching as Marceline ran a hand through her black hair that looked so _soft_ and let out a sigh. Bonnibel wasn’t sure if it was a sigh of relief or annoyance, and she wasn’t going to question it. She was just happy that Marceline had apologised for what she’d said the other day.

Bonnibel managed to tear her eyes away from Marceline for the last few minutes of class, completing the work and packing her things away the second the bell rung. LSP spun around in her chair. “Are we all coming to yours tonight?”

“Yeah, we’re having pizza.” Bonnibel stated. “My parents are buying.”

LSP sighed. “That sucks! I’m going to Brad’s tonight. I’ll come over some other time.”

Bonnibel nodded and watched after LSP until she was out of the classroom, continuing packing away her things. She heard a snicker and looked up to see Marceline smirking at her. “What?”

“You’re friends with _her_?” Marceline asked, holding back laughter.

“Yes, why?”

Marceline just snickered and slung her black backpack over one shoulder, sauntering out of the classroom.

Bonnibel was the last to leave, as usual, and met Lady outside the classroom where Marshall was clearly terrifying the girl and Marceline was leant against the wall rolling her eyes at them. “Hey Lady.”

Lady looked over at Bonnibel and relief fell across her face. “Hey! Are we setting off to yours now?”

“Yeah.” Bonnibel nodded. “Hey Marshall.”

“Sup, Bonnibel. I was just chatting with your friend here.” Marshall stated. “Hopefully my sister here hasn’t been giving you any trouble.”

Bonnibel let a small smile spread across her face. “Oh, she hasn’t.”

Marceline sighed. “Can we go? I want to go home and sleep.”

“No, I want to chat with Bonnibel.” Marshall replied.

Marceline rolled her eyes. “If you don’t get your butt out to the parking lot, I’ll drive off without you.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Watch me.”

“Fine.” Marshall sighed, shooting a smile at Bonnibel and Lady. “I’ll see you girls on Monday. Bye.”

“Bye.” Lady mumbled.

“Bye Marshall.” Bonnibel smiled as he walked away from the two of them, following Marceline. “Bye Marceline.”

She saw the dark haired girl stop in her tracks for a second, before she turned around with a small frown on her face. “Later.”

Lady grabbed onto Bonnibel’s arm and pulled her in the opposite direction. “Didn’t she like, threaten you with death if you annoyed her?”

Bonnibel chuckled a little. “Yeah.”

“Then why are you annoying her? Do you want to die?” Lady frowned as the two of them neared the school’s main exit.

“You can’t tell anyone if I explain.”

Lady nodded. “This conversation never happened.”

“She apologised today.” Bonnibel revealed, unable to control the huge grin on her face.

Lady stopped in her tracks. “What? Are you sure you didn’t hallucinate that?”

“I’m sure.” Bonnibel laughed. “She apologised.”

“You’re telling me,” Lady stood with her eyes wide, accusingly pointing a finger at Bonnibel, “That _Marceline_ of all people apologised to you?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s weird.” Lady concluded. “She doesn’t do that.”

Bonnibel shrugged as they pushed open the red double-doors of the school. “Well, she did. Anyways, everyone else is coming over tonight at like 5, so we’ll be by ourselves for an hour and a bit.”

Lady smiled. “That’s cool. I can fill you in on all of the gossip at school.”

“I thought LSP was the gossiper.” Bonnibel laughed, raising an eyebrow.

“She is, she just tells me everything that’s going on.”

“Well, I don’t like rumours. I’m not really much of a gossiper.” Bonnibel responded, noticing her parents’ car pulled up in front of the school. She nodded her head towards it. “Just over here.”

Lady nodded. “LSP is the biggest rumour starter you’ll ever meet. Don’t ever tell her anything you want keeping a secret.”

“I bet she’s started one of those incredibly stupid rumours which is completely illogical yet everyone believes it.” Bonnibel stated.

“Yes, actually.” Lady laughed. “Some people actually believe her theory that Marshall and Marceline are vampires.”

Bonnibel couldn’t contain her laughter. “You have _got_ to be kidding me! Seriously?”

“Yeah, but they are her other group of friends who are all kind of…you know.” Lady shrugged. “Like her, basically.”

Bonnibel bit her lip to contain a smile and shook her head as she pulled open the car door. “Here.”

Lady climbed in before her and shuffled over to the other side, and Bonnibel sat down and closed the door, doing up her seatbelt. Bonnibel’s Mom was the first to speak up. “Hello there!”

Bonnibel was completely ignored as her Mom smiled at Lady from the driver’s seat. Lady smiled back. “Hi! I’m Lady. It’s nice to meet you.”

After all formalities were aside, Bonnibel was finally back on her Mom’s radar. “So, what time are your other friends coming over?”

“Around 5.” Bonnibel replied.

“You didn’t invite Marshall, did you?” Lady asked, her eyes wide.

“No, I figured it’d make things kind of awkward for you guys.” Bonnibel shrugged.

Her Mom intervened. “What? You didn’t invite one of your new friends? But I want to meet all of them.”

“Another time, okay Mom?” Bonnibel sighed.

Her Mom sighed and pulled the car away from the curb.

The second Bonnibel and Lady got to Bonnibel’s house, they disappeared up into Bonnibel’s bedroom, which she still hadn’t gotten around to decorating. “Sorry, I know it’s pretty dull -,”

“No, it’s cool.” Lady replied. “Honestly, I was expecting some huge science lab or something.”

Bonnibel laughed. “That would be awesome.”

“Typical.” Lady rolled her eyes. “I hate science. It’s so boring.”

“It’s fascinating!” Bonnibel countered. “I much prefer doing experiments than going out to weird parties.”

“Good, because we don’t get invited to any.” Lady laughed. “The only thing close to a party that we have is when we all hang out near Halloween and Christmas and just chill. It bugs LSP that we don’t go to parties.”

“I’ve never understood what’s so great about going out and getting drunk. What’s the point in going somewhere if you’re going to get so drunk you won’t remember it in the morning?” Bonnibel pointed out.

Lady shrugged. “I don’t know. Jake told me it makes things more fun.”

“Jake’s been drunk?” Bonnibel asked.

“Yeah, it was actually pretty funny. He ran around singing all night.” Lady laughed.

They talked about nothing in particular for the hour they were alone and put on some random pop songs from Lady’s phone on as background music until everyone began arriving.

Bonnibel was surprised that her Mom didn’t come up and annoy her friends that much. They were mostly left by themselves, and her friends all hit it off really well with both of her parents. Bonnibel was certain her parents liked all of them, which made her pretty happy.

She was surprised by how much fun she had with everyone. She had usually thought of socialising as a trivial task, but she actually enjoyed her time with Lady and everyone. She’d grown much closer to Gumball since finding out that he was gay, and they got along extremely well and had a lot in common. She was surprised when he asked her if she’d invited Marshall.

“No, why?”

She was extremely shocked when she saw a light blush on his cheeks. “No reason, I just wondered.”

They didn’t talk about anything specific all night, and mostly just messed about and acted like dorks. Everyone teased Finn, Cake and Lady told Bonnibel about the town and the people she should stay away from – Marceline and her friend Keila were on the list – and Bonnibel was pretty happy with herself for the night.

Although she did lay down with a sigh of relief when she was finally alone.

She’d always been an introvert.


	6. six.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie meets ricardio and helps marshall with his science again.

** Monday 20th January 2014. **

Bonnibel felt guilty when she woke up that Monday. She hadn’t gone to movie day on the Saturday and she still felt bad for blowing her friends off, but she really wasn’t feeling up to socialising. She was still tired out from Friday. So, she’d texted Lady and told her that she wouldn’t be coming. Obviously, Lady notified the entire group who sent her a lot of texts telling her to come. She refused. She really did have homework to do.

She arrived at school early and walked around looking for one of her friends. This is where she met Ricardio.

He was a short, chubby boy whose cheeks were flushed. He had beady brown eyes that were downright creepy, and a somewhat sinister look to him. Bonnibel was extremely confused when he walked over to her and grabbed her hand. “Hello there. I’ve never met you before. I’m Ricardio. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Bonnibel cringed at his voice; to her, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “I’m Bonnibel.”

“What’s a pretty young woman such as yourself doing all alone? Surely you don’t want company.” Ricardio asked, a smirk which Bonnibel decided was meant to look attractive plastered on his face.

“Actually, I was just going to meet someone.” Bonnibel lied. She didn’t like the look of this guy.

“I’ll keep you company until you meet them.” Ricardio stated, a rather sinister grin on his face.

“That’s really not necessary, I’m having a chat with my science teacher and his classroom is just around the corner.” Bonnibel was spewing out lie after lie, but this guy was really creeping her out.

He smiled. “Okay. Until next time, Bonnibel.”

Bonnibel forced a smile back and fast-walked away from the boy. When she was around the corner and out of his sight, she sprinted to Mr Petrikov’s classroom and quickly ducked inside. When she turned, Mr Petrikov, Marshall and Marceline were all staring at her. “Uh…hi.”

“You’re here early.” Marshall observed. “And you look like you just sprinted to school.”

“Some creepy guy was following me.” Bonnibel replied. “So I decided to come here.”

Marshall nodded. “Are you still coming over tonight?”

Bonnibel smiled. “Yeah. What do you want to go over?”

“Whatever I don’t get in class today. I’ll write stuff down that I don’t understand and then you can help me with it later.” Marshall stated.

“Okay.” Bonnibel nodded, walking over to her usual seat in class and sitting down, placing her backpack on the table.

Mr Petrikov smiled at her from where he was stood leaning against the board at the front of class. “Will you be staying for pizza?”

“Oh, no.” Bonnibel shook her head. “I couldn’t intrude for a second time -,”

“You’re not intruding.” Simon assured. “I promise.”

Bonnibel took a quick glance over at Marceline, who was slouched in Simon’s chair behind his desk. One of her black skinny jean clad legs was slung over the arm of the chair, and she was rested against the opposite one. The other leg was dangling down at the front of the chair and she was too busy texting to pay any attention to Bonnibel. “I guess I could stay.”

Marshall grinned, turning his attention to his sister. “Yo, Marce!”

She looked up from her phone. “What?”

“Are you okay with driving me and Bonnibel to ours?” Marshall asked.

Marceline glanced over at Bonnibel for a second and sighed. “Do I have a choice in the matter?”

“Not really.” Marshall said.

Marceline just rolled her eyes and went back to her phone.

Simon smiled at Bonnibel. “Thank you for tutoring him, by the way. I know it’s a nightmare, but -,”

“I don’t think it’s a nightmare.” Bonnibel interrupted. “He’s not as bad as you guys make out.”

“Told you.” Marshall grinned.

Marceline spoke up, not looking up from her phone. “She’s probably lying to protect your feelings.”

“Bitch.”

“Fucking jerk.”

“ _Marceline_!” Simon scolded. “What have I told you about that language?”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Chill, Simon.”

He sighed. “Don’t do it again.”

They were silent for a moment until Marceline spoke up again as she was standing up. “I’m going to go to English.”

“Okay. I’ll see you at break, Marcy.” Simon smiled.

She nodded and walked over to him, giving him a hug. Bonnibel frowned. From what she’d gathered, Marceline disliked physical contact. “Yeah, see you at break.” She let go, looking over to Marshall. “Later, Marsh.”

He nodded back. “Bye.”

Bonnibel saw Marceline’s eyes flash to her for a second, but the pale girl didn’t say anything and walked out of the room.

* * *

 

Bonnibel had another run in with Ricardio at break. She was walking down the hallway heading to class early and wasn’t really thinking about anything until she heard him.

“Hello, Bonnibel.”

She sighed and turned around. “Hi.”

“You don’t seem to be with any of your friends.” He analysed, stepping closer to her.

She took a step back. “Uh, actually…I’m just going to meet them.”

He walked forwards. “Would you like an escort?”

Every step he took, she would go backwards. That was, until she hit a locker. “Uh, I’m good.”

He smiled, his body pressing against hers. “So, I was meaning to ask you something earlier but I didn’t get round to it.”

She gulped. “Yeah?”

“Would you like to go on a date with me?”

“No.” Bonnibel replied. “I don’t date.”

The bell rang, and she saw it as her ticket to get out of there. She tried to duck away from him but he placed an arm in her way, blocking her in. “Why not?”

“Because I just don’t.” Bonnibel replied. “Can I -,”

“Why won’t you date me? I’m a nice guy.” He argued.

Bonnibel shook her head. “It’s not that you’re not nice, I just don’t date.”

“Maybe this’ll change your mind.” Ricardio stated, and Bonnibel screwed her eyes shut as she saw him lean in and moved her head away. She didn’t want her first kiss to be like this.

She felt him being pulled off her just at the last second, and she opened her eyes to see Marceline punch him. She cringed when she heard a crack and saw blood coming from his nose.

Marceline glared at him, and not in her usual way. This one was even scarier, filled with hatred and menace. “If you fucking touch her again, you won’t get off as easy as that. Actually, if you fucking touch any girl without her motherfucking permission ever again, I will fucking kill you. Got that?”

He nodded his head, scrambling backwards in an effort to get away from Marceline. Bonnibel stayed against the locker in shock. “Now, fucking apologise to her.”

He gulped. “Sorry.” It came out in a mumble.

Marceline glared. “Get the fuck out of here.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He got up and ran. The second he was around the corner, Marceline turned to Bonnibel. “Are you okay?”

Bonnibel didn’t reply, and stayed close against the lockers.

“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you.” Marceline assured, stepping closer to her.

Bonnibel gulped. “We’re going to be late for class.”

Marceline sighed. “Really? That’s _really_ your biggest concern?”

Bonnibel frowned. “Why’d you help me? You don’t like me.”

“As much as that last statement is true, why wouldn’t I? God, I’m not heartless.” Marceline stated, rolling her eyes.

Bonnibel nodded, sinking down to a sitting position against the lockers. She looked to her hands; she was shaking. “Can you maybe get one of my friends?”

“They’ll all be in class, genius.”

Bonnibel rested her head against her knees and hid herself from Marceline. She willed herself not to cry. It didn’t work. She was sat, silently sobbing until she felt somebody sit down beside her. “Uh…don’t cry.”

Bonnibel looked up to see Marceline sat next to her, looking extremely uncomfortable. “You don’t have to comfort me.”

“Yes, I do.” Marceline replied.

“Why?”

“I just do, okay?”

With that, Bonnibel launched herself into Marceline’s arms, and she didn’t move when she felt the pale girl tense up. She clung onto Marceline’s grey ‘no smoking’ shirt, and sobbed into the girl’s shoulder, inhaling the comforting smell of strawberries on Marceline’s tense skin. She took the opportunity to touch Marceline’s hair – which was insanely soft, as Bonnibel had predicted – and she stayed in Marceline’s arms until she’d cried herself dry. Then, Marceline shoved Bonnibel off her. “Don’t do that again.”

Bonnibel nodded, rubbing her eyes. “Sorry…but thank you.”

Marceline’s crimson eyes scanned Bonnibel over for a second, before she sighed. “You’re welcome. Now come on, we’re like, ten minutes late to History.”

Bonnibel nodded and stood up, trailing behind Marceline all the way to their class. “Seriously though, why’d you help me?”

“Do I need a fucking reason?” Marceline snapped. “I just did, okay? Isn’t that enough for you?”

Bonnibel gulped. “Sorry. Thanks for comforting me and everything.”

Marceline just shrugged and pushed open the door to the classroom, looking up at the teacher. “Sorry we’re late.”

He sighed. “Take a seat and I’ll go over everything with you guys once I’ve finished addressing the class.”

They sat down at their desk in the back, and LSP shot Bonnibel a look as she walked past. Bonnibel just smiled back and took her regular seat, unpacking all of her stuff for the lesson.

She was silent until Marceline spoke up. “I still don’t like you, you know.”

Bonnibel frowned when she felt saddened at that. “I know, Marceline.”

* * *

 

Bonnibel was confused when she and Marshall walked back to Marshall’s house that night. “Why’re we walking? I thought Marceline was going to give us a ride?”

“She puked and got sent home.” Marshall shrugged. “I don’t know how she is. She drove herself home halfway through lunch.”

Bonnibel was confused as to why she felt concern. “Do you know why it happened?”

“Nah.” Marshall shrugged. “My best guess is that she faked it to go hang out with Keila.”

He was wrong.

They walked into the front room to see a very sick looking Marceline curled up on the couch under a blanket. She was asleep, a sight which Bonnibel found quite adorable.

“She probably won’t wake up.” Marshall assured Bonnibel as they sat down on the other couch.

Bonnibel nodded, pulling her books out of her backpack, before turning to Marshall. “Why doesn’t she like me?”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“She’s always telling me she doesn’t like me and I just wondered if you knew why.” Bonnibel explained.

“Oh…she just doesn’t like people.” Marshall shrugged. “I’m sure it’s nothing personal.”

Bonnibel sighed. “Anyways, what didn’t you understand in class today?”

He passed her a list on a piece of paper ripped from his notebook. “There’s quite a lot.”

Bonnibel looked it over, looking up at him with an eyebrow raised. “Marshall, this is everything we did in class.”

He let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah…I didn’t exactly get anything.”

She nodded. “Right, okay…uh…let’s start with these equations.”

She was in the middle of talking him through balancing different formulas, when he cut her off and looked up at her. “Marceline told me what happened today.”

“What?”

“With that guy.” He clarified. “She was really pissed off.”

“Because I hugged her? Oh God, I didn’t -,” Bonnibel exclaimed.

He cut her off. “No, no! She was mad at _him_! She was going to go beat him up but this happened,” He stated, gesturing over at the sick, sleeping Marceline on the other couch. “Why’d you think she’d be mad because you _hugged_ her of all things?”

Bonnibel blushed a little. “Well, she told me not to touch her but I was freaking out and I just hugged her.”

Marshall shrugged. “But yeah, she had this huge ass rant about how he was a fucking douche or something and then said she was going to make it her personal mission to make sure he can never reproduce.”

“Why does she care? She said she doesn’t like me.” Bonnibel replied.

“She hates guys like that. I think it’s because of Ash.” Marshall shrugged.

“Ash?”

“Her ex-boyfriend.” Marshall explained. “They dated for like half a year until -,”

“Hey, guys!” Mr Petrikov walked into the room and immediately walked over to Marceline, sitting down on the edge of the couch and stroking a hand through her hair. “Hey, Marcy. How’re you doing?”

She opened her eyes a little, mumbling. “I feel a bit better.”

“Good. Do you think you’ll be well enough to have pizza and kick Marshall’s butt?”

“Hey!” Marshall exclaimed. “Not cool, Simon.”

Marceline laughed a little, which was music to Bonnibel’s ears. “I think I’m okay to do some butt-kicking.”

“And pizza?”

“And pizza.” Marceline confirmed, sitting herself up, still wrapped in her blanket. Her eyes fell on Bonnibel, who was surprised when Marceline actually spoke to her. “Are you okay?”

Simon looked between the girls and smiled to himself, before turning to Marceline. “Do you want me to make you some tea?”

“Sure.”

“Okay.” He walked out of the room to leave Bonnibel and Marceline to their conversation.

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah, I’m feeling okay. Thanks for earlier.”

“No problem. Prepare to get your ass kicked, princess.” Marceline stated.

Bonnibel smiled. “What makes you so confident? I might win, you know.”

Marshall nodded. “She beat me last week.”

“A blind penguin with no limbs could beat you, Marshall.” Marceline stated. “But you’re good, huh?”

Bonnibel shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess.”

Marceline nodded, and Marshall stood up. “I’m going for a smoke. I’ll be five minutes.”

The second he was gone, Marceline spoke up. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“You’re concerned about me?” Bonnibel frowned, an eyebrow raised.

Marceline threw her blanket aside and sat with her knees tucked up to her chest. “No. I’m just checking.”

Bonnibel nodded, looking down at the floor. “Why do you hate me so much?”

Marceline was confused at the sad tone to Bonnibel’s voice. “What?”

“You really hate me, and I just want to know why. What did I do?” Bonnibel asked, her blue eyes locking with Marceline’s red ones.

Marceline stared into Bonnibel’s innocent eyes for a while, before sighing. “Look, don’t take it personally, princess. I don’t like anyone.”

“Why?”

“Because people are fucking assholes.”

“Not everyone is bad. Most people are good, actually.” Bonnibel argued.

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“No, I don’t.”

Bonnibel sighed, and was about to continue talking to Marceline, but Simon walked in, sitting next to the dark haired girl on the sofa, placing a mug of tea on the coffee table. “I’m ordering the pizzas in a little while, so we’ll just put a movie on until we decide on the video game we’re going to play. I vote Wii Sports.”

“That’s because it’s the only thing you’re not bad at, Simon.” Marceline rolled her eyes.

Simon laughed, lightly shoving her. “Very funny, Marcy. I need a word with you in the kitchen, actually.”

Marceline sighed, standing up and following him out of the room. “What have I done now?”

Bonnibel was left by herself and could half hear Simon and Marceline talking in the other room, but wasn’t paying much attention until she heard them say her name. She frowned, and tried her best to hear what they were talking about.

“Marcy, I want you to give her a chance.” Simon sighed. “Bonnibel’s a really nice girl, and I can tell you don’t hate her.”

Bonnibel presumed Marceline was probably scowling. “No, Simon. I don’t need her. I have plenty of friends.”

“None your own age.” Simon countered.

“I don’t need any friends my own age. I’m perfectly fine.” Marceline snapped. “I have Keila, Guy and Bongo. Besides, Marshall’s my age.”

“He’s your brother.”

“Am I not allowed to be friends with my brother?” Marceline frowned.

Simon sighed. “Please just give her a chance? At least be civil with her? I think she likes you.”

Bonnibel frowned. She didn’t like Marceline, did she? Marceline wasn’t even nice. Then again, she was sweet in helping her earlier when she had no obligation to.

Marceline sighed. “I’ll be civil, okay?”

“Thank you, Marcy. Sit next to her when we go back in, okay?” Simon asked.

Marceline huffed. “Fine, but if I puke on her it’s your fault.”

Simon laughed, and Bonnibel looked to the ground as they walked back into the room. As she’d promised, Marceline sat on the sofa next to Bonnibel, leaning forward and grabbing her tea from the table. Marshall walked back into the room as Simon was turning the TV on, and he immediately went and sat next to him and stole the remote. “I get to pick.”

Simon rolled his eyes. “Shouldn’t you be studying?”

“I have studied.” Marshall replied. “Now, I get to chill.”

Bonnibel shuffled about on her seat, feeling uncomfortable. She felt rather out of place, and she nearly jumped out of her seat when Marceline turned to her with a scowl on her face. “So, princess,” She paused in thought for a moment, thinking of something to ask Bonnibel, “What kind of music are you into?”

“I don’t really listen to much music.” Bonnibel replied.

Marceline’s eyes widened and she calmly leaned forward and placed her drink on the coffee table, before looking back at Bonnibel as if she’d just said the most unholy thing in the world. “You don’t listen to music? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“ _Marceline_! Language!” Simon scolded.

“She doesn’t listen to music, Simon! This girl is fucked up!” Marceline reasoned.

“Stop with the swearing!” Simon replied.

“Seriously though!” Marceline exclaimed. “She doesn’t like music! What’s up with that?!”

Bonnibel frowned. “What’s wrong with not liking music?”

“Everything!” Marceline exclaimed. “Music is like, the best thing on the planet.”

“I like acoustic things.” Bonnibel replied. “But that’s about it.”

“Marshall, we need to educate this girl.”

Marshall was too interested in his show to pay much attention to Marceline. “Mhm, you do that.”

Marceline sighed and leant back in her seat. “You’re weird, princess.”

“Stop calling me princess.” Bonnibel mumbled.

“Hm, okay.” Marceline put her hand to her chin and looked up in thought. “How about fuckhead?”

“Marceline -,” Simon began.

“Yeah, yeah,” She cut him off. “No swearing, got it.”

“How about you just call me Bonnibel?” Bonnibel suggested, keeping her distance from the pale girl. She didn’t want Marceline punching her for her lack of interest in music.

Marceline let out a sigh and a pained expression crossed her face. “How very unoriginal. I guess I _could_.”

“Thank you.” Bonnibel smiled, as Simon stood up.

“I’m going to order the pizzas. What do you guys want?”

“Same as usual.” Marshall replied, not taking his eyes from the TV screen.

“Pepperoni.” Marceline stated, grabbing her phone from the coffee table as it vibrated against the hard surface.

Bonnibel smiled. “Just a plain cheese for me, thank you.”

He nodded and walked off into the kitchen. Bonnibel couldn’t help but look over Marceline’s shoulder at her texts. She was texting her friend that she went to see last week, Keila.

_**Keila (5:54PM): Sup, wanna come over?** _

_**Marceline (5:54PM): yes but I probably won’t be able to** _

_**Marceline (5:55PM): nerd is here again** _

_**Keila (5:55PM): Oh I see** _

_**Marceline (5:55PM): yeah** _

_**Marceline (5:56PM): simon’s making me be nice to her so we’ll become bffs and ride off into the sunset on a magical flying pony together** _

_**Keila (5:57PM): I can tell by the sarcasm that you don’t see a potential friendship there then** _

_**Marceline (5:57PM): haha, nope** _

_**Marceline (5:57PM): she doesn’t even like music, Keila** _

_**Keila (5:58PM): You’re kidding** _

_**Marceline (5:58PM): nope, she actually said that** _

_**Keila (5:59PM): Maybe you could see if you have anything in common** _

_**Keila (5:59PM): It would be cool if you made another friend** _

_**Marceline (6:00PM): I just don’t see us being friends** _

_**Marceline (6:00PM): she’s like all pink and stuff and she’s a fucking nerd** _

_**Keila (6:01PM): Opposites attract?** _

_**Marceline (6:01PM): hahahaha no** _

_**Keila (6:03PM): I have to go, I’m gonna go and bug Guy for a bit** _

_**Marceline (6:03PM): later dude** _

_**Keila (6:03PM): Play nice with the nerd** _

_**Marceline (6:04PM): yeah yeah whatever** _

Bonnibel tried not to be disheartened and looked away when she saw Marceline lock her phone. She awkwardly played with her fingers for a while until the pale girl next to her finally spoke up.

“Okay, dork.” Marceline began, “I’m going to educate you on good music.”

Bonnibel looked up to see Marceline untangling her earphones. “You really don’t have to -,”

“Apparently, I do.” Marceline interrupted. “You don’t listen to music? What’s up with that?”

“I just don’t. There’s not really any specific artists I like other than Ed Sheeran.” Bonnibel shrugged.

Marceline thought to herself for a second. “Yeah, he’s pretty cool, but you still need educating.”

Bonnibel watched as Marceline plugged her earphones in and passed her phone to Bonnibel where it was unlocked on the ‘genres’ page. “Do you want me to pick any genre?”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded.

Bonnibel scrolled through all the genres on Marceline’s phone, and 90% of them were all some form of rock music. Bonnibel ended up settling for the ‘acoustic’ one. She passed the phone back to Marceline who rolled her eyes and muttered something along the lines of ‘typical’. She shuffled a little closer to Bonnibel and passed her an earphone. “Put this in.”

Bonnibel complied. “Are you going to show me some artists?”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded. “Okay. First band is one that’s actually split up now but they’re still pretty rad. A Rocket To The Moon. Most of their songs are acoustic and chill so this is probably your kind of thing.”

Marceline played her one of their songs, which Bonnibel did find rather calming. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore where she was and who she was with, and she just relaxed. When she reopened her eyes, she saw Marceline staring at her. Bonnibel smiled a little. “I liked it.”

“I could tell, nerd.”

“I’m not a nerd.”

“Yeah, and I’m not called Marceline.” Marceline sarcastically responded. “Now pick another genre.”

They did this several more times until they got to one of Marceline’s favourite bands, when Marceline took the earphone Bonnibel was using and sat and quietly sung along to the band’s music. Bonnibel was honestly shocked by how beautiful Marceline’s singing voice was. It was nothing like the girl’s speaking voice which was husky; Marceline’s singing voice was as soft as silk. Bonnibel found herself entranced by Marceline’s singing, and didn’t even realise the girl had stopped until Marceline snapped at her. “What the fuck are you looking at?”

Bonnibel gulped. “Uh…you’re a really good singer.”

Marceline’s eyes softened. “Thanks.”

Bonnibel smiled at the intimidating girl. “You’re welcome.”

Marceline showed the smallest ghost of a smile, before reaching over to the other couch and grabbing her blanket, wrapping herself up in it and turning back to Bonnibel. “So…what do you like to do for fun?”

“Science experiments.”

Marceline turned her nose up at this, and Bonnibel frowned. “You do _science_ in your free time?”

“Yes,” Bonnibel confirmed, “It’s fascinating.”

“Boring.” Marceline countered. “You should get out more.”

“I don’t like socialising much.” Bonnibel replied. “I’m introverted.”

“Same here, but it doesn’t mean I don’t like seeing my friends.” Marceline put her earphones back in and turned away, effectively ending their conversations.

“You’re impossible.” Bonnibel mumbled to herself.

Marshall laughed, finally looking up from the TV. “She’s cool once you get to know her.”

“Why is she so hostile to everyone?” Bonnibel asked.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you that.” Marshall replied. “But she was never like this as a kid. She was always super happy, and even after we started living with Simon she was nice to everyone that would come over and she was always happy, but then something happened and now she’s like this.”

Bonnibel looked over at Marceline who was in her own little music induced daydream. “She’s difficult.”

“Yeah, she can be.” Marshall nodded. “But she’s the best friend you’ll ever have.”

Bonnibel frowned. “How so?”

“Well, she’ll beat up anyone that hurts you, she’s scarily good at comforting people, and she’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.” Marshall stated. “She may be frustrating at times, but it’s worth it. If you want to be friends with her, just try.”

“I don’t know if I do. She kind of scares me a little.” Bonnibel replied. “I feel like she’d hurt me or something.”

Marshall laughed a little. “Nah, she wouldn’t hurt a friend.”

Bonnibel looked over to Marceline who was still listening to her music and staring at nothing in particular, tapping her bare foot against the carpet. “She’s really into her music.”

“We both are.” Marshall stated. “It’s weird that you don’t listen to music.”

Bonnibel shrugged. “It’s just never something I took an interest in.”

“Yet you took an interest in science?” Marshall frowned. Bonnibel shot him a half-hearted glare, and he laughed. “Hey, I’m not making fun of you or anything, it’s just a little…” He paused to try to think of the right word.

Luckily, Marceline could help. “Fucking weird?”

Bonnibel turned to the girl who was pulling out one of her earphones. Marshall nodded to her. “Yeah, basically.”

Bonnibel shrugged. “I like it. Recently, I conducted an experiment on -,”

“Okay, all I can hear when this girl talks is nerd junk.” Marceline replied, rolling her eyes. “It’s fucking annoying.”

Bonnibel frowned. “I just like different things.”

“Whatever, nerd.”

“Punk.” Bonnibel shot back.

“I take that as a compliment.”

“Drug addict.” Bonnibel countered. She felt bad when she saw Marceline tense up, and she felt a wave of terror hit her when the girl looked at her in a rage.

“ _What_ did you just call me?”

“Nothing.” Bonnibel gulped, cringing at the little crack in her voice. She saw Marceline’s hands ball into fists, and she scrambled as far away from the girl as she could, spewing out apology after apology. “I’m sorry, I’m _really_ sorry! Please don’t hurt me.”

“You’d better fucking hope I don’t, _princess_.”

Marshall jumped in between the two girls, grabbing hold of his sister’s wrists. “Don’t do anything stupid, Marce.”

“I wouldn’t be doing anything stupid. I’d just be killing princess over here.”

“I think that classes as stupid.” Marshall calmly stated. “Promise me you won’t hurt her.”

Marceline glared at him for a minute, and Bonnibel saw the pale girl visibly relax. “Why shouldn’t I?”

“She apologised.” Marshall pointed out.

Bonnibel nodded. “I really am sorry -,”

“Can it, princess.” Marceline snapped, shooting her a hard glare.

Marshall slowly released her arms. “You won’t hurt her?”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Marceline confirmed.

Marshall nodded and slowly made his way back over to his couch, not taking his eyes off of the two girls in case Marceline decided to jump Bonnibel.

Bonnibel stayed as far away from the intimidating girl as she could. She was terrified. Marceline noticed. “Look, I promised I wouldn’t hurt you, so you don’t have to sit on the edge of the couch like that. Seriously, you look like you’re going to fall off it.”

Bonnibel frowned. “I don’t trust you.”

“Likewise, _princess_.”

“Don’t call me princess.”

“Don’t call me a drug addict.” Marceline countered.

“I apologised.” Bonnibel mumbled. “And I _am_ sorry.”

“I know.” Marceline muttered. “Which is why I won’t punch you.”

Bonnibel shuffled back on the couch and made herself comfortable, but still stayed at a respectable distance from Marceline. She busied herself with adjusting her hoodie which had ridden up slightly, and looked anywhere but the pale girl who was watching TV. She was relieved when Simon walked into the room with pizzas, passing them around to everyone. He slid a DVD into the player and sat down on the couch next to Marshall.

“What’re we watching?” Marshall asked through a mouthful of pizza.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Simon scolded. “We’re watching Peter Pan.”

Bonnibel saw Marceline smile, a sight that made her stomach feel weird. Marceline really _was_ beautiful, especially when she did that.

Marshall turned to Bonnibel and smiled. “So, you’ve been getting a lot of male attention since you started at our school. Been on any dates yet?”

Bonnibel blushed. “No. I don’t date.”

“Good move.” Marceline commented. “Guys are dicks.”

Simon didn’t even bother scolding her for her choice of word. “Just because you had a bad experience doesn’t mean you shouldn’t date.”

Marceline shrugged. “Everyone’s a dick. I can’t stand people. They suck.”

Simon chuckled. “Your brother and I are people. Your friends are people.”

“ _Cool_ people, Simon.” Marceline specified. “You guys are the rare cool people.”

Marshall grinned. “Fuck yeah, I’m cool.”

“You two need to stop with your swearing.” Simon stated. “We have a guest.”

Marceline shrugged. “Half of the time I don’t realise I’m doing it. I only really say fuck, anyways.”

“That’s the worst one!” Simon exclaimed.

“No, it’s not.” Marceline shrugged. “The worst one is the one _I_ won’t even say.”

Marshall laughed. “I’ll say it if you want.”

“No, don’t.” Simon stated. “That’s enough swearing for one night.”

Marshall shrugged and turned to Bonnibel. “So you really don’t date?”

“Really.” Bonnibel confirmed. “I just don’t see the point. I’m not really attracted to anyone right now.”

“I bet you’ve daydreamed over a guy before.” Marshall teased.

Bonnibel nervously chuckled. “No, I haven’t. I’ve never liked a guy before.”

“You’ve _never_ liked a guy before?” Marshall frowned. “You’ve never had a crush? Come _on_! Even _Marceline_ has had a crush on someone.”

“Why’s that so surprising?” Marceline asked, an eyebrow raised and a small smirk on her face. “I have emotions.”

“You don’t act like it.”

“And _crush_? What are you, twelve?” Marceline scoffed.

Marshall rolled his eyes and turned back to Bonnibel. “You have to have liked someone a little.”

Bonnibel shook her head. She knew she’d had one major crush in her life, but she wasn’t going to talk to Marshall about that, especially with Marceline in the room. “Nope, I’ve never had romantic feelings for anyone before.”

“Seriously? That’s weird.” Marshall exclaimed. “Marce, isn’t that weird?”

“Eh, not really.”

“You’ve liked someone before.” Marshall pointed out.

Marceline frowned. “So? I didn’t even like him that much, to be honest.”

“Yeah, I know, but you did like him a little.”

Marceline thought for a minute. “I liked the _idea_ of him.”

Marshall frowned. “What do you mean?”

Marceline’s gaze flicked to Bonnibel and she shook her head. “I’m not explaining that around princess over here.”

“I told you to stop calling me that.” Bonnibel replied. “And you can say whatever you want. I’m not going to go around school announcing that the terrifying Marceline Abadeer has feelings.”

Marceline stared at her for a second, before saying something Bonnibel never thought she’d hear. “I like your vibe, dude.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Thanks.”

Marshall looked at Marceline expectantly. “Well? Will you explain?”

“Basically, I liked the idea of being in a relationship and all that junk. I just didn’t really like him.” Marceline elaborated. “I mean, he was basically king of the douchebags.”

Marshall laughed. “Word.”

Bonnibel shuffled a little closer to Marceline. “Marceline?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever actually liked a person and not just the idea of them?” Bonnibel asked.

Marceline thought for a second. “Uh…nope. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m not exactly a people person.”

Bonnibel giggled a little. “I figured.”

Simon finally inputted into the conversation, tearing his eyes away from the Disney movie on the TV. “You _were_ a people person.”

“I was like, five.” Marceline argued. “Things change, Simon.”

“You were fourteen.”

“Same thing.”

Simon chuckled. “Five and fourteen? Of course, Marcy.”

“Shut up, Simon.” Bonnibel saw the grin on Marceline’s face, and she found herself smiling at how happy Marceline seemed to be.

Once they’d finished their pizza – and Simon had finished his movie – Marceline grabbed the Guitar Hero disk and put it in the Wii. Marshall sighed. “I give up already; you’ll definitely win, unless Bonnibel’s a secret Guitar Hero master.”

Bonnibel laughed, shaking her head. “I’ve never played before.”

“Don’t play with Marceline; she’ll make you play on expert and crush you.” Marshall warned.

Marceline cackled. “He’s not lying.”

“I think I’ll play against Simon and let you two battle it out.” Bonnibel said.

It was hilarious watching Marshall and Marceline play video games. They were both very competitive and even started hitting each other in the middle of the game to distract one another. They were shouting so loud that Bonnibel couldn’t hear the music on the TV. Simon tried to intervene and stop the two from swearing as excessively as they were, and ended up drowned out by Marceline repeatedly shouting the word fuck.

Bonnibel sat on the couch giggling for the most part while the twins were sat on the floor in front of the TV yelling at each other. Simon tried apologising for their behaviour, and Bonnibel just laughed. “This is too funny!”

Simon finally stopped the game when Marceline kicked Marshall in the head when he started to beat her. He walked right over to the TV and switched it off in the middle of the song, to Marshall’s disappointment. “Simon! I was winning!”

“We all know that wouldn’t last long, Marshall.”

Marceline cackled. “Yeah, you suck!”

“Marcy, be nice to your brother.” Simon commanded.

“No, he’s a jerk.”

“How old are you two, five?”

“You didn’t even know us when we were five.” Marshall pointed out.

Bonnibel let out a little giggle, and Marceline sat back down on the sofa next to her. “What’s so funny, princess?”

“You guys,” Bonnibel chuckled, “And what did I say about the princess thing?”

“Sorry, _Your Majesty_.” Marceline teased.

Bonnibel grumbled a little. “You’re impossible.”

“Chill, princess.”

“ _Stop_ calling me that.” Bonnibel ordered.

“Okay, fuckhead.”

“ _Marceline_!” Bonnibel exclaimed.

“What do you desire, your highness?”

“Shut up, Marceline.” Bonnibel grumbled, looking up.

Marceline had a smirk on her face. “Calm down, princess.”

Bonnibel glared at her. “I told you, stop.”

Marceline cackled. “Make me, _princess_.”

Simon rolled his eyes. “That’s enough tormenting for tonight, Marcy.”

Bonnibel got an idea. “Yeah, _Marcy_.”

“Fuck you, princess.” Marceline scowled. “I’m going to take a nap, I feel a little sick again.”

Simon frowned. “You need to take Bonnibel home.”

“Since when?” Marceline questioned. “Your car’s fine.”

“I’ll give you ten bucks.” Simon wagered.

Marceline smiled a little. “Deal. I’m still taking a nap, though.”

She walked off before Simon could argue. He sighed to himself, before turning to Bonnibel. “Just go up and get her when you want to leave.”

“Are you sure she won’t kill me if I wake her up?”

Simon laughed. “I’m sure.”

Bonnibel waited at least a half hour and played some Mario Kart with Simon and Marshall before announcing she’d like to head home to get her homework done. Simon nodded. “To get to Marcy’s room, just go up the stairs and turn left, and it’s the first door you’ll see.”

Bonnibel nodded, following Simon’s directions and walking up the stairs, knocking on the door she presumed was Marceline’s. She merely got a grunt in response, so she walked in to see Marceline still laying on her bed, half in the covers, and half out of them in the pyjamas she’d been wearing all night; grey sweatpants and a lighter grey tank top. The girl was half awake and clutching the stuffed toy she’d seen in the pictures downstairs that was some sort of pink monkey that looked pretty well used. Bonnibel smiled to herself and gently shook Marceline in an attempt to wake the girl.

“Uh…wake up, Marceline.”

“Fuck off, princess.”

She saw Marceline subtly shove the toy under her blankets and out of sight. “Marceline, Simon said that -,”

“Yeah, yeah. I know what Simon said.” Marceline snapped. “Give me a break.”

Bonnibel frowned. “Do you want me to wait downstairs for you to get dressed?”

“I’ll just drive you as I am. I don’t care.” Marceline shrugged.

Bonnibel nodded, looking around the room as Marceline sat up. Marceline’s bedroom was surprisingly tidy; there was nothing on the black carpet aside from two stray socks, her guitars were neatly lined up on a guitar rack, and her dresser wasn’t at all cluttered. It was the opposite of what Bonnibel was expecting, minus the posters of various bands covering every inch of the grey walls.

Bonnibel watched as Marceline stood up and grabbed a maroon hoodie from the back of the desk hair positioned by her dresser, pulling it on. Bonnibel attempted a smile. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be, princess.”

Bonnibel sighed. Clearly, Marceline wasn’t planning on calling her by anything other than princess for a while.

The drive home was less awkward than it was last week, but the air was still thick between the two girls. Marceline didn’t bother talking to Bonnibel, and instead blocked any attempts at conversation by putting on her rock music so loud she couldn’t hear Bonnibel over it.

As they pulled up outside Bonnibel’s house, Marceline stopped the girl before she could leave. “Hey, princess.”

Bonnibel frowned. “What?”

“I still don’t like you.” Marceline stated. “Nothing that happened tonight makes us friends. Simon was making me be nice to you.”

Bonnibel already knew Simon was making the girl be civil, but she’d at least hoped Marceline had stopped hating her. That didn’t stop her from being confused at the sinking feeling in her stomach. “Oh.”

Marceline frowned. “So don’t go thinking that we’re friends or anything, because we’re not.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Understood.”

“Now get the fuck out of my car.”

Bonnibel obliged, and walked up to her porch feeling oddly weighed down. She frowned. She didn’t like Marceline, right? She didn’t want to be Marceline’s friend. Marceline was nothing but a lazy punk that would just drag Bonnibel down. Bonnibel _refused_ to associate herself with people like that.

She didn’t want to be Marceline’s friend at all.

She hated the fact that she knew she was lying to herself.


	7. seven.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie introduces marshall to her friends and marceline makes a small gesture of kindness.

**Wednesday 22 nd January 2014**

To say Bonnibel was angry would be an understatement. The usually perky girl was incredibly annoyed by her apparent new friend Ricardio.

He hadn’t left her alone since Marceline hit him. He’d realised that Marceline was never around to protect Bonnibel and that the two of them weren’t actually friends, so he ignored the pale girl’s warning and continued to ask Bonnibel out.

He followed her around enough to know at least half of her schedule, so usually, when she walked out of certain classes, he was there. Luckily, most of the time she was with one of her friends, who told him to screw off when Bonnibel was too polite to. He was never intimidated by them.

He honestly gave Bonnibel the creeps.

Bonnibel’s friends weren’t too pleased with her, either. That was because she’d invited Marshall to spend break with them. She’d decided to get closer to him, since they would be seeing a lot of one another with the tutoring. She found herself giggling as the carefree looks on her friends’ faces were replaced by looks of shock as she walked towards them with Marshall.

She smiled at them. “Hi, guys. This is Marshall. I invited him to spend break with us.”

Lady shot him a weak smile. “Hi.”

Bonnibel caught a pink blush rise on Gumball’s cheeks, which grew even redder when he noticed her looking at him. She shot a knowing smile his way. Gumball cleared his throat and looked up at Marshall. “Nice to meet you.”

Marshall just nodded in acknowledgement and turned to Fionna, smirking. “Hey, Fionna.”

Bonnibel saw Gumball look dejectedly at his feet and went to sit next to him as Marshall squeezed himself between Fionna and Cake, wrapping an arm around Fionna. Cake glared at him. “Hell no, boy.”

Bonnibel smiled at Gumball. “You like him, don’t you?”

He nodded, sighing. “Yeah. I don’t know why. He’s the biggest douche in the school.”

“He’s not that bad.” Bonnibel laughed.

“How did you even make friends with him and Marceline? Don’t they hate everyone?” Gumball whispered. “I’ve been trying to make friends with Marshall for years.”

Bonnibel chuckled. “It’s just Marceline that hates everyone, and we’re not friends. I only talked to Marshall because he kept bugging me.”

“That’s how he flirts.” Gumball responded, nodding towards Marshall who was busy messing up Fionna’s hair.

Bonnibel put an arm around Gumball. “Do you know if he likes guys?”

Gumball sighed. “I doubt it.”

“I’ll find out for you.”

“What’re you going to do, ask him? That won’t be weird at all.” Gumball sarcastically replied.

Bubblegum shrugged. “Maybe I’ll ask Marceline.”

Gumball’s eyes widened. “Please don’t.”

“I have History with her 4th period. Maybe I’ll ask her then.” Bonnibel shrugged.

“If you ask her I will never talk to you again.” Gumball stated.

Bonnibel laughed. “She’s not that bad. Besides, she’d probably know.”

“Please don’t get Marceline involved in this.” Gumball begged.

“I wouldn’t tell her you wanted to know. I’d just ask.” Bonnibel said. “Wouldn’t you like to know if he likes guys?”

“Well yeah, but -,”

“But nothing.” Bonnibel stated. “I’ll ask Marceline.”

Gumball sighed. “Please be subtle about it.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Of course.”

She wasn’t subtle about it at all. She walked into History and sat down next to Marceline, tapping the girl on the shoulder. She gulped a little when Marceline jumped back on her seat, looking up at Bonnibel with a glare. “Didn’t I tell you not to touch me?”

“Sorry. I just -,”

“You were just ignoring what I told you and touching me without my permission.” Marceline interrupted, staring Bonnibel down.

“I’m sorry, I just needed to ask you a question.” Bonnibel explained. “It’s about Marshall.”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

“Because I was told not to.” Bonnibel stated.

Marceline frowned, flicking a stray strand of her midnight black hair from her face. “Okay, what?”

“I’m asking for a friend.” Bonnibel said. “He told me not to ask Marshall.”

Marceline leant back on her chair, resting her arm against the back of it. “Well, shoot.”

“Does Marshall like guys?” Bonnibel asked.

“Marshall? He’ll fuck anything with a pulse.”

“Marceline! That’s very distasteful.” Bonnibel exclaimed.

“I’m just telling it how it is, princess.” Marceline shrugged.

“Stop calling me princess, _Marcy._ ”

“Well played, nerd.” Bonnibel was sure she saw a ghost of a smile on Marceline’s face.

Bonnibel smiled. “Thanks.”

“Why’d your friend want to know if Marshall likes guys, anyway?” Marceline asked.

“I’m not supposed to say.” Bonnibel stated.

Marceline rolled her eyes. “You have to tell me, you’ve got me involved, nerd.”

“I really shouldn’t -,”

“Think about it,” Marceline interrupted. “Who am I going to tell?”

“Uh, Marshall?” Bonnibel stated as if it was obvious.

“We don’t talk about junk like secrets or whatever. Mostly we just insult each other.” Marceline explained. “I don’t talk to anyone else here, and it’s not like I’m going to tell any of my other friends.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m interested.”

“My friend likes him.” Bonnibel said.

“The gay one?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool. Why doesn’t he just tell my brother?” Marceline frowned. “It couldn’t hurt.”

“He’s too scared.” Bonnibel replied.

“Do you want me to tell him?”

“No!” Bonnibel exclaimed. “I wasn’t even supposed to tell _you_. Gumball is going to kill me.”

Marceline laughed. “Gumball? Are your friends part of a fucking cartoon or something?”

Bonnibel sighed. “You shouldn’t swear, you know. And don’t make fun of my friends! Aren’t _your_ friends all like thirty and unemployed?”

“They graduated last year, princess. They’re all nineteen.” Marceline snapped. “Not to mention, they all have jobs.”

“Well -,”

Marceline cut her off. “You know, you’re really judgemental. You haven’t even met my friends and yet you seem to think they’re drug addicts or something? You even accused _me_ of being a drug addict, when you don’t even know me. Maybe you should pull your head out of your own ass and _not_ judge people on what they look like.”

“Sorry.” Bonnibel mumbled. “You made fun of my friends so I made fun of yours.”

“Whatever.” Marceline snapped.

They were sat in silence until Bonnibel finally snapped. “I don’t get you. One minute you’re being at least a little bit nice to me, and the next you’re insulting me. Will you just make up your mind? Being nice wouldn’t kill you.”

“Nobody gets me, princess.”

“Will you please just stick to being at least a little nice to me?” Bonnibel asked.

“Will you pull your head out of your own ass and stop being such a judgemental, self-centred bitch?” Marceline countered.

Bonnibel let out a sigh. She didn’t think she was full of herself at all. “Fine.”

“Alright then.”

“What happened to you ‘liking my vibe’ anyways?” Bonnibel asked.

“Yeah, your _vibe_. Not you.” Marceline stated. “I like how you don’t care about gossip and junk.”

“I don’t understand your slang.” Bonnibel stated.

“That’s because you’re a fucking dork.”

“Stop swearing.”

“Oh, sorry princess! Have I offended thee with my incessant cursing? What else do you request from me while we’re on the topic, your highness?” Marceline responded in the most sarcastic tone the girl could muster.

“Shut up.” Bonnibel muttered, her cheeks turning a light pink. “Truce?”

Marceline chuckled, and Bonnibel was surprised by how genuine her laugh was. “Alright, fine.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Good.”

Marceline exhaled, thumbs playing with her grey ‘no smoking’ shirt. “That guy isn’t still bugging you, is he?”

Bonnibel frowned. “Why do you care?”

“Because,” Marceline shrugged, “I hate guys like that. Any excuse to punch them is good enough for me.”

Bonnibel couldn’t stop the little laugh that Marceline’s comment elicited. “Well, he is.”

“Okay,” Marceline nodded. “If you need me, I’m usually in either Simon’s classroom or the music room.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Okay. Thanks, Marceline.”

“No problem, Bonnibel.”

Bonnibel couldn’t contain her smile. Marceline hadn’t called her princess. For some reason unknown to Bonnibel, that meant a lot.

* * *

 

At lunch, Bonnibel utilised her new defence against Ricardio. He was waiting outside History for her, and Bonnibel walked straight back in the classroom the second she saw him and called for Marceline, who was untangling her earphones.

“What?”

“Ricardio.”

She saw Marceline grind her teeth, and she saw the other girl tense up. “I’m going to kill that kid.”

As Bonnibel walked back out of the classroom, Ricardio smiled at her. She tried not to laugh when his face paled at the anger on Marceline’s face. “You just don’t listen, do you?”

Ricardio tried to be brave. “You’re not even friends with her.”

Marceline’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, really?”

Ricardio held up a glare. “Yeah.”

Bonnibel froze when Marceline slung an arm around her shoulder. “You’re right. We’re _best_ friends, aren’t we, Bonnie?”

Bonnibel tried to relax in Marceline’s tense grip and nodded. “Yeah.”

Marceline shot Ricardio a fake smile. “Touch her, and die.”

Bonnibel was surprised that was all it took for him to leave, and the next think she knew, Marceline was walking her down the hallway with an arm still slung around her shoulder. As they turned the corner, Bonnibel saw Lady searching in her locker and smiled. “Hey, Lady!”

Lady turned around before Marceline pulled her arm from around Bonnibel and stepped away from her. Bonnibel laughed as Lady’s blue eyes widened. “Hi, Bubblegum. You’ve made more new friends, huh?”

Bonnibel decided to tease Marceline. “Oh yeah. We’re _best_ friends, aren’t we Marceline?”

“Oh, shut up. You know I just said that to save you from that douchebag.” Marceline rolled her eyes, but Bonnibel swore she saw the girl’s pale cheeks flush a light pink.

“But we’re best friends.” Bonnibel objected, a smirk similar to Marceline’s on her face.

“You want me to call off the truce?”

“Fine, you win.” Bonnibel grumbled. “Grumpy butt.”

“ _Grumpy butt_? Wow, I’m so offended.” Marceline sarcastically shot back.

“Punk.”

“Compliment.” Marceline reminded her.

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. “You’re impossible.”

Marceline winked, setting off down the hall. “That’s the point, nerd. Splitsville, dorks.”

“Bye, Marceline.”

Lady gripped onto Bonnibel’s arm and pulled her in the opposite direction. “What the hell was _that_?”

“I don’t know.” Bonnibel chuckled. “She’s being civil with me.”

“Marceline isn’t civil with anyone.”

“She is now.”

“But -,”

“Can we just drop it? I’m positive there are more interesting things to talk about.” Bonnibel stated.

Lady sighed. “It’s just weird. Marceline never lets anyone talk to her.”

“Didn’t I just ask you to drop it?”

“Fine.” Lady muttered, a disheartened expression on her face.

* * *

 

When Bonnibel and Lady arrived at their usual spot, they were surprised to see that Marshall had shown up again. They weren’t surprised to see he was bugging Fionna and stealing her food when she wasn’t looking.

Bonnibel made her way over to Gumball and sat down. “I asked Marceline.”

“What’d she say?”

“She said he’ll…have intercourse…with anything with a pulse.” Bonnibel said.

“You didn’t tell her why you wanted to know, did you?”

“Uh…no.”

“You did.” Gumball sighed, slapping a hand to his face. “She’ll tell him!”

“She said she wouldn’t. I made sure.” Bonnibel assured.

“And you trust her?”

“Not particularly, no, but -,”

“She’s going to tell him and everything will be ruined.” Gumball interrupted. “Oh, God.”

“She won’t. She did say that she wouldn’t tell anyone.” Bonnibel promised. “And I believe her. Think about it; who is she going to tell?”

“Uh, Marshall?”

“She told me that all they do is insult each other. I don’t see how this would come up there.” Bonnibel stated. “I think you should ask him out.”

Gumball sighed and shook his head. “No. He likes Fionna. He doesn’t care about me.”

Bonnibel thought for a minute, before turning to Marshall who was playing with Fionna’s hair, much to the blonde’s annoyance. “Hey, Marshall!”

Gumball’s eyes widened and he grabbed Bonnibel’s arm. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Trust me.” Bonnibel whispered to him.

Marshall grinned. “What’s up, Bonnibel?”

“Would you want to hang out with me and Gumball this weekend?” Bonnibel asked.

“Sure, dude. What day?” He asked.

“Sunday.” Bonnibel smiled.

“Cool. Text me your address and I’ll come over.” Marshall stated, before turning back to Fionna who glared at him.

Bonnibel smiled at Gumball. “There. I’ll say that something came up and then you two will be alone.”

“You’re a genius.” He grinned, throwing his arms around her in a hug.

* * *

 

Bonnibel was late to class. This was a first for her. She’d gone to the bathroom, thinking she had enough time, and now she was running three minutes late, and counting. She was sprinting to class, when she ran into someone.

She felt their body tense up, and she was slammed against the cold grey lockers. She was terrified, but looked up at her assailant. Marceline.

“Hi, Marceline.”

She felt the other girl’s grip loosen and saw Marceline’s red eyes soften. “Bonnibel.”

“I’m sorry for running into you.” Bonnibel tried her best to stay calm. “I’m just going to be late for class and I’ve been told that the teacher locks you out if you’re late.”

Marceline let go of Bonnibel’s purple jacket. “You’d better run, then.”

Bonnibel shot a grateful smile to Marceline as she ran down the hall, making it to her English class just in time, taking her seat next to Lady. “You nearly got locked out! What took you?”

“I lost track of time and I ran into Marceline on the way here – literally.”

Lady’s eyes widened. “And she didn’t kill you?”

Bonnibel smiled a little. “She looked like she was going to, but I apologised and she let me go.”

Lady was shocked. “That’s not like her. One time Finn literally brushed past her in the hall and she shoved him over.”

Bonnibel frowned, and the rest of the lesson, she couldn’t stop thinking about Marceline and how complicated she could be.


	8. eight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and keila hang out and get onto the topic of bonnie.

**Friday 24 th January 2014.**

When Marceline woke up, she shuffled further under her covers and tried to go back to sleep when she realised it was a Friday. She _hated_ any day she was required to go to school. She envied Guy, Keila and Bongo and how they’d graduated. She still had a year and half left.

She clung onto Hambo tighter, and tried to get comfortable. Simon wouldn’t care if she missed a day of school, right? Besides, she could always just say that Marshall didn’t wake her up or something.

She sighed and sat up, her duvet under her chin. She knew Simon would be disappointed in her if she started skipping school again. Swinging her pale legs over the side of her bed, she shivered at how cold her room was, but dragged herself out of bed and ran a hand through her hair which had become a tangled mess overnight. She grabbed her phone from where it was left to charge on her bedside table, checking to see if she had any notifications, which she usually didn’t unless Keila got drunk and decided 3am was a good time to annoy her. She was surprised when there was two missed calls, one text and a Facebook notification. She frowned at the last one; nobody she was friends with bothered with Facebook, so she had no idea who that would be. Both missed calls and the text were from Keila, and Marceline couldn’t help but laugh when she read it.

_**Keila (4:17AM) Luv u marmalade** _

She chuckled. That was definitely a drunken text. She replied to it and hoped that even in her drunken state, Keila had managed to put her phone on silent.

_**Marceline (7:05AM): you fucking dork** _

_**Marceline (7:05AM): love you too though, get some aspirin for the headache you’ll definitely have** _

She checked her Facebook to see that princess had sent her a friend request. She frowned. Didn’t she tell the kid not to bug her? She really didn’t know how she felt about Bonnibel. She was surprisingly nice to her, and she didn’t know if she liked that or not. She had to admit, kids in her grade actually being nice to her wasn’t something she was used to. Most people were afraid of her, not that she cared. She didn’t want to get close to anyone else; it made it easier for them to hurt her.

She sighed in defeat, accepting the friend request, putting her phone down on her bed, before looking down at Hambo who was still in her arms. “At least she’s not _totally_ lame, right, bud?”

She smiled down at the stuffed toy before gently placing him on her pillow and standing up, knocking her warm duvet from her lap. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, stretching out her arms and cracking her knuckles. She looked over to her bass in temptation, sighing to herself when she noticed the time. She’d only just have time to get ready and have breakfast before she’d have to set off for school.

She walked over to her bedroom window and looked over the street which was deserted. She smiled; Simon’s car was still here. She walked out of the room and downstairs to see him putting things into a bag for his classes, while Schwabl watched from his basket. “Hey, Simon.”

“Morning, Marcy. Did you sleep okay?” He shot her a gentle smile that reminded her of when she first met him as a scared seven year old.

She grinned. “Always do when I have Hambo around.”

“Good. Have you talked to Bonnibel this week?” Simon asked.

“Why do you want me to make friends with her?” Marceline questioned.

“She’s a good kid, and it’d be good for you to make more friends. Besides, she doesn’t seem fooled by the whole tough façade you put on.” Simon shrugged.

Marceline scoffed, a small smile on her lips. “What tough façade? I’m naturally macho, Simon.”

He laughed. “You sleep with a teddy bear, Marcy.”

“Shut up, Simon.”

“Talk to Bonnibel, okay?”

“Will you pay me?”

“No! I’m not going to pay you to make friends, Marcy.” Simon laughed.

She sighed. “Meanie.”

He rolled his eyes. “How old are you, seven? I remember meanie was your go-to insult then.”

“You were the one who told me not to swear and it’s the first thing that came to mind, okay?”

He smiled. “I’m going to set off to school. I’ll see you guys when you get there.”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah. See you in a bit.”

He hugged her when he stood, and Marceline relaxed into the comforting hold. “Don’t forget to wake your brother up.”

“I won’t.” She let go of him, watching as he walked out of the living room. She heard his car start outside, and she let out a sigh and traipsed into the kitchen, pouring herself a bowl of Lucky Charms. She ate them as quickly as she could, trying not to think about school, before placing the bowl in the sink and heading upstairs, pushing open the door to Marshall’s room. She flicked the light on, and looked around his messy room, turning her nose up in disgust. “Geez, dude. Tidy up in here.”

“What are you, my Mom?” Marshall groaned from his spot on the bed, his left eye open a crack.

“Might as well be.” Marceline shrugged. “You don’t do anything for yourself. Get up.”

She walked into her own room at that, pulling her closet open and grabbing a pair of black skinny jeans and a t-shirt advertising one of her favourite bands. She quickly changed from her pyjamas into her clothes and began working on the mess that was her hair when her phone started ringing. She picked it up from her bed, looking at the caller ID. Keila. She answered. “Sup, Keila?”

 _“I have a headache.”_ The other girl complained. _“Help me, Marmalade.”_

“Will you _ever_ stop calling me that?” Marceline questioned.

 _“No. It has been your nickname since we met, there’s no going back now.”_ Keila replied. _“Seriously though, come over. I need you to help me get over this hangover.”_

“Can’t. Unlike _some_ lucky people in our band, I have to go to school.” Marceline shot back.

_“Just say you overslept. Simon won’t know.”_

“Yeah, he will. He was here this morning when I got up. I’ll come over later, okay?” Marceline stated.

Keila groaned. _“Ugh, fine. Don’t invite the guys, though. Just us.”_

“Sure.” Marceline stated.

 _“Have fun at school.”_ Keila tried to sound enthusiastic.

“Likely.” Marceline scoffed. “I hate school, you know that. It sucks now that you guys graduated.”

 _“It sucked before.”_ Keila reminded her.

“True. It sucks harder. They won’t even let me wear my nose ring anymore.” Marceline corrected herself. “Feel better later, man.”

 _“Yeah, yeah.”_ Keila sighed. _“I’m never getting drunk again.”_

“You said that a week ago.”

 _“Shut up.”_ Keila laughed. _“God, my head hurts.”_

“Get some aspirin and water and you’ll be fine.” Marceline replied.

 _“Thanks.”_ Keila said. _“I’ll see you when you finish school?”_

“Yeah.” Marceline replied. “I’m going to finish getting ready. Bye.”

 _“Bye.”_ Keila mumbled. _“Love you, Marmalade.”_

“Love you too, Keila.”

Marceline hung up and put her phone down on her bedside table. She smiled a little. Her best friend always managed to make her do that. She went back to brushing her hair until she had finally brushed out all of the tangles, walking downstairs and putting the right books in her backpack and pulling on a pair of Vans. Then, she walked into the living room and flopped herself down on the couch, flicking on the TV and searching through the channels – nothing good was on on a morning – and waited for Marshall to come downstairs.

For some reason, princess came to mind. Why? Marceline had no idea. She just didn’t understand why Simon wanted them to be friends so much. She had plenty of friends already, just none at school, and she was fine with that. She had her music to keep her company. Although, there was no denying that Bonnibel wasn’t actually _that_ bad. Marceline could tolerate the girl’s presence for more than one minute without wanting to punch her, so she figured maybe talking to her wouldn’t be so bad.

Marshall burst into the living room when she was watching a very stupid infomercial on Snuggies. “You ready?”

Marceline nodded, switching off the TV. “Yeah. We’re kind of early, so we can just go and hang out in Simon’s room until class starts.”

“Don’t you have him first, anyway?” Marshall frowned.

“Nope. I have Literature. I have Simon after break for an hour.” Marceline shrugged.

Marshall nodded. “Cool. Hey, you want to hang out with me and Bonnibel on Sunday?”

Marceline scoffed. “Yeah, I’d _love_ to hang out with you and your pet nerd.”

He smirked a little. “I know you like her, Marce.”

“I don’t like her.”

“Liar.” Marshall replied. “Tell me how you really feel.”

“I’m neutral.” Marceline admitted. “I don’t like her, but I don’t dislike her.”

Marshall grinned. “Really? That’s awesome. Seriously, hang out with us on Sunday. She’s bringing a friend who is a guy, maybe you can do some smoochin’.”

“Fuck off, Marshall. Besides, that dude’s gay.”

“Whoa, what?” Marshall frowned.

“Mhm.”

“Hm.” Marshall shrugged. “That’s cool, I don’t judge.”

“Anyways, let’s go.” Marceline replied, motioning towards the door.

He nodded, and the two walked outside and into Marceline’s car.

* * *

 

Marceline didn’t know how she felt when she walked into Simon’s classroom and Bonnibel was stood talking to him. She sighed, walking past them and sitting down in Simon’s desk chair, getting herself comfortable. Marshall perched on the edge of Simon’s desk. “Hey, Bonnibel.”

She smiled. “Hi, Marshall. Marceline.”

Marceline looked up. “Hey.”

“Did you do the History homework?”

“You’d better be joking right now.” Marceline said.

Bonnibel chuckled a little. “Nope, sorry.”

“I didn’t even know we _had_ homework.” Marceline sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead.

Bonnibel approached her, pulling a sheet out of her pink backpack. “Here. You can copy this if you’d like.”

“Why are you helping me?” Marceline frowned. She was uncertain as to whether Bonnibel wanted something from her or if she was just being genuinely nice. Probably the former. Nobody was ever nice to Marceline.

“I owe you for helping me with Ricardio. He hasn’t talked to me since you threatened him the other day.” Bonnibel smiled, holding the sheet out.

Marceline took it and scanned it over. There was a set of about six questions, which Bonnibel had answered in huge paragraphs. “Is it cool if I borrow this to get the questions or whatever? I’ll answer them myself at lunch.”

Bonnibel nodded. “That’s fine.”

“I’ll get it back to you at the end of lunch or in class or whatever.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Okay.”

“Thanks for this, dude.”

“You’re welcome.” Bonnibel replied. “Honestly, you can copy all of my homework in exchange for getting rid of Ricardio.”

Marceline smirked. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Marshall frowned. “That guy was still bugging you?”

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah, but Marceline got rid of him.”

“If he bugs you again, let me know.” Marceline said. “I hate guys like that.”

Simon frowned. “What happened?”

“This boy wouldn’t stop harassing me and asking me out, so Marceline basically threatened him with his life.” Bonnibel chuckled.

Simon smiled. “I told her to stop being so mean, but she doesn’t listen.”

Marceline spun around on Simon’s chair, laughing a little. “What, you want me to go over to the guy and gently pat him on the head and ask him to leave her alone all polite and stuff? Like he’d listen to that. Guys don’t listen to anything until you threaten to shoot them in the dick or something.”

Marshall cringed. “Painful.”

Bonnibel found herself laughing at Marshall’s reaction, but decided to change the subject for him. “Are you still hanging out with me and Gumball on Sunday?”

“Sure.” Marshall nodded.

“Okay. I might not be able to come, after all.” Bonnibel said.

Marshall pouted like a little kid who’d just been told off. “Aw! Why not?”

Bonnibel floundered. “Uh…um…” She looked around the room for something that might trigger an excuse, and eventually her eyes fell on Marceline. “Marceline and I are meeting up. She’s going to help me get caught up in History.”

Simon looked pleased at this, and Marceline stopped spinning around in Simon’s chair and looked up at Bonnibel, an eyebrow quirked up in confusion. “I am?” Bonnibel’s eyes widened and she looked at Marceline, pleading the girl to play along. Marceline caught on. “I _am_. Yeah.”

Marshall frowned. “Really?”

Marceline nodded. “Yep.”

He shrugged. “Oh. It’s cool you’re making friends, sis.”

Marceline bit her lip, holding back laughter. “Yeah, totally.”

“Anyways, I’m going to head to class. Later guys.” With that, he walked out of the room.

The second the door shut behind him, Marceline burst out laughing, so much that there were tears in her eyes. “Oh my god, how did he _not_ figure out that was a lie? Fuck, how stupid can someone _be_!?”

“Marceline, be nice to your brother.” Simon chastised her.

She wasn’t listening. “You can tell I’m the oldest. I’m the alpha twin in every aspect.”

Bonnibel laughed. “Alpha twin?”

“Yeah,” Marceline said, “Like, I’m older and therefore wiser, and I’m smarter and stuff. I’m also cooler.”

Bonnibel smiled a little. “Well, I’m going to go to my class. Have fun being the alpha twin, Marceline.”

Marceline nodded. “I think I’m going to head off too.”

“Why don’t you guys walk together?” Simon suggested.

Marceline sighed, but didn’t object as Bonnibel expected she would. “What’ve you got now?”

“Um…English Language.” Bonnibel stated.

“Cool. We’re going the same way. I have English Literature.” Marceline replied, standing up and grabbing her black backpack and the homework sheet Bonnibel had given her.

Bonnibel frowned. “I thought only the smart people were allowed to do English Literature?” She blurted out.

Marceline looked up, eyebrows raised. “Yeah, and I’m smart. Get used to it, princess.”

“Stop it with the princess, _Marcy_.” Bonnibel countered.

“You’re no fun.” Marceline grumbled, making her way to the door, pulling it open.

“I am fun.” Bonnibel insisted. “I just don’t find being called ‘princess’ enjoyable.”

Marceline walked out of the classroom, Bonnibel following closely behind. “Yeah, you like doing freaky ass science experiments.”

“They’re not freaky.” Bonnibel replied. “Recently I conducted an experiment on -,”

“Yeah, yeah,” Marceline interrupted. “I’m already tired enough, I don’t need to be falling back to sleep already.”

Bonnibel gave Marceline a gentle smack on the arm. “Shut up.” She then realised what she’d just done. “Oh, god. I’m sorry. I forgot about your no touching rule, and I’m really sorry -,”

“Dude -,”

“Seriously, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!” Bonnibel rambled. “Please don’t hurt me or anything.”

“Dude, chill -,”

“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you? My friends warned me not to make you mad.” Bonnibel continued.

Marceline realised the girl wasn’t listening to her, and she raised her voice and grabbed Bonnibel by her shoulders. “Bonnibel!”

Bonnibel gulped. “What?”

“I’m not going to hurt you. I don’t care if you touch me, okay? It’s fine.”

Then, Bonnibel did something incredibly unexpected. She pulled Marceline in for a tight hug.

And Marceline _liked_ it.

* * *

 

“It was _weird_ , Keila.” Marceline sighed as she sat down on Keila’s couch. “You know how I don’t like people that I’m not comfortable with touching me.”

“Yeah.” Keila nodded. “I don’t know, man. Maybe you just feel protective over her or something. Didn’t you say she’s kind of innocent or whatever?”

“Maybe.” Marceline bit down on her lip and leant back, getting herself comfortable. “I don’t want to like her.”

“Why not?” Keila questioned, sitting down and putting an arm around Marceline.

“It’d make it easier for her to hurt me.” Marceline sighed. “You know, she’s friends with the girl that always used to spread rumours about us.”

“Ah. You’re wary because of that.” Keila smiled.

Marceline nodded. “I’m just saying, maybe LSP is making her be nice to me so they can do stuff to me or whatever.”

“ _Or_ she could actually just be nice.” Keila suggested, wrapping her arms around Marceline in a hug. “Not everyone is some sort of evil agent out to get you, Marmalade.”

Marceline sighed and rested her head on Keila’s shoulder. “I know.”

“You made friends with me just fine.” Keila reminded her.

“I was five and you pitied me.” Marceline rolled her eyes at the older girl.

Keila laughed. “And look where my pity got me. I’m glad that five year old you was a little butterfingers, though. If you hadn’t have spilt marmalade all over me then we’d probably have never talked.”

“And the best guitarist on the planet wouldn’t be in my band.” Marceline finished, a smile creeping onto her face.

Keila gave Marceline one last squeeze before letting go of her. “Come on, let’s play some music or something.”

Marceline sighed. “I don’t know, I’m not really feeling it.”

“I’ll let you play on my Gibson.”

“You know, suddenly I’m feeling quite musical.” Marceline stood up, smirking.

“Wow, I wonder how that happened.” Keila laughed, and the two of them walked into a different room where their band usually practiced.

It was a spacious room; originally it’d been a second bedroom, but Keila rarely had house guests and Bongo’s parents were starting to get annoyed with how loud they were playing. Keila had moved out the second she’d turned 18, and got rid of her guest bed and kept the room as a band room. There were a few of Keila’s many guitars hung on the white walls, and there was a drum kit opposite the door. Three microphones were set up – for Marshall, Keila and Marceline – and there was a black couch in the corner adjacent to the door. Most of Keila’s guitars were organised on guitar racks which were near Bongo’s drum kit. They were ordered in brands; Gibson, Epiphone, Fender and Taylor. Keila passed Marceline her newest purchase; a cherry red Gibson Les Paul. “Be careful with my precious.”

Marceline laughed. “You know I will be.”

“True, which is why I only let you play my guitars when the guys aren’t here. They’d probably attempt to smash one to try and be ‘punk rock’ or something.” Keila laughed.

Marceline walked over to the couch and sat down, strumming a few chords on the guitar. “It sounds really good unplugged.”

“It’s awesome when you plug it in and put a bit of distortion on it.” Keila said. “I’m going to play my Fender.”

“The Strat?”

“Nah, the Telecaster.” Keila stated. “I changed the strings on it the other day, and on my Fender acoustic.”

“Does your Epiphone SG still have a broken E string?” Marceline asked.

“Yeah, I keep saying I’m going to restring it, but I always forget. Got other things to do, you know?”

“Like getting drunk and ringing me at 3am?”

“Shut up, Marmalade.”

Marceline chuckled a little and strummed the introduction to ‘I Swear This Time I Mean It’ by Mayday Parade, before sighing and putting the guitar down. “Yeah, I really have too much on my mind to play.”

“We could go for a drive, if you want.” Keila offered, grabbing her guitar and placing it back in the rack.

“Yeah, that’d be cool.” Marceline nodded. “Do you want me to drive?”

“Nah, we’ll take my car.” Keila smiled. “We can go up to the cliff, if you want.”

Marceline grinned. “Yeah. I like it up there.”

The cliff was the one place Marceline didn’t mind in the town. It took around ten minutes to get up there from Keila’s apartment by car. There wasn’t a road up to the top; you’d have to park at the bottom and walk up, but when you’d get there, it’d be worth it. The entire town could be seen from up there; you could even see other towns. It was exceptionally beautiful at night, when everything was lit up in different colours and the town became a sea of lights.

By the time Marceline and Keila had walked up, it was 5pm and just getting dark. They took a seat on the single cold bench and looked out towards their hometown, their breath coming out in puffs of smoke. Keila pulled out a packet of cigarettes and put one between her teeth. Marceline grabbed it and threw it as far as she could. “You said you’d quit.”

Keila sighed and looked down and the pack, before hurling it off of the cliff. “I will.”

Marceline hugged her. “Good.”

“It’s cute how you care about my health, Marmalade.” Keila replied.

“Shut up. I just don’t want you dying any earlier, okay?” Marceline gave Keila a light smack on the upper arm.

“Yeah, yeah.” Keila smiled. “I’m glad you don’t do it, you know? It’s a bad habit. Kind of like how you bite your nails.”

Marceline looked down to her fingernails, which she had bitten down as far as she could. “Yeah, I get it. I just hate smoking.”

“So much that you have a t-shirt.” Keila finished. “It’d be ironic if you wore it and started smoking.”

“Good thing I don’t plan on smoking any time soon.”

“Good.” Keila nodded.

“How’s work?” Marceline asked.

“Boring, as usual. Still waiting on you to write that hit single.” Keila joked, gently nudging Marceline.

“I’m working on it, I promise.” Marceline laughed.

“How’s school going, though?” Keila asked. “Grades, I mean. Not how much you hate socialising.”

Marceline chuckled a little. “They’re good, I guess.”

“What’re you getting?”

“Bs in all the sciences and math and As in everything else.” Marceline shrugged.

Keila grinned. “That’s awesome. I bet Simon was proud.”

“Yeah.”

“Your Mom would’ve been, too.”

Marceline gulped, nodding. “Yeah.”

Keila smiled. “Do you want to crash at mine tonight?”

Marceline shook her head. “Nah. I need my own bed. You can stay over if you want.”

“Fuck yeah, your bed is the most comfortable thing ever.”

“Remember that time you started a story with ‘I was in Marmalade’s bed’.” Marceline laughed. “And everyone was like ‘what the fuck’?”

Keila grinned. “Yeah, that was pretty funny,” She threw an arm around Marceline’s shoulders. “Shall we go to mine and I’ll get my stuff to stay at yours?”

“Yeah, sure.” Marceline nodded.

Keila stood up and held out a hand, pulling Marceline up from the bench they were sat on. Marceline shot her a grateful smile and the two walked away from the cliff’s edge and towards Keila’s car.

As they descended from the cliff’s edge, Keila slung an arm around Marceline’s shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I love you, okay?”

“Love you too, dork.” Marceline smiled, shrugging Keila’s arm off her. “Race you to the car!”

She’d shot off down the hill before Keila could process what she’d just said, and the older girl chuckled before chasing after her.

* * *

 

They arrived at Marceline’s house and said a quick hello to Simon who was sat in the living room watching a science show. Marshall had apparently gone out with Guy and Bongo. Marceline gave Simon a quick hug and went upstairs with Keila, collapsing on her bed. “I vote we get in our pyjamas now.”

“I second that.” Keila grinned.

Neither of them bothered going into a separate room to get changed; they’d changed in front of one another so many times in the past twelve years that it didn’t bother either of them. Once they’d gotten changed, the two of them laid down on Marceline’s bed, and Marceline turned on her TV. “What do you want to watch?”

“Shaun of the Dead.”

“Specific.” Marceline commented, standing up and opening up her DVD drawer.

Keila shifted on her bed, producing Hambo from behind her back. “I think I sat on Hambo.”

Marceline smiled a little. “That’s cool, man.”

“Remember when you used to carry him around 24/7. You literally brought him to school.” Keila teased, smirking.

“Shut up.” Marceline’s cheeks flushed as she looked through her DVDs.

“You were cute. What happened?”

“I got cuter.”

“Well played, Abadeer.”

Marceline grinned. “Not going to lie, I do sometimes wish it was socially acceptable for me to take him to school.”

Keila laughed. “Aw, Marmalade! I’ll admit, it was one of the reasons I pitied you when you were a little loner kindergarten.”

“I wasn’t a loner.”

“Even Marshall didn’t talk to you, and he’s your twin brother.” Keila pointed out.

“Shut up.” Marceline mumbled, grabbing the right DVD and walking over to her TV, putting it in the player and walking back over to her bed, lying down next to Keila. “I had Hambo.”

“A teddy bear.” Keila laughed.

“Why were you even nice to me then? I was so fucking weird.”

“Because I realised you had no friends and I felt bad because I’d shouted at you.” Keila shrugged. “I was actually only going to be nice to you until you made friends your own age but that never happened and you grew on me.”

Marceline scoffed. “And that’s why you want me to make friends with Bonnibel! You want to get rid of me.”

Keila lightly slapped Marceline in the arm. “Shut up, you know I love you.”

Marceline smirked. “You’d better do.”

That night, Marceline went to sleep with a smile on her face.


	9. nine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline helps bonnie find a classroom, and bonnibel gets invited to her first proper social gathering.

** Monday 27th January 2014 **

On Friday, Bonnibel found out that German was an available class at her new school. She was overjoyed. She’d excelled in German back in New York, and it was her favourite class, so as soon as she found out that she could take it, she went to the office to request a timetable change. It took up half of her lunchtime, but she managed to drop Art – which she had taken up because there was nothing else – and replace it with German. Her timetable had changed about a little bit, but it was nothing she couldn’t get used to. Her English Literature was where she previously had English Language, and Literature was where Art had been. German took up her old Literature spot.

She still got confused when she went to school on Monday.

She knew she had German after lunch, and when she checked her timetable at break, she realised she had absolutely no idea where the German room was. She had stopped using her map after her first week; she hadn’t thought about the possibility of switching classes, and had thrown it in the garbage once she’d become comfortable with her surroundings. She’d asked her friends, and none of them had any clue, either. She even asked Marceline when she sat down in History.

“You don’t know where this room is, do you?” She spread her new timetable out on the desk between her and Marceline, who was pulling her notebook out of her backpack.

Marceline scanned over Bonnibel’s timetable, following the other girl’s finger. She took the wire of her left earphone from her mouth which she’d been chewing, finally sending Bonnibel a small nod. “Yeah. I know where it is.”

“Could you show me?” Bonnibel questioned, folding up her timetable and placing it neatly in the front pocket of her pink backpack. “I’d really appreciate it.”

“I guess,” Marceline shrugged. “Also, we have Language and Literature together.”

“You were creeping on my schedule?” Bonnibel chuckled, shooting Marceline a small smile.

“I was curious.” Marceline replied, running a hand through her messy black hair.

Bonnibel’s eyes fixed on Marceline’s left wrist, which was almost completely covered with brightly coloured bracelets; probably the only time Marceline would ever wear any colour other than black or grey, Bonnibel guessed. “You have a lot of bracelets.”

Marceline’s eyebrows arched, and she followed Bonnibel’s gaze, examining her arm as if she didn’t realise they were there. “Oh…yeah, I guess. They’re mostly just Warped Tour wristbands – I go every year – and band merch.”

“Warped Tour?” Bonnibel felt a frown settle across her face. “What’s that?”

“It’s a huge tour of like thirty different bands and artists. It’s pretty rad.” Marceline shrugged. “People say it’s like a summer camp for bands.”

“It sounds like fun.” Bonnibel commented.

“It is.” Marceline assured, circling one of the wristbands with her forefinger. “I’ve been every year since 2010. 2012 was my favourite year, probably.”

Bonnibel smiled. “I take it you’re going this year?”

Marceline nodded, her side-bangs falling into her eyes. “Yeah.”

Bonnibel watched as Marceline ran a hand through her hair. “So, you’ll walk me to my German class at the end of lunch.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Marceline played with the hem of her t-shirt, before meeting Bonnibel’s blue eyes. “Where shall I meet you?”

Bonnibel shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’ll come to Simon’s classroom if you want.”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Thank you in advance, by the way.”

Marceline didn’t reply, and instead began scribbling in her notebook, positioning herself so Bonnibel couldn’t see what she was writing. Bonnibel watched the girl for a while, but eventually turned her attention to the lesson.

* * *

 

“You’re a real pain in my ass, princess.” Marceline complained as Bonnibel insisted on stopping off at the cafeteria to buy a snack.

“Back at you, Marcy.” Bonnibel stated. “Especially when you call me princess.”

“Will you stop fucking calling me Marcy? It’s not cool, man.” Marceline sighed, running a hand through her hair.

“Stop calling me princess and we have a deal.”

“Fine, whatever.” Marceline huffed. “We’re not stopping at the cafeteria, though.”

“If I drag you, you might have to.” Bonnibel stated, gripping onto Marceline’s wrist and pulling her along.

Marceline groaned, but didn’t complain as Bonnibel pulled her through the double doors to the cafeteria. “You’re too much, nerd.”

Bonnibel kept a tight grip on Marceline’s arm as she dragged her through the cafeteria. “Don’t act like you can’t tolerate it.”

“Fuck off.” Marceline muttered, yanking her arm from Bonnibel’s grip. “I’m not going to escape, you know. You don’t need to keep me on a leash.”

“Promise?”

Marceline huffed. “I promise. Just hurry the fuck up and buy whatever you’re buying.”

“Is there any need for that language?” Bonnibel chided, picking up an apple and delving in her backpack for her money.

“Is there any need for your face?” Marceline shot back.

“Good one.” Bonnibel laughed, paying for her apple and walking out of the cafeteria and almost straight into Lady and LSP. She noticed Marceline tense up. “Hey guys.”

LSP eyed Marceline as if she was some sort of rabid animal ready to attack. “Hi, Bubblegum.”

Lady tried her best to ignore the pale girl stood biting at her fingernails. “Bonnibel.”

“Why aren’t you guys outside?” Bonnibel questioned.

Lady smiled. “LSP wanted me to wait with her for Brad.”

Bonnibel nodded. “I see,”

“So, what’re you two doing?” Lady asked.

“Oh, Marceline’s showing me the way to German.” Bonnibel turned to the other girl with a smile. “Right?”

Marceline looked up, eyebrows arched. “What? Oh, yeah.”

“I didn’t know you two were friends.” Lady said, a tone of disapproval in her voice.

“We’re not.” Marceline was quick to reply.

“Yeah, we’re _best_ friends.”

“Will you ever drop that?”

“Probably not.” Bonnibel grinned, before tugging Marceline’s sleeve. “Come on, let’s go.”

Marceline nodded and led Bonnibel through the school, all the way to the German room, which was hidden away at the end of a corridor. “Here.”

“Thanks. How do you know where it is, anyway?” Bonnibel questioned.

Marceline shrugged. “Keila used to do it.”

“Oh, that’s really cool.” Bonnibel lingered in the doorway for a minute.

“Aren’t you going to go in? You’re early, but you might as well.” Marceline frowned.

Bonnibel stared at Marceline with an unreadable expression. “Yeah, it’s just…,”

“Spit it out, nerd.”

“Thanks for everything.” Bonnibel mumbled, refusing to meet Marceline’s crimson gaze. “You don’t even know me all that well and you’ve helped me a lot.”

Marceline frowned. “I haven’t done anything.”

Bonnibel wrapped her arms around Marceline’s middle and hugged her, nestling her face into the girl’s pale neck, inhaling the strong scent of strawberries. Marceline didn’t hug back. “You have. You saved me from Ricardio, you taught me about music, and you helped me today. So, thanks. If there’s anything I can do in return, please let me know.”

“You can get off me, for starters.”

Bonnibel quickly retreated her arms and moved away from the pale girl. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Marceline waved a hand dismissively. “You know what you can do for me?”

“What?” Bonnibel’s smile was eager; she was anxious to repay Marceline for everything.

“Stay the fuck away from me.”

Bonnibel felt her stomach drop, and her jaw went along with it. “What? But I thought -,”

“We’re not friends, princess. We never will be.” Marceline stated. “I told you that.”

“But -,”

“No. I’m going. Don’t talk to me again, got it?”

Bonnibel didn’t have a chance to reply. Marceline was already walking back in the direction they came in.

* * *

 

“Marshall, why did Marceline tell me to leave her alone?”

“She’s scared of you.”

“ _Marceline_?”

“Yep.” Marshall nodded. “She actually kind of likes you so typically she’s avoiding you. She’s weird.”

“Can I make her stop avoiding me?”

“Probably not.” He stated, before placing the Chemistry book he was holding on Bonnibel’s lap. “So, this is what I really didn’t get in class,”

Bonnibel tuned out. Marceline _liked_ her? She couldn’t help but feel overjoyed at that new information. All Bonnibel had to do was make Marceline talk to her again, and they maybe had a shot at becoming friends.

“Are you even listening to me?” Marshall chuckled, leaning back on the couch.

“Is it that obvious?” Bonnibel retorted, eyebrow quirked up.

“What’re you thinking about?” Marshall asked.

“Isn’t _that_ obvious?”

“Marceline’s really getting to you, huh?” Marshall let out a sigh, standing up from the soft couch and stretching. “I’ll go talk to her.”

“Please don’t.” Bonnibel grabbed onto his arm and pulled him down. “I need to do the talking.”

“You know where her room is.”

“I didn’t mean now!” Bonnibel exclaimed, flicking through the pages in the textbook she was holding. “I have to tutor you.”

“You clearly have too much on your mind to do that. Go talk to her. She won’t bite.” Marshall assured.

Bonnibel stood up and sighed. “I’m doing this purely to clear my mind, got it?”

He rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

Bonnibel left the room and made her way up the stairs, which creaked slightly under her weight. She remembered the directions to Marceline’s room, and she stood in front of the white bedroom door for a few minutes, contemplating her next move. She listened to check if Marceline was actually in her room, letting out a low chuckle upon hearing the noises of a video game and Marceline frequently using words such as ‘motherfucker’. She finally plucked up the courage to knock on Marceline’s bedroom door.

“Come in.” Was said from inside, so Bonnibel gently pushed open the door to see Marceline sprawled out on her bed on her stomach, playing a game that looked to be something like Grand Theft Auto.

The game paused, and two crimson eyes fell on Bonnibel. “What do you want?”

“To talk.” Bonnibel awkwardly lingered in the doorway.

“You can sit down, if you want.” Marceline motioned to her bed. “But close the door first.”

Bonnibel pushed the door closed and nervously made her way over to Marceline. She awkwardly perched herself on the edge of the other girl’s bed. “So…”

“What do you want, princess?”

“You like me?”

Marceline frowned. “No. Who said that?”

“Marshall.”

“Well, he’s lying.” Marceline finished, laying back down on her stomach and unpausing her game. “If that’s all you’re here to talk about, you can go.”

“He said that you actually like me and that you’re scared so you’re avoiding me and that’s why you told me to leave you alone,” Bonnibel continued, tugging on the hem of her shirt. “And that makes no sense.”

“I don’t like you,” Marceline stated.

Bonnibel felt an odd sinking feeling in her stomach. “Oh.”

“ _But_ ,” Marceline began, “I don’t dislike you.”

“You’re neutral.” Bonnibel concluded.

“Yeah.”

Bonnibel smiled. “That’s great.”

“Why, exactly?”

“Because you might end up liking me.”

Marceline snorted and paused her game. “If you think we’re going to be best friends and ride off into the sunset on a magical flying pony, you’ve got another thing coming. Just because I can tolerate you doesn’t mean there’s any chance of a friendship.”

Bonnibel sighed.

“Sorry to disappoint, nerd.”

“You’re difficult.” Bonnibel evaluated.

Marceline’s game was resumed. “And? Shouldn’t you be tutoring my dumbass of a brother?”

“Yes. I’ll be getting back to that now.” Bonnibel stated. “And don’t be mean to your brother.”

As Bonnibel walked towards Marceline’s door, she heard a cackle. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Bonnibel walked out of the door, pausing before shutting it behind her. “Do I still have to leave you alone?”

Marceline let out a long sigh, sitting up on her bed. “I guess not.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Good. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“Whatever, nerd.”

“A simple goodbye would be nice.”

“You not existing would be nice.”

It was pretty obvious that upset Bonnibel, as the pink haired girl inhaled sharply. “Right. Okay. I’ll go. Bye.”

“Hey, wait.”

Bonnibel sighed. “What?”

“Sorry. You not existing would actually be kinda lame.”

Bonnibel looked at Marceline in surprise. “You really mean that?”

“Yeah.” Marceline mumbled, before the usual scowl returned to her face, spinning around and unpausing her game. “Now get out of my room.”

Bonnibel tiptoed back over to Marceline’s bed and wrapped her arms around Marceline’s middle, making the other girl jump. The pause screen flashed on the TV again. “Thanks, Marceline.”

“You really have to chill with the hugging.”

Bonnibel gave Marceline one last squeeze. “Or you need to get used to the hugging.”

Marceline sighed. “You’re really something, princess.”

“What did I say about that nickname?”

“My sincerest apologies, your Majesty.” Marceline mocked.

Bonnibel gently smacked the other girl’s arm. “Shut up. I’m going to go back downstairs. I’ll see you if you come down.”

“Whatever, dork.” Marceline shifted so she was lying on her stomach, unpausing her game and ignoring Bonnibel, who walked away from the other girl and slipped out of the room, heading back downstairs to Marshall who’d abandoned the studying and started watching TV.

He smiled when he saw her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. She was actually kind of nice to me.” Bonnibel said, a slight smile playing at her lips.

“She’s not good at talking to other people.” Marshall laughed. “But she is somehow able to have a full conversation with Schwabl.”

Bonnibel looked down at the white poodle who was napping in his basket. “Cute.”

“Oh, by the way,” Marshall’s face lit up, “My friend Guy’s parents are out of town so he’s having a party this Friday and he said I can invite whoever I want, so you can come, if you want. Bring Gumball too, he’s awesome. Fuck it, bring all your friends.”

“A party? Parties aren’t really my scene.” Bonnibel started, a small blush on her cheeks.

“I kind of figured, but it’ll be fine. Just stick with your friends.” Marshall shrugged. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Bonnibel sighed. “I guess I could go for maybe an hour.”

“Awesome!” Marshall grinned. “I’ll text you the address. What’s your number?”

Bonnibel recited her phone number from memory, and Marshall quickly typed it into his phone. “It won’t be too wild, will it?”

He chuckled, shrugging. “Course not. It’ll be fine. You’ll have fun.”

Bonnibel sighed to herself. She wished she could believe him.


	10. ten.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnibel goes to her first high school party and (sort of) makes a new friend.

** Friday 31st January 2014 **

Bonnibel had known Marshall was just lying to her when he said the party wouldn’t be too wild.

She was surrounded by drunken idiots. The room was hazy; the effect of a lot of people smoking suspicious looking cigarettes, and the music was so loud it made it impossible for Bonnibel to gather her thoughts and think of a sensible way out of this.

Her friends were out of the question. Everyone except herself and Lady were at least tipsy, and Bonnibel didn’t have a driver’s licence and Lady didn’t have access to a car and wouldn’t leave Jake to do anything stupid. She was stranded unless she found somebody to help her out of this situation.

She’d known she would dislike parties ever since she started high school. Actually having gone to one, she decided she _hated_ parties.

She was aimlessly wandering around the unfamiliar house, when she collided with a very drunk girl. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking, I -,”

“No problem, man. It’s all good.” The girl slurred, wobbling about a bit on the spot.

Bonnibel got a good look at the girl. She had tight curls which were pulled back into some sort of bun that Bonnibel hadn’t seen done before. She had a silver nose ring in her right nostril, which at first was rather off-putting for Bonnibel. The girl’s olive skin was flawless, and she had two hazel eyes that, underneath the influence of the alcohol, looked kind and caring. Bonnibel decided to introduce herself. “Hi. I’m Bonnibel.”

“ _You’re_ Bonnibel!” The girl exclaimed, holding her cup which was filled with a questionable substance up in the air, as if she was performing a toast. “Marmalade told me ‘bout you!”

Bonnibel frowned. “Marmalade? I’m afraid I don’t know anybody called Marmalade.”

The girl ignored Bonnibel’s statement. “I’m Keila,” She hiccupped.

“You’re Marceline’s friend, right?” Bonnibel questioned.

Keila threw a drunken arm around Bonnibel’s shoulders and attempted to walk down the hallway they were in. Keila staggered over, and Bonnibel quickly held the older girl up. “Thanks! I lost Marmalade, see.”

Bonnibel forced a smile and nodded, rather confused by the other girl’s statement. “Yeah. Do you need help finding your marmalade?”

“Yeah! I think she went to Guy’s room.” Keila slurred, almost tripping over a cable for the telephone that had been knocked onto the floor in the middle of the hallway.

“Is that upstairs?” Bonnibel asked.

Keila giggled. “Duh! Who has a bedroom _downstairs_? That’s backwards, yo.”

Bonnibel assisted Keila towards the rather steep flight of stairs, knowing it would be a terrible task to get her up there. “Are you sure you need to go up there?”

“Yeah!” Keila hiccupped. “Marmalade is up there!”

Bonnibel frowned. “O _kay_ …let’s go.”

It was hard getting Keila up the stairs; the older girl tripped up on most of them and nearly pulled Bonnibel down the entire flight when they got to the top. Keila let go of Bonnibel and went staggering over to a door, colliding with it.

“Ouch.” Keila rubbed her head and pouted like a little kid, and Bonnibel jogged over to the other girl and attempted to help her up.

Eventually, she managed to help Keila get to her destination, and the older girl ran off the second the room door was opened crying, “Marmalade!” with a stupid grin on her face.

Bonnibel was confused as to why the girl was so obsessed with marmalade. She figured she’d just ask Marceline when she next saw her. She was walking back towards the staircase when she heard a second voice from inside the room, one that sounded familiar.

“Fuck, you’re hammered.”

Bonnibel peered around the door to see Keila hugging Marceline, who was sat on a bed holding a guitar. Keila shot Bonnibel a toothy grin and pointed towards her. “She helped me up here.”

Marceline followed Keila’s finger until her crimson eyes met with Bonnibel’s blue ones. “Oh.”

“She’s really nice, Marmalade. You should make friends with her.” Keila advised.

Bonnibel snickered a little. It was _Marceline_ Keila had been referring to the entire time? Marceline sighed. “I know she’s nice. Now shut up, you’re being weird.”

“But Marmalade -,”

“Nope. I’m going to drive you home in a minute, okay?” Marceline said, leaning away from Keila and placing the guitar in her arms against the wall.

Keila pouted. “But I want to party.”

“You’ve partied. Do you want to stay over at mine tonight?” Marceline questioned, before turning to Bonnibel. “Hey, you wouldn’t mind getting a glass of water for her, would you?”

Bonnibel shook her head. “No. I’ll be right back.”

She slipped out of the room and jogged down the stairs, pushing through crowds of people and making her way into the kitchen. She had to search through the wooden cupboards until she eventually found a glass, pouring tap water into in and slipping back upstairs. Bonnibel entered the room and sat down on Keila’s right, passing her the glass. Keila smiled. “Thanks, but I’m not thirsty.”

Marceline sighed. “Drink it.”

“No.”

“You’ll regret it in the morning.” Marceline warned.

Keila let out a long sigh, quickly downing the water. “There. Can I go and party now?”

“No, I’m going to take you home.” Marceline said.

“To your house?”

“To my house.” Marceline confirmed, before her eyes landed on Bonnibel. “You want a ride?”

Bonnibel’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? I really don’t want to be a burden on you.”

Marceline shrugged. “It’s fine. I owe you for taking care of this mess right here,” She jabbed her thumb in Keila’s direction.

“Okay. Thanks.” Bonnibel smiled.

Marceline nodded. “It’s cool.”

Marceline stood up, and for the first time, Bonnibel noticed the nose ring in Marceline’s left nostril. “I didn’t realise you had your nose pierced.”

“Oh, yeah.” Marceline replied in the midst of helping Keila up from where she was sat on the bed. “I’m not allowed to wear it in school. Apparently my inappropriate face jewellery is distracting and thug-like.”

“The school said that to you?”

“Yep, first day of this year. Funny though, because in sophomore year they were perfectly fine with it.” Marceline rolled her eyes, scoffing. “Fucking dickheads.”

Bonnibel didn’t comment, but was honestly shocked with how she thought the piercing suited Marceline. Usually she would find that sort of thing terrifying and would steer clear from anyone who had one. “It suits you.”

“Oh…thanks.”

Marceline and Bonnibel half walked, half carried Keila to Marceline’s car, laying her down in the backseat. The drive to Marceline’s house was mostly silent aside from the occasional groan from Keila in the back, and they’d pulled up in front of the house in no time. “I’m just going to take her inside and put her to bed.”

“I can help, if you want.” Bonnibel offered.

Marceline frowned a little, but shrugged. “I guess, if you’re cool with that.”

They said a quick hello to Simon who was watching some sort of game show with Schwabl cuddled next to him on the couch, and then walked Keila upstairs and into Marceline’s bedroom. Marceline chucked a t-shirt and some pyjama shorts at her. “Put those on. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“Where are you going?” Keila mumbled.

“I have to take Bonnibel home.”

“Okay. Have fun Marmalade.”

“Whatever.” Marceline then turned to Bonnibel and frowned. “You _really_ need to change your shirt.”

Bonnibel looked down at her t-shirt. It was pink, as were most of her clothes, but there didn’t seem to be any stains on it or anything. “Why?”

“You can smell pot on that from a mile away.” Marceline stated.

Bonnibel gasped, sniffing her shirt. It smelt just like the smoke at the party. “Oh, no! I told my parents I was going to Lady’s for a bit. They’re going to kill me!”

“Dude, chill.” Marceline dug around in her t-shirt drawer, pulling out a shirt and tossing it to Bonnibel. “Just wear this.”

Bonnibel examined the shirt. It was black, and had a rather…intriguing graphic of some sort of dead marshmallows impaled on sticks, with a yellow snake slithering in between them. It wasn’t exactly her style; her parents would definitely question it. “Won’t my parents notice something?”

“Just tell them you spilt something on your other shirt and had to borrow one.” Marceline shrugged. “It’ll be fine, dude. Spray yourself with some deodorant and change shirts and you should be fine.”

Bonnibel nodded, quickly jogging into the bathroom and locking the door. She tugged off her other t-shirt and pulled on Marceline’s. The scent hit her like a ton of bricks. The t-shirt had a beautiful aroma that was a mixture of strawberries – Marceline’s perfume – and a beautiful scent that reminded her of all the wonders in life. It reminded her of watching sunsets, walking on cold winter nights and getting lost on purpose just for the fun of it. It was intoxicating. It was so _Marceline_.

She shook her head and snapped herself out of her trance, allowing herself to sniff the t-shirt one last time before walking back into Marceline’s room, where the girl was waiting on her bed for her. She was thrown a bottle of perfume. “Use that and just leave your other shirt here. I’ll try get it back to you for Monday.”

Bonnibel did as Marceline said, and then the other girl stood up. “Alright, let’s get you home. Keila, try not to hurt yourself while I’m gone.”

She got a grunt in response.

Bonnibel trailed after Marceline until they got to her car. Bonnibel climbed into the passenger seat, a question nagging at her mind. “Marceline? Why does Keila call you Marmalade?”

This elicited a light-hearted chuckle from the dark haired girl, a sound that was music to Bonnibel’s ears. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got the time.”

“I was like, five,” Marceline began, a small smile tugging at her lips, “And Keila was seven. Our elementary school had this breakfast club thing, and basically you could go and get free breakfast, so my parents would always drop me and Marshall off there. I was pretty much a total loser. Like, my only friend was a fucking teddy bear.”

Bonnibel cooed. “Aw, Marceline!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Marceline rolled her eyes, “Anyways, one day I was eating toast and I decided I wanted some marmalade on it, so I walked over and grabbed the huge pot of it, and as I was walking back over to where I was sat, I tripped and spilt it all over Keila. She got mad and yelled at me and me being an over emotional little idiot I started crying, and then she felt really bad and pitied me. Twelve years later, here we are.”

“And she _still_ calls you Marmalade?” Bonnibel laughed. “That’s so cute!”

“She told me she’s never going to stop calling me it no matter what.” Marceline replied. “She’s actually only called me Marceline once, and it was the day we met.”

“That’s a really cute story.” Bonnibel smiled. “How did you meet your other bandmates?”

“Marshall and I met them through Keila when we were in sixth grade and they were in eighth. We didn’t actually start a band until we were in freshman year and they were in their junior year.” Marceline explained. “Guy didn’t join the band for another few months, though. He plays keyboard.”

“What do you play?”

“I play bass and sing.”

“That’s amazing!” Bonnibel exclaimed. “It must take a lot of concentration to play both at the same time, and at such a speed. You’re a rock band, I assume, so there must be a lot of fast songs. I could _never_ do that. My Dad tried to teach me guitar once, but I was really terrible. It’s so impressive that you can do that. Do you play any other instruments?”

Marceline looked as if that was a lot of information to process, which it probably was. “Uh…not in the band, but yeah.”

“What else do you play?”

“Guitar, violin, piano, keyboard, ukulele and banjo.” Marceline listed, Bonnibel’s eyes widening more considerably as the other girl went on.

“That’s amazing!” Bonnibel gasped, “Did they all take a while to learn?”

“Not really. Give me a couple of hours and I can usually play pretty fluently. Depends on the instrument, really. Like, I learnt guitar before bass, and bass is just the four lowest strings of the guitar, so that was pretty easy.”

“Easy?” Bonnibel exclaimed. “I couldn’t even play a note on guitar. It hurt my fingers too much.”

“Yeah, your fingers get all calloused after a while. The fingers on my left hand – the hand that presses on the strings – are.”

“Interesting.” Bonnibel mused. “Did it not hurt to get them like that?”

“Oh, yeah.” Marceline nodded, “But I was eight and I believed Simon when he promised it’d get better.”

“Simon plays guitar?”

“No.” Marceline stated. “He _does_ play drums though.”

“Can you?” Bonnibel questioned.

Marceline laughed. A real laugh that took Bonnibel by surprise. “No, I’m _really_ bad at playing drums. I’ve tried like twice. I can’t focus on doing like twenty different things at once.”

“Maybe if you practised you might get better.” Bonnibel suggested.

“Nah, percussion isn’t really my thing.” Marceline dismissed her. “You said your Dad plays guitar?”

Bonnibel was surprised that Marceline was actually making an effort to keep the conversation going. “Yeah, he’s played for a couple of years. He decided to learn and then he told me he’d teach me and that didn’t go very well. He has an acoustic guitar at our house. It’s in his office, usually.”

“What brand?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t looked or anything.” Bonnibel shrugged. “I wouldn’t be able to tell, probably.”

“It’s usually written on the head of the guitar.” Marceline told her.

Bonnibel nodded. “What type of guitars do you have?”

“I have four electrics and 3 acoustics. The first electric I got was a really cheap Epiphone, one is an ESP, one is a Fender and the other – my favourite – is a Gibson. I got a Fender acoustic for Christmas last year and it’s definitely my favourite of my acoustics, and then one of the others is an Epiphone and the other is the first guitar I ever got and it cost me like $20 and it’s too small for me now because it’s only like a half sized one but I won’t ever get rid of it because I learnt to play on it.” Marceline explained.

“Cool,” Bonnibel responded, although she didn’t quite understand which brand of guitar Marceline mentioned was good and she didn’t really know how to respond.

“You didn’t understand any of that, did you?” Marceline questioned, a smirk on her face.

“No, I didn’t.” Bonnibel smiled, as the car pulled up in front of her house. “Thanks for the ride and the shirt.”

“No problem. Don’t worry about getting that shirt back to me. I don’t really wear it.” Marceline shrugged. “Besides, you seemed like you wanted to get out of that party. Not your scene, huh?”

“Not at all.” Bonnibel chuckled. “Thanks for everything.”

“Don’t worry about it, man.” Marceline shrugged. “You’re just lucky I was appointed Keila’s driver.”

“Otherwise you would’ve been as bad as her?” Bonnibel finished.

Marceline nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

“Well, thanks.” Bonnibel smiled, and leaned over to give Marceline a quick hug.

Marceline held Bonnibel at arm’s length. “Yeah…no hugging.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like it.”

“You don’t like _hugs_?” Bonnibel exclaimed as if it was some sort of crime.

“I do like hugs, just not when the person giving me them isn’t my friend.”

“Please?” Bonnibel pouted.

Marceline examined Bonnibel for a second, before she let out a heavy sigh. “Fine.”

Bonnibel wrapped her arms around Marceline’s tense, skinny form, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Thanks for everything. Drive safe.”

“Will do, dork.” Marceline rolled her eyes, pulling Bonnibel’s arms from around her. “Now get out of my car.”

Bonnibel slowly climbed out of the car. “Bye, Marceline.”

“Later, dork.”

Bonnibel walked up her driveway and into her welcoming, warm house. Her mother arrived from the living room the second she heard the front door shut. “Did you have fun with your friends?”

Bonnibel nervously watched as her Mom examined her shirt. “Yeah.”

“What’s with the outfit change, Bonnibel?”

“I spilt some Pepsi on my other shirt so I borrowed one from a friend. She’s going to get it back to me at school on Monday.”

Her Mom seemed to buy it. “Okay. Are you going up to bed now?”

Bonnibel checked her watch. 10:30PM. “Yeah. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She jogged upstairs before her Mom could ask her what she’d done with her friends and stripped from the blue jeans she was wearing. She pulled on a comfortable pair of pink pyjama shorts, and she didn’t take the shirt Marceline had given her off, and snuggled down in her bed. She put her phone on charge and quickly went on Facebook, sending Marceline a message.

_**Bonnibel (10:31PM): My parents believed the story. Thanks again. :)** _

She didn’t expect Marceline to reply, but she did.

_**Marceline (10:32PM): good to know** _

_**Bonnibel (10:32PM): Have a good night with Keila.** _

_**Marceline (10:34PM): yeah yeah** _

_**Marceline (10:34PM): sweet dreams, princess** _

_**Bonnibel (10:34PM): Without the sarcastic monotone you seem to have mastered, that just sounds like a loving gesture ;)** _

_**Marceline (10:37PM): fuck off** _

Bonnibel laughed, locking her phone and rolling over in her bed. She heard it vibrate, and she quickly rolled back over and read the message.

_**Marceline (10:38PM): just kidding don’t fuck off** _

She smiled. That was sweet, coming from Marceline. She looked down at her shirt and smiled even wider, taking in the scent of the soft cotton, and thought about how nice Marceline had been tonight. It was almost comforting.

_“Don’t worry about getting that shirt back to me.”_

_Oh, don’t worry, Marceline,_ Bonnibel thought, _I won’t_.


	11. eleven.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lady has a sleepover for her seventeenth birthday, and bonnie gets a glimpse of the real marceline.

** Friday 7th February 2014 **

It was Lady’s seventeenth birthday, and all of Bonnibel’s friends were upbeat for the whole day. Bonnibel hadn’t been told about the day, so she didn’t get Lady anything, but she did wish her friend a happy birthday and promised her that she’d buy something for her as soon as she could. Obviously, Lady had told her not to worry about it.

Bonnibel had grown closer with most of the group – Gumball especially. He was the only one of her friends she saw on a weekend, and they got together to study in the library every so often. LSP had accused her of having a crush on him, and Bonnibel was ridiculously amused by that statement. He _really_ wasn’t Bonnibel’s type.

Marshall had been getting a lot closer with her friends, too. He and Gumball had hit it off pretty well, and although Finn and Jake were both still intimidated by him, they were warming up to him. Marshall had developed a small friendship with Lady, and everyone was surprised when he came into school and handed Lady a card with his signature smirk on his face, earning him a glare from Jake. Everyone was pretty shocked that he knew it was Lady’s birthday and she even gave Marshall a hug.

Everyone was even more shocked when he offered to hold the party at his place that night.

“Uh…I think we were just planning on celebrating on movie day tomorrow.” Finn murmured.

Jake frowned. “Won’t your creepy sister be at your house, anyway?”

“Marceline? Nah, she doesn’t really leave her room.” Marshall shrugged. “Besides, Simon will be out so we’ll basically have the house to ourselves.”

Lady smiled. “I think that’s a great idea.”

LSP scoffed. “I’m not going if _Marceline_ is going to be there.”

“She won’t be.” Marshall assured. “She’ll lock herself in her bedroom and ignore all of us.”

LSP clearly wasn’t believing him. “We were going to have a slumber party at my house anyways. Just the girls.”

“We can do that, too.” Marshall said. “Simon doesn’t mind if I have girls sleep over. My band has sleepovers all the time. 3 guys, 2 girls. It doesn’t matter, I swear. Who’s in?”

“I’ll come.” Gumball hastily replied. Bonnibel giggled at the pink blush on his cheeks.

Fionna scowled at Marshall. “Ugh, I guess I will too.”

Cake frowned at Fionna. “I’ll go as your bodyguard.”

Lady smiled. “Jake and I will go.”

Jake frowned. “Um, I don’t think so.”

Lady scowled at him. “You’re coming. Finn?”

“I’ll go if Bubblegum’s going.” Finn said, directing his gaze to her. “She can stop Marceline if she tries to kill any of us.”

“I don’t get why you guys think I have some sort of control over her.” Bonnibel frowned. “We’re not even friends.”

Marshall scoffed. “Yeah, right. You coming or what?”

Bonnibel sighed. “I guess so.”

Marshall grinned. “Awesome.”

Finn looked to LSP. “Well? You’re the only one that’s not said they’re coming?”

“Whatever. I guess.” LSP stated, obnoxiously flicking her blonde hair from her face. She turned to Marshall and glared. “But if your creepy vampire sister does anything, I’m outta there.”

Marshall snickered a little. “ _Vampire_? Okay, I’ll make sure my sister doesn’t suck your blood.” Bonnibel cringed at his sarcastic tone, and knew LSP wasn’t too happy about it.

“Freak. There’s something wrong with both of you, and I know it.” LSP glared.

Marshall laughed a little. “Whatever, dude. Marceline doesn’t care what you think, and neither do I.”

* * *

 

Marceline wasn’t too happy with the news her brother brought home that day. “You invited those fucking idiots round? I’m sorry, but are you high? No.”

“Bonnibel will be here.” Marshall commented.

Marceline raised an eyebrow. “And why should I give a fuck?”

“Because you like her.”

“I _tolerate_ her.”

“Which is code for you like her.”

“Fuck off.” Marceline snapped. “Tell your stupid new friends to fuck off, too.”

“They’ll be here in half an hour. Be nice.” Marshall stated.

Marceline sighed. “You really think I’m going to listen to you? You’ve known me for seventeen years and you _still_ think I’m going to do anything you say? You really are a fucking idiot.”

“You’ve been like, ten times bitchier lately.” Marshall exclaimed. “Would you knock it off?”

“And you’ve been ten times more annoying.” Marceline shot back. “Whatever. Just tell your friends to keep it down.”

With that, she slammed her bedroom door on him and flopped down on her bed, letting out a long sigh. She knew it’d be a long night.

* * *

 

Bonnibel was actually having fun.

She’d arrived at Marshall’s house, and her friends were all already there, blasting music as loud as possible and messing around in the front room. They’d soon stopped that, and turned to watching stupid R rated comedy movies and Marshall decided they should order pizza.

“Yo, Bonnibel?”

She looked up to see Marshall smiling at her. “Yes?”

“Can you go upstairs and ask Marceline if she wants anything from the pizza place?”

Bonnibel nodded and stood up. “Okay.”

She went upstairs to Marceline’s room, and paused outside the bedroom door when she heard the soft strumming of a guitar. She smiled. It was incredibly relaxing.

When she knocked on the door, the strumming ceased. “If it’s Marshall out there, you can come in. If it’s any of his new nerd friends, fuck off.”

Bonnibel gulped. “It’s me.”

“Princess?” Marceline’s tone was quizzical.

“I told you not to call me that.” Bonnibel sighed. “I’ll go, it’s fine.”

She started walking towards the stairs, when she heard the door open behind her. She turned to see Marceline stood leaning against the door frame, Schwabl sat on her bed wagging his tail. “What do you want?”

“Marshall wanted to know if you wanted anything from the pizza place.”

“Uh…yeah. Pepperoni pizza.”

“Okay.” Bonnibel nodded. “I’ll let him know.”

“Cool.”

There was a rather awkward silence, and Bonnibel looked Marceline over. She had her nose ring in, and she was wearing a black Buffy the Vampire Slayer t-shirt. Bonnibel almost laughed. Rather ironic, if LSP’s suspicions were correct, which they clearly weren’t.

It was Bonnibel who broke the silence. “You’re really good at playing guitar.”

“Thanks.”

Bonnibel stared into the other girl’s crimson eyes for a second, before looking down and fiddling with her fingers. “Uh…I’m going to…” She pointed towards the stairs, quickly making her way down. She was about halfway when Marceline called her.

“Hey, nerd.”

Bonnibel paused, and looked in Marceline’s direction. “Yes?”

“Tell your friends to keep fucking quiet. It’s fucking annoying.”

Bonnibel noticed how pissed off Marceline looked, so she nodded and went to walk away, her palms sweating. She felt so awkward and out of place around the usually angry girl.

“And,” Marceline started. “If there’s going to be any cake, let me know. Maybe I’ll crash your little party for five minutes.”

Bonnibel nodded a second time and made her way back down the stairs, sitting down on the sofa. She thought for a minute. Did Marceline just scare her? Bonnibel hadn’t felt like that around Marceline since she met her.

Finn noticed Bonnibel was acting a little odd, and shuffled up next to her. “Are you okay, Bubblegum?”

She frowned at the blush on his cheeks. Didn’t she tell him not to think about her in that way? “I’m fine, Finn.”

“What did Marceline do to you?”

“She didn’t do anything.” Bonnibel insisted, directing her gaze away from the nervous boy next to her and turning to Marshall. “Marceline said she’ll have a pepperoni pizza.”

“Okay, cool.” Marshall nodded, going to put his arm around Fionna, who smacked him away.

Gumball settled down next to Bonnibel. He glanced at Finn, who was busy watching Jake and Lady battle it out at Mario Kart, before leaning down and whispering to her. “I need to talk to you.”

“Is it about Marshall?” She murmured back.

He nodded, and she followed him out into the hallway. He shut the door behind them and quickly checked in case anybody was listening, before talking. “It’s really bugging me how he’s flirting with Fionna. I think she’s starting to like it, too.”

“Just tell him how you feel, dumbass.”

Bonnibel and Gumball both looked up in surprise as Marceline walked down the stairs. Bonnibel frowned. “What’re you doing here?”

“Answering the door. Keila’s here.” Marceline nodded towards the front door, where through the translucent glass Bonnibel could see the faint outline of a person. “But yeah, if you like Marshall just tell him.”

“I can’t.” Gumball mumbled.

“Why not?” Marceline raised her eyebrows as she unlocked the door.

Gumball just stared back at her and didn’t respond. Bonnibel shot him a warm smile. “Yeah, why not?”

Gumball frowned at Marceline, before turning back to Bonnibel. “Can we go somewhere else? She scares me.”

Marceline snickered as she pulled open the front door. Keila quickly stepped inside and attacked Marceline in a hug. “Hey, Marmalade!”

“Hey.” Bonnibel was shocked when Marceline actually _smiled_ at Keila _and_ hugged the older girl back almost as tight. “Do you want me to tell Marsh to order you a pizza?”

“Yeah!” Keila grinned as she finally released Marceline and kicked her shoes off. “Actually, I woke up craving meat feast pizza this morning.”

“And I needed to know that because?” Marceline teased, an eyebrow quirked up in amusement.

“Because you’re my best friend and that was important information.” Keila responded, before she finally laid her hazel eyes on Bonnibel. “Hi!”

Bonnibel frowned. She really didn’t expect Keila to talk to her. “Uh…hello.”

“Don’t bother with her, Keila. She doesn’t associate herself with drug addicts like us.” Marceline stated. Bonnibel’s eyes widened and she looked up, only to see a smirk on Marceline’s face. “Chill out, princess. I’m only teasing you.”

Keila rolled her eyes. “Marmalade, you’re so immature sometimes.”

“Where’s the fun in being mature?” Marceline challenged.

“True.” Keila smiled, before turning her attention back onto Bonnibel. “Thanks for helping me out the other night at the party. I owe you one.”

“You really don’t owe me anything.” Bonnibel assured. “I was just trying to be nice.”

Keila smiled at her. “Well, thanks anyways. You’re pretty cool. Maybe you could get this one,” She nudged Marceline with her elbow, “To stop being such a grouch.”

“You’re asking me to achieve the impossible?” Bonnibel joked, before she realised what she just said and looked up at Marceline, expecting an angry glare.

Marceline was looking right at her with a playful smirk on her face. “Can’t argue with you there, princess.” Marceline then directed her gaze to Keila and nodded towards the stairs. “Come on. We have cookies and Disney movies waiting for us.”

Keila grinned. “Fuck yeah!” She shot a warm smile to Bonnibel as she headed for the stairs. “It was nice to meet you sober.”

Bonnibel smiled. “You too.”

Keila got halfway up the stairs before she realised Marceline wasn’t following her. “Marmalade, what’re you doing?”

“I’ll be up in a minute, I just have to ask Marshall to get you your pizza.” Marceline replied.

Keila nodded. “Cool. I’ll be in your room. Don’t kill me if I eat all the cookies.”

“If you managed to eat six packets of Oreos and two packets of Chips Ahoy in like two minutes, I’d be pretty impressed.” Marceline shouted after Keila as the older girl disappeared up the stairs. “But that’s not me giving you permission to eat everything.”

Gumball – who had been stood as silent as possible the entire time – finally spoke up. “Why do you want me to tell Marshall how I feel?”

“Because Marshall’s a fucking asshole and I think you’d be good for him.” Marceline shrugged. “Besides, it’s not like you’ve got anything to lose. You guys aren’t really anything more than acquaintances, so it’s not like you’d be losing your best friend or anything. Better to get it over with now than wait until you guys get super close.”

Bonnibel was amazed. “That’s actually really good advice.”

“Glad to know I reached your high standards, princess.”

Bonnibel didn’t comment on that statement, and instead turned to Gumball. “I agree with Marceline. Wow…that’s something I never thought I’d say.”

“Don’t get sassy.” Marceline shot back. “ _I’m_ the sass queen.”

Bonnibel laughed. “You tell yourself that.”

“Fuck off, princess.”

Gumball interrupted before the bickering could continue. “I’m not going to tell him. I’m just going to try and get over it. Can we leave now?”

Bonnibel shrugged. “Sure.”

Marceline sighed. “Tell Marshall to order Keila a meat feast.”

“Tell him yourself.” Bonnibel shot back.

“Really?” Marceline rolled her eyes and exhaled. “You’re _really_ going to make me be in a room with like ten of the most annoying people in school?”

“Those annoying people are my friends.” Bonnibel snapped.

“ _Whoa_ , princess just got snappy.” Marceline sardonically announced as Bonnibel pushed open the living room door.

“Shut up, Marceline.” Bonnibel sighed as she went and sat down on the sofa next to Finn. Gumball sat down on her free side, clearly conflicted about what to do about Marshall.

Marceline stayed leaning against the door frame. “Yo, Marsh. Keila’s here, she wants a meat feast pizza.”

“Cool. Tell her I said hey.” Marshall replied.

LSP scoffed from where she was sat. “What are _you_ doing here?”

Marceline raised her eyebrows. “Uh…I live here?”

LSP scoffed again. “Whatever.”

Marceline frowned, but rolled her eyes and shook her head, pushing herself from the door frame. “Later, dorks.”

With that, she was gone.

* * *

 

Bonnibel was the only one awake, so she decided to go into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

She was just pulling a glass out of the cupboard when she nearly jumped out of her skin.

“You kept the shirt I gave you?”

She wasn’t expecting anyone to be awake; it was past midnight. Typically, Marceline had to be the one to walk in on her when she was wearing nothing but the rock t-shirt Marceline had given her and a pair of skimpy pink pyjama shorts. “Um…yeah. I wear it a lot.”

Marceline frowned. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.” Bonnibel felt a blush rise onto her cheeks. “It’s really comfortable.”

Marceline showed an inch of a smile, and Bonnibel couldn’t help but grin. “You’re strange, princess. One minute you don’t like me and the next, you’re wearing the shirt I gave you.”

“I’ve never not liked you.” Bonnibel replied. “I used to be afraid of you, but I didn’t dislike you.”

“ _Used_ to be afraid of me? What did I possibly do to change that?” Marceline hopped up onto the counter and opened a cupboard door, grabbing a box of Pop Tarts.

“I think you’re secretly a big teddy bear behind the whole ‘I’m going to kill you all’ persona.” Bonnibel replied. “I’m good at reading people.”

Marceline raised a quizzical eyebrow as she put a single Pop Tart in the toaster. “Really?”

“Yes.” Bonnibel stated. “I think you’re not actually as scary as you seem.”

Marceline shrugged. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to find that out for yourself.”

“Is this an invitation to be friends with you?” Bonnibel teased, walking towards the sink and turning the tap on, filling her cup up with water.

Marceline snickered. “Not in the slightest.”

Bonnibel took a sip from her water. “I like you, Marceline.”

That took Marceline by surprise. “Wait, _what_?”

“I like you.”

“Are you kidding?” Marceline frowned.

“No.” Bonnibel took another sip from her drink, frowning at it. “I’d much prefer chamomile tea, but I doubt you have any.”

Marceline was too perplexed by how casually Bonnibel had changed the subject to respond. Instead, she reached over and opened another cupboard, throwing a box to Bonnibel. “Here.”

Bonnibel read the label. “Chamomile tea? You like this stuff?”

“Nah, it’s Simon’s. I don’t know how you can drink that stuff, it tastes like cat sick.” Marceline scrunched up her nose in disgust. “Green tea is better.”

“ _You_ drink green tea?” Bonnibel frowned as she placed the box on the counter.

“I can be civilised. I don’t just live off soda and beer.” Marceline shrugged. “I _actually_ live off strawberry milkshakes.”

Bonnibel chuckled. “That explains why you always smell like strawberries.” She saw Marceline smirk, and her eyes widened. “Not that I sniff you or anything. I’m not weird, I don’t…I have no idea how to make that sound any less creepy than it did.”

Marceline let out a light hearted laugh. “Yeah, quit while you’re ahead.”

There was an oddly comfortable silence which was broken by the toaster popping up Marceline’s Pop Tart and the dark haired girl nearly falling off the counter. “Fuck, that scared me. Fucking toaster.”

Marceline quickly pulled the Pop Tart out and put it on a plate. Bonnibel frowned. “I don’t get you.”

“What?”

“I don’t understand how sometimes we can have such casual conversations like this, and other times you’re doing your best to push my buttons.” Bonnibel explained.

“It’s entertaining to annoy you.” Marceline shrugged. “You get pretty irritated really easily.”

“I do _not_.” Bonnibel scoffed, folding her arms.

“Exhibit A.”

Bonnibel scowled, but found it unable to hold and ended up attempting to hide the grin from her face. She decided to change the subject. “Is Keila still here?”

“Yeah, she’s upstairs. She’s hyped up on energy drinks.” Marceline replied. “She wants to pull an all-nighter but me being the human embodiment of a fucking sloth is 100% against that. I’ll be cranky in the morning.”

“You’re always cranky.” Bonnibel shot back.

“Not _always_.” Marceline responded. “Just like…99.9% of the time. Sleep deprivation definitely won’t help.”

“So what did you and Keila do tonight?” Bonnibel asked.

“Talked, watched dumb movies, ate a little bit too much, played guitar. The usual.” Marceline shrugged. “We’re playing video games right now.”

“What movies did you watch?” Bonnibel persisted.

“Wreck It Ralph, Bolt, Cars and Finding Nemo.” Marceline replied. “It was fun.”

“I wouldn’t imagine you two watching children’s films.” Bonnibel commented, a small smile on her face.

Marceline shrugged, picking up her plate with the Pop Tart on. “They’re good. Anyways, I’m going back upstairs. Have fun with your dork squad.”

“They’re all asleep.” Bonnibel stated as Marceline headed for the door.

Marceline paused. “Oh. Even Marshall? That’s surprising. Usually he’s still up.”

“Yeah, they’re all asleep. I thought you’d be, too.” Bonnibel shrugged. “Is Simon still out?”

“Yeah, he’s spending the night at Betty’s.”

“Betty?”

“His girlfriend. You know Miss Grof, our English teacher?” Marceline replied. “They’ve been dating for like two years. It was funny, when he first brought her home we were in freshman year and she saw me and Marshall and the look on her face was hilarious. She was horrified.”

“She doesn’t like you guys?” Bonnibel frowned.

“Oh, she likes us now.” Marceline shrugged. “We were in our rebellious phase at that point in time.”

“Ah, I see.” Bonnibel nodded.

“Well, I’m going. Night.” Marceline pulled open the kitchen door and started making her way back towards the stairs, before she stopped and turned back to Bonnibel, letting out a long sigh. “If you wanted to come with, I guess that wouldn’t be _totally_ lame.”

Bonnibel’s face broke out into a grin. She’d been hoping Marceline would say that. “Yeah, sure.”

She followed the dark haired girl upstairs and into her bedroom, where Keila was laid out on Marceline’s bed. “Marmalade, you brought company!”

“I did.” Marceline nodded. “Be nice.”

“I’m always nice.” Keila shot back. “You on the other hand -,”

“Yeah, yeah.” Marceline waved her off, sitting down next to her on the bed. “Anyways, I’m putting the game back on.”

Marceline grabbed a remote control and unpaused Mario Kart which she and Keila had been playing, frowning when she saw she was in last place. Keila smirked. “Guess you’re not as good as you thought.”

“You fucking played the game while I was downstairs so you could overtake me!” Marceline exclaimed. “Nope, that is _not_ allowed.”

Bonnibel watched from the doorway as Marceline leapt onto Keila and grabbed the girl’s remote control, throwing it to the other side of the room. Marceline then sat on her until she’d overtaken Keila’s character in the game, before she clambered off her and sat back down. Keila jumped up and grabbed her remote, elbowing Marceline as she sat back down. “Bitch.”

“Consider us even.” Marceline smirked. “You got what you deserved.”

“You’re mean when we play video games.” Keila pouted, resting her head on Marceline’s shoulder. “I like normal Marmalade better.”

“And I like it when you’re not a cheating bitch.” Marceline teased.

Bonnibel sat down next to Marceline on the bed, watching the two girls racing each other on the screen. Marceline was first, but Keila was a close second, and the two of them kept bashing into each other and attempting to knock the other off the track. Both of them were swearing at one another and hitting each other whenever they got a chance.

Marceline ended up winning, and Keila fell backwards on the bed and groaned. “Marmalade! You _always_ win.”

“That’s because I’m fucking awesome.” Marceline shrugged, setting her remote down on the floor. “I’m getting pretty tired, so -,”

Keila cut her off. “Nope, don’t you wimp out on our all-nighter again.”

“But Keila!” Marceline whined. “I’m tired.”

Keila scoffed. “You’re always tired.”

“Fine.” Marceline huffed picking up her Pop Tart from her bedside table and taking a bite. “I’ll stay awake for like an hour. _Then_ I’m going to sleep.”

Keila grinned, wrapping her arms around Marceline’s middle. “Thank you. I know I’ll find a way to convince you to stay awake.”

“Buy me a new guitar and I’ll stay awake as long as you want.”

“You have like ten guitars. I’ll get you a new ukulele. They only cost like $40 at most.” Keila replied.

“I don’t have _ten_ guitars.” Marceline responded, rolling her eyes. “And I found a Fender ukulele for like $80.”

“Fender do ukuleles?” Keila frowned.

Marceline nodded. “Yep. I’m actually tempted to buy it but I’m saving up for a new bass.”

Keila smiled. “What type?”

“Gibson.”

“Awesome.” Keila grinned, before turning to Bonnibel. “I’m sorry, this probably makes no sense to you.”

“It really doesn’t.” Bonnibel chuckled. “But I don’t mind. You guys talk about what you want.”

Keila shook her head. “Nah. I think Marmalade and I should get to know you.”

Marceline and Keila exchanged a glance, and then in perfect synchronisation, the two looked straight at Bonnibel and nodded. “Twenty questions.” They both stated.

Keila shot Bonnibel a warm smile. “How long have you lived here?”

“Um…around a month now.” Bonnibel responded.

“Where’d you move from?” Marceline asked, an eyebrow raised.

“New York.”

“Hey, we’ve been there!” Keila exclaimed, looking at Marceline with a grin. “We went to go shopping and go to a gig and we got lost.”

“We got the wrong train on the subway and ended up on the wrong side of the city, and then Keila tried figuring out where we were and so she suggested we walk -,” Marceline continued, biting back a laugh.

“And I ended up walking us out of New York City and into some random town and we were both super confused and eventually we had to call my uncle who we were staying with to come and get us.” Keila explained.

Marceline raised her eyebrows and grinned. “Really? Let’s not forget that _someone_ started crying and thought we were going to die on the streets and tried to get me to call the cops."

Keila smacked Marceline’s upper arm and laughed. “Shut up! You were worried too.”

“You didn’t see me being all,” Marceline placed a hand on her heart and dramatically looked into the distance, “Oh no, we’re going to die, if you survive and I die then tell my parents I love them!”

Keila blushed and looked anywhere but Marceline. “I didn’t say _all_ of that.”

Marceline laughed, a real laugh that was music to Bonnibel’s ears. Bonnibel bit back a smile at both the story and at how happy Marceline was. “Yeah, you did! You were getting overly emotional and I was just there like what the fuck is happening? Let’s not forget that _you’re_ the older one so _you_ were supposed to be the one holding it together.”

“It was a traumatic experience!” Keila defended. “ _And_ it was winter and I forgot my coat. I could’ve gotten hypothermia or something.”

“So that’s your excuse for being a giant wimp?” Marceline questioned, laughing.

“Yes.” Keila crossed her arms and shot Marceline a sharp nod.

“Wow.” Marceline bit her lip and leant back on the bed, laying down and resting her head on the pillow. “ _Anyways_ , princess.”

“Stop calling me princess.” Bonnibel sighed, although she couldn’t hide the small smile on her face.

“Think of it as a loving nickname that represents the joy I feel every time your name is so much as mentioned.” Marceline sarcastically shot back.

“I’d appreciate a little less sarcasm.” Bonnibel replied. “And I’d rather you called me Bonnibel.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Fine, _Bonnibel_. What’s your favourite colour?”

“Such a creative question, Marmalade.” Keila teased.

“Shut up, wimp.” Marceline replied, turning back to Bonnibel. “Let me guess, your favourite colour is pink.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Yes. And yours is black.”

“Incorrect.” Marceline stated. “My favourite colour is red.”

“That’s actually surprising.” Bonnibel commented.

Keila laughed. “I know, right. She literally wears black every day.”

“Only black jeans.” Marceline defended. “I don’t wear all black every day. Mostly just black and grey.”

“You’re so colourful.” Bonnibel teased.

“I tried to make her wear a purple dress but she refused because it wasn’t ‘punk rock’ enough.” Keila laughed.

“That was _two_ years ago.” Marceline exclaimed. “You can’t bring that up!”

“You brought up my New York fiasco.” Keila shot back. “I’m just returning the favour.”

“Bitch.” Marceline cursed. “I’m leaving the band if you don’t stop.”

Keila rolled her eyes and looked to Bonnibel. “Singers, eh?”

“Yo, I could make a band and play everything all by myself.”

“Except for drums.”

“We don’t talk about my lack of drumming talent.”

“We do now.”

Marceline laughed. “Shut up.”

Keila smiled, before her eyes widened and she stood up. “We should go explore. You know, like we did that one time a few years back.”

“I guess. It’s not like we’re in pyjamas or anything.” Marceline shrugged. “Yeah, let’s go for a walk.”

Bonnibel looked down at her pyjamas, and had decided she’d sit this walk out when Marceline threw a pair of skinny jeans at her. They weren’t black, which Bonnibel was thankful for. “You want me to come?”

“I guess. Why not?” Marceline shrugged.

Keila smiled. “Aw, look at you being nice.”

“Fuck off, Keila.”

“Oh, but you’d miss me.”

“True.”

“You two are cute.” Bonnibel smiled.

Keila grinned. “When she’s not being a grump, she’s actually cool.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “I’m not grumpy that often. Just at school and around annoying people.”

“Is that you indirectly calling me annoying?” Bonnibel questioned. “Considering you’re always grumpy when I try to talk to you.”

“If you were annoying me, I’d tell you.” Marceline shrugged. “Or I’d just punch you.”

“Marmalade, you couldn’t throw a punch to save your life.” Keila laughed. “Unless you’re angry.”

Bonnibel grinned in triumph. “I knew you were secretly a big marshmallow.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Whatever, let’s just go. I’m not feeling how much of a stupid heart to heart this is becoming.”

“You’re capable of having heartfelt conversations?” Bonnibel mock gasped. “I never would’ve guessed.”

Keila laughed. “Nice.”

Marceline sighed. “Princess is attempting to sass up the sass queen. That won’t work. I will release the kraken if you don’t stop.”

“Remember when we went to the park and went on that little boat ride on the river and you were just yelling to release the kraken the entire time?” Keila laughed. “And there were loads of old couples wondering what you were on.”

“I was on everything.” Marceline joked. “According to Bonnibel over here I’m a drug addict.”

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” Bonnibel sighed. “I apologised! I judged you without knowing you and I’m sorry.”

“Chill, dude,” Marceline laughed. “I’m just messing with you.”

Keila smiled. “Aw, you guys are bonding.”

“We aren’t.” Marceline shot back. “I’m only being civil.”

“You like her, Marmalade.” Keila grinned. “I can tell. I know you better than anyone.”

“I tolerate her.”

“You like her.” Keila teased, playfully nudging Marceline in the ribs with her elbow.

Bonnibel smiled. “I like her, but she’s just being stubborn.”

“Whatever, fine.” Marceline huffed. “You’re not _that_ horrible to be around, okay? _God_.”

Bonnibel grinned. She high-fived Keila, and then proceeded to wrap her arms around Marceline in a hug. Bonnibel buried her face into Marceline’s shoulder, inhaling the strawberry scent. “Can we be friends, then?”

“I’ll have to think about that one.” Marceline stated. Bonnibel gave Marceline’s rigid body one last squeeze before letting go.

“Okay.” Bonnibel nodded, looking at the jeans on her lap. “Can I go somewhere to put these on?”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah. Bathroom. You know where it is.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Thanks.”

She stood from the soft bed, walking towards the door, when Marceline stopped her. “Wait. You didn’t ask why.”

Bonnibel frowned. “Why, what?”

“Why I have to think about being friends with you.”

“Well, we’re not friends. You don’t trust me, therefore you won’t tell me.” Bonnibel shrugged. “It’s not that hard to figure out that you probably only trust Keila.”

Marceline stared at Bonnibel with a calculating look, before finally nodding. “You actually _are_ good at reading people.”

“Thanks.” Bonnibel smiled, before slipping out of the door and into the bathroom, turning the lights on.

She stared at the jeans. They were blue; a colour of clothing Bonnibel didn’t expect Marceline to own. They were also super skinny jeans. Bonnibel had struggles getting her own jeans on, and they weren’t even that tight compared to the jeans Marceline wore. Bonnibel took her time thinking of a method to get them on, eventually settling on sitting on the edge of the bath and pulling until they were nearly up to her hips, and then standing and jumping up until they were finally on. Bonnibel quickly did the button up and then made her way back into Marceline’s room, where Marceline and Keila were in mid-conversation about bands they liked.

“No way, man. We Are The In Crowd are _much_ better than VersaEmerge.” Marceline stated. “The whole male/female vocal dynamic is rad.”

“You’re just saying that because you have a crush on like three people in We Are The In Crowd.” Keila exclaimed, shooting a smile at Bonnibel as she walked back in the room.

“I do _not_. I only have like a tiny crush on Cameron.”

“And Jordan.” Keila stated. “Let’s not forget about the Tay Jardine drunken rant you had.”

“Tay is pretty fucking hot, not going to lie.” Marceline shrugged. Bonnibel frowned. Marceline liked girls?

“Exactly, so you’re biased. Debate over.” Keila concluded, standing up. “Let’s roll.”

Marceline groaned. “Fine. Where are you planning to take us to on this midnight stroll?”

“Wherever. We could go to McDonald’s.” Keila suggested.

Marceline grinned. “Fuck yeah. I’m bringing cash. We’re not going to the store, though.”

Keila frowned. “Why not?”

“Well, I went to the store the other day to pick up milk for Simon and I go to pay and guess who the new fucking cashier is.” Marceline began. “Ash.”

“He didn’t talk to you, did he?” Keila frowned.

“Yeah. I had to go home and take a shower because I felt so gross.”

Bonnibel frowned. “Who’s Ash?”

“My ex.” Marceline stated. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Is he the one that was nineteen?” Bonnibel asked.

Marceline glared at her, and Bonnibel gulped when she realised just how angry Marceline actually was. “What do you know about that?”

“My friends just told me that you dated someone that was nineteen.” Bonnibel held her hands up in defence.

“Your friends are fucking idiots.”

“Okay.” Bonnibel responded. “I’m not going to argue in case you hit me.”

“I wouldn’t hurt you.” Marceline murmured, just loud enough for Bonnibel to catch it.

Keila noticed the tension in the room and put an arm around Marceline’s shoulders. “ _Anyways_ , let’s go.”

“I’m taking my skateboard.” Marceline stated.

Keila pouted. “We’re going for a _walk_. The whole point is that you don’t use any vehicles.”

“I wouldn’t call a skateboard a vehicle.” Marceline smirked in amusement.

“Shut up, you know what I mean.” Keila rolled her eyes. “Why do you need to take your skateboard anyways?”

“Because I’m too fucking lazy to walk.”

“Fine, you can take your skateboard.” Keila allowed.

“Thanks, Mom.” Marceline mock saluted Keila, pushing past her and heading down the stairs.

Keila swiftly walked over to Bonnibel and shot her a warm smile. “I’m sorry about her. Certain things set her off, just try not to mention her ex around her and you’re good.”

“Anything else I should know of?” Bonnibel asked.

“Not that I can think of from the top of my head. I’ll let you know.” Keila smiled, before grabbing onto Bonnibel’s wrist. “Come on, I want to go for our walk. Also, don’t get offended when she’s all sarcastic. That’s just her sense of humour.”

“I figured.” Bonnibel replied as Keila pulled her down the stairs.

Both Keila and Bonnibel quickly found their shoes and pulled them on, and then Keila beckoned Bonnibel towards the kitchen in the hope that Marceline – who had disappeared – would be in there. She wasn’t.

They eventually found her in the living room, leaning over Marshall. Keila cleared her throat to get Marceline’s attention. Schwabl – who had come down earlier that evening and had been fussed over by all of Bonnibel’s friends – let out a half-hearted growl from where he was laid in his basket.

Marceline looked up sheepishly, a pen in hand. “I couldn’t resist. It was too easy.”

Keila walked over and took one look at Marshall, letting out a snort of laughter when she realised Marceline had taken the opportunity to draw the classic glasses and moustache on her brother’s face. Keila gave Marceline a high five, taking the pen from the other girl’s hand. “I’m going to take this before this spirals out of control and you end up drawing on everyone here.”

“Can I draw on her?” Marceline nodded towards LSP.

Keila bit on her lip in thought, before finally nodding and holding out the pen in Marceline’s direction. “Fine, but make it quick.”

Marceline grinned. “Rad.”

Bonnibel held back laughter. “She’ll kill you.”

“Her?” Marceline laughed. “Yeah, right. Besides, I’ll just put the blame on someone else.”

“Who?”

Marceline looked around the room, nodding at Finn. “Maybe him.”

“Come on, Finn’s a sweet kid.” Bonnibel argued. “Why not blame it on Marshall?”

“Yeah, he drew on his own face.” Marceline rolled her eyes, before putting the pen back where she’d found it. “Anyways, let’s get out of here.”

The three of them quickly slipped out of the room and into the hallway, where Marceline had left her skateboard. She threw Keila the house keys. “Here. I have to put my shoes on, unlock the door for me.”

Keila nodded, and Marceline grabbed a pair of black Vans and pulled them on. Then, she picked up her skateboard and walked outside, where Keila and Bonnibel were waiting for her. She locked the front door, and then the three of them walked down the driveway and into the cold night. The second they were on the sidewalk, Marceline threw her skateboard down and jumped on. She kept slow next to Keila and Bonnibel.

Bonnibel immediately started shivering. She internally smacked herself when she realised she’d forgotten her jacket.

“Are you cold?” Keila frowned.

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah, I forgot my coat.”

Marceline slipped hers off and passed it to Bonnibel. “Here. I have a hoodie, I’ll be fine.”

Bonnibel frowned at Marceline’s random act of kindness, slipping the coat on. “Thanks.”

Bonnibel then turned to her other companion. She had decided to get to know Keila. Although Bonnibel’s initial impression was that Keila was a lazy alcoholic, she had realised that she was quick to judge the older girl and that Keila was actually a really nice person.

“When did you graduate from school?”

“Last June.” Keila stated. “I actually kind of miss it, but I’ve got a pretty sweet gig down at the music store. I like working there and the pay is pretty good, even though I’m still waiting on Marmalade to write a hit single.”

“Marceline writes your band’s songs?” Bonnibel asked, an amazed smile across her face.

“Yep, she’s the genius behind it all.” Keila grinned. “Well, she’s the genius, period.”

Bonnibel turned to Marceline. “You write lyrics _and_ music?”

Marceline – who was quietly skating alongside them – nodded. “Yeah. Sometimes Keila helps.”

“Only with the music.” Keila pitched in. “I can’t write lyrics but then Marmalade shows up with full songs with all these metaphors and stuff in. It’s pretty awesome.”

Marceline shrugged. “I just write whatever comes to mind and then make it better later.”

“That’s really cool.” Bonnibel smiled. “You’re really interesting, Marceline.”

“I’m really not.” Marceline insisted. “You just think that because it’s something you haven’t learned how to do. Like how I don’t know how to be a badass mad scientist like you.”

Bonnibel was shocked by the compliment, and didn’t have time to thank Marceline before Keila jumped back into the conversation. “You’re a scientist? That’s cool.”

“It’s not. Certain things interest me, like the laws of physics.” Bonnibel shrugged. “I enjoy exploring different variables and their effects and reading up on different theories. It’s just interesting to me.”

“I actually didn’t hate science in school.” Keila commented. “I mean, it wasn’t my favourite thing, but I could bear it.”

Marceline shrugged. “I just take a nap in class and then use my puppy dog eyes to get Simon to do the work for me.”

“Isn’t that some form of cheating?” Bonnibel frowned.

“Probably.” Marceline shrugged. “All of the sciences are my lowest grades and I don’t really care, to be honest.”

“I’ll tutor you if you’re failing.” Bonnibel offered.

Marceline raised her eyebrows, kicking her foot against the ground to speed her skateboard up. “Did I say I was failing?”

“What’re you getting?”

“Bs.”

“Really?”

“I’m actually kind of offended by how shocked you sound.” Marceline stated.

“A B is your lowest grade?” Bonnibel asked in amazement.

“Yeah. Bs in science and math, As in everything else.” Marceline shrugged.

Bonnibel’s eyes widened. “Wow. I didn’t expect that.”

“Like I said, she’s the genius.” Keila smiled. “So I take it you want to be a scientist when you’re older?”

“Something in science, yes.” Bonnibel nodded. “Recently I’ve been leaning towards becoming a doctor.”

“That’s pretty hardcore.” Marceline said.

“It is?”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded. “Doctors literally bring people back from the dead sometimes.”

Bonnibel shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve always thought about being a doctor but there are other things I’d like to do too. What about you guys? What do you want to do when you’re older?”

They exchanged glances. Keila grinned. “I think I speak for the both of us when I say music.”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah. If it’s not playing it, I want to write and produce it.”

“Creative.” Bonnibel commented. She could really picture Marceline doing that.

Marceline just shrugged and continued skating alongside her. Keila pulled her phone out. “I’m going to tweet about our adventure.”

“Keila, nobody cares.” Marceline teased.

“You _always_ tweet me back.”

“Because you’d look like a fucking loner if I didn’t.”

“Sometimes you tweet me first.”

“Somebody has to laugh at your dumb jokes.”

Keila typed out some random tweet and then put her phone on camera, directing it towards herself and Bonnibel. “Marmalade, get over here!”

Marceline laughed, skating faster. “Catch me.”

Keila shot off down the road after Marceline, shouting. “Get back here!”

Marceline skated around Keila in a circle before heading further down the road. “Nope.”

“Marmalade!” Keila huffed, chasing after her until the two were merely specks to Bonnibel.

The pink haired girl felt uncomfortable. Should she follow them, or just wait for them to come back? Maybe they’d meant to ditch her all along. Bonnibel stood in the cold for what felt to her like hours, but was in fact only a minute or two when she saw what looked to be Marceline skating towards her. When she squinted, she realised it was both Marceline and Keila on Marceline’s skateboard. Bonnibel tried to hold back laughter when the two dramatically skated past her posed like Jack and Rose from _Titanic –_ Keila with her arms around Marceline’s middle and Marceline with her arms outstretched – playing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from one of their phones. Keila jumped off when they got to Bonnibel, and Marceline stopped her skateboard and bit on her lip.

Bonnibel smiled. “You two are hilarious.”

Keila pretended to brush something off her shoulders. “Well, if you say so.”

Marceline rolled her eyes and flicked her skateboard up with her foot, catching it with her left hand. “Are we going to McDonald’s or what?”

“Yeah. If you want, I can just go in and order for us all.” Keila offered.

Marceline shrugged. “The less interaction with other people the better. Sure.”

“You’re so antisocial.” Bonnibel commented.

“I’d say the same to you. Marshall was complaining about how you never leave the house.” Marceline shrugged. “Don’t be so hypocritical, _princess_.”

“Sorry, _Marcy_.”

“Fuck you.”

“You say that at least once every time we talk.” Bonnibel pointed out.

“In case you didn’t notice, fuck is my favourite word.” Marceline shrugged. “It’s a good word to use because you can fucking put it anywhere in a fucking sentence and it still makes fucking sense.”

Bonnibel frowned. “It’s not ladylike to swear.”

“Ladylike my ass.”

“Neither is that.” Bonnibel added.

Marceline gritted her teeth. “I really want to strangle you sometimes.”

Bonnibel gulped. “Sorry.”

Marceline noticed how scared Bonnibel looked at dropped the glare she was aiming at her. “Whoa, chill. I wouldn’t. You know that.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Sometimes I forget when you’re threatening my life.”

“I don’t appreciate the sass.”

Keila jumped in the middle of the two and threw an arm around Marceline’s shoulder, quickly bringing her camera up and snapping a photo before both Marceline and Bonnibel could register what was happening. “I got you!”

Marceline sighed. “God dammit.”

Keila grinned. “I win.”

“For once.” Marceline added.

“Shut up.”

“No.”

“Yes.” Keila stated. “I’m older so you have to do what I say.”

“You’re acting like a five year old.” Marceline rolled her eyes, turning to Bonnibel. “This is what I have to deal with on a daily basis. Pity me.”

Keila gently shoved Marceline. “You’re no picnic either.”

* * *

 

The conversation all the way to McDonald’s was mostly just friendly bickering between Marceline and Keila, Bonnibel occasionally pitching in to back up a point one of them was making. She was surprised how comfortable the two of them were making her feel; although, she did feel a little tense when Keila left her alone with Marceline to go buy the three of them some fries.

Marceline and Bonnibel were stood in an uncomfortable silence until Marceline finally spoke up. “Hey, you should try skateboarding.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Bonnibel stated. “I might fall and ruin your jeans.”

“I never wear those anyway.” Marceline shrugged. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“I don’t want to hurt myself.”

“I won’t let that happen.” Marceline assured. “It’s like 1AM, we have an empty parking lot. You’ll be fine, dude.”

Bonnibel let out a long sigh. “Fine, but only for five minutes.”

Marceline nodded. “Cool.”

Marceline carried her skateboard over to a clear space in the parking lot, setting it down. Bonnibel stared apprehensively. “I’m not sure about this.”

“Get on.” Marceline rolled her eyes, and Bonnibel quickly did as she said.

The skateboard lurched forwards and Bonnibel let out a yelp and shut her eyes, expecting the next thing to happen to be her colliding with the ground. Instead, she felt a pair of strong arms hold her up. “Geez, Bonnibel. Try not to fall off before you’ve even started going.”

“It moved!” Bonnibel defended.

“It moved a fucking millimetre.”

“If we’re going to do this, please stop swearing. It’s making me rather anxious.” Bonnibel mumbled.

Marceline huffed, her breath coming out in a puff of smoke in the cold air. “Fine. Use one of your feet to get going and push yourself.”

Bonnibel frowned and looked into Marceline’s eyes, now level with her own due to the extra height of the skateboard. “I don’t know about this.”

“You’ll be fine, I promise.” Marceline assured.

“Will you hold my hand?”

“Oh my fucking God.” Marceline cursed and slapped a hand to her face, staring at Bonnibel through her fingers. “What are you, three?”

“Please?” Bonnibel asked. “I swear this thing is a deathtrap.”

Marceline grabbed hold of Bonnibel’s upper arm. “I won’t hold your fucking hand. This is as much as you’re getting.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Thank you.”

“Now kick off from the ground.”

Bonnibel did as Marceline said, nearly toppling off the board. She was grateful for the other girl holding onto the coat she was wearing, because Bonnibel would definitely have fallen off by now. “Thanks for holding onto me.”

“Get sappy and I’ll let go.”

“I bet you secretly love it.” Bonnibel teased.

Marceline let go of Bonnibel’s arm, and the shorter girl let out a yelp as she lost her balance and nearly fell off the board. Marceline caught her. “I wouldn’t tease the girl helping you not get a scraped knee if I were you.”

Bonnibel could feel her heart beating ten times as fast. “That was terrifying. I thought you were going to let me fall.”

“You want to know a secret?” Marceline questioned. “I don’t hurt people unless they’re serious assholes. You’re not on that list.”

Bonnibel smiled. “So you wouldn’t hurt me?”

“Nope, but don’t go spreading that around. I don’t need your friends annoying the fuck out of me like you seem to enjoy doing.” Marceline said. “Now get off my skateboard.”

Bonnibel stepped off the board, relieved. “Thanks, Marceline. You’re really sweet, even if you don’t want people to think you are.”

“Fuck, I can’t even threaten to punch you now.”

Bonnibel smiled. “They were empty threats anyway.”

Keila came back and passed Bonnibel and Marceline some medium fries. “Don’t worry about paying me back, guys. My gift to you for a kickass evening.”

“Being your best friend has its pros.” Marceline grinned, grabbing a handful of fries.

Keila shrugged. “I know, I’m awesome.”

Bonnibel smiled at the older girl. “Thanks for this, Keila.”

“No problem, dude. You’re pretty rad.” Keila grinned back.

“I’ve never been called rad before.” Bonnibel commented.

“I can tell.” Marceline mumbled through a mouthful of fries.

“ _Marmalade_.” Keila scolded. “Be nice to my new friend.”

“Whatever.”

* * *

 

The walk back to Marceline’s house was mostly filled with a comfortable silence between the three, something Bonnibel never thought she’d experience around Marceline. She watched Marceline a lot on the way back, the way she silently watched as the world went by, the way her black hair cascaded down her back in a soft wave, and the way she didn’t seem to have a care in the world. It was enthralling how Marceline could be so mysterious.

When they got back to Marceline’s house, Keila headed straight upstairs and flopped down on Marceline’s bed, finally tired out. Bonnibel went into the bathroom and quickly stripped from the jeans she was wearing to reveal her pyjama shorts underneath, and stopped Marceline before she disappeared into her room. “Hey, wait. I wanted to give you these back.”

Marceline took the jeans. “Thanks.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Thanks for tonight, by the way. I had fun.”

“Same. You’re weirdly good company.” Marceline stated. “But we’re still not friends.”

“I figured.” Bonnibel replied. “Let me know when you want to be, though.”

“Who says I’ll want to be your friend?”

“Fine. _If_ you want to be.” Bonnibel corrected herself. “Have a good night, Marceline.”

Bonnibel turned and headed for the stairs, not expecting Marceline to respond.

“You too, nerd.”


	12. twelve.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie gets drunk and is helped by an unexpected friend.

**Saturday 15 th February 2014**

Marceline had heard through Marshall that Bonnibel’s friends were throwing a party.

She didn’t know why she decided to go to the party the nerds were throwing. She told herself it was just to make fun of how stupid it was, but she knew there was another reason.

She wanted to hate the excitable, bubbly pink-haired girl, but she just couldn’t. For some stupid reason, she actually _liked_ Bonnibel’s company.

And that terrified her.

She eventually found the pink-haired dork after asking her friends, whose names she always got muddled up. She had a habit of referring to people with nicknames she gave them in her head. The boy who always wore the bear hat, who Marceline had creatively nicknamed ‘Hatboy’ refused to tell her if Bonnibel was even at the party. Thankfully, Bonnibel’s other friend who always had one item of rainbow clothing on – Marceline had nicknamed her ‘Rainbow’ – pulled her away from Finn and told her that Bonnibel was definitely at the party and should be around somewhere.

Marceline didn’t have to look far. She was making her way through the hallway of whoever’s house she was in, and she felt someone grab hold of her from behind, their arms snaking around her middle. She turned with a frown on her face, only to see Bonnibel smiling up at her. Marceline frowned even more. Something was off about her.

She knew the second Bonnibel let go of her and nearly toppled over.

Bonnibel was drunk.

“Hey, Marceline!” Bonnibel slurred, drawing out each vowel in the sentence.

Marceline quickly caught Bonnibel as she staggered even closer to her. “You’re drunk.”

Bonnibel scoffed. “Psh. I only had like…six beers? I’m not drunk.”

“My point exactly. You’re really fucking drunk.” Marceline observed as Bonnibel staggered around.

Bonnibel smiled and took a few attempts at grabbing hold of Marceline’s arm. It took her a while before she finally linked arms with Marceline and stepped as close to the dark haired girl as she could, wobbling about a little on the spot. “I’m glad you came.”

“Yeah, me too. I need to get you out of here.” Marceline stated, attempting to walk Bonnibel down the hallway they were in.

Bonnibel was being difficult. She stopped walking and held onto Marceline, pouting. “Why? You said we’re not friends.”

“Well, we are.” Marceline stated. “Just don’t remember that when you’re sober.”

Bonnibel grinned and held her hands up in the air, nearly falling backwards. Marceline quickly caught her. “Yay. Marcy’s my friend.”

“What did I say about that nickname?”

Bonnibel pouted. “It’s cute.”

Marceline just rolled her eyes and slowly escorted Bonnibel towards the front door, running into the friend from before. The girl frowned. “Is Bubblegum drunk?”

Marceline raised an eyebrow. “What do you think?”

Bonnibel smiled, and tried to give her friend a hug. “Lady! This is a great party.”

 _Lady,_ Marceline thought, _I should remember that._ “Look, I’m going to get her home.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Her parents don’t seem the type to approve of underage drinking.” Lady explained.

“Fine, I’ll just take her somewhere quiet.” Marceline stated, looking towards the drunk girl hanging from her arm.

Lady frowned. “I _really_ don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“So you want her to stay here and get even _more_ drunk? I even think I saw that Ricardio dude walking around. I’m getting her out of here.” Marceline explained. “I won’t take her home. I’ll take her back to my place.”

Lady eyed her sceptically. “I don’t think she’d like it if I let her go with you.”

“Dude, I won’t fucking eat her or anything. If it makes you feel any better, Simon is home. You have a witness.” Marceline argued as Bonnibel played with her dark hair.

“Simon?”

“Mr Petrikov, whatever you want to call him.”

“You live with him?”

“Since I was 7, yeah.” Marceline stated. “Anyway, off topic. I’m getting her out of here.”

Lady sighed in defeat. “Fine. Just promise me you’ll take care of her.”

“I promise.” Marceline assured.

Bonnibel grabbed Marceline’s left hand and began fiddling with it. “Your hand is warm.”

Marceline found it hard not to laugh at the drunken girl clinging onto her, helping her out of the door. Bonnibel nearly tripped numerous times on the walk to Marceline’s car, and getting her to sit down was an even harder task.

In all honesty, Marceline couldn’t believe that Bonnibel of all people was drunk.

Bonnibel kept trying to play with all of the buttons in the car and move things about on the drive back to Marceline’s house, and Marceline was seriously considering tying her hands down. Eventually, Marceline got Bonnibel to calm down by putting an Ed Sheeran CD on. Bonnibel sat with her head against the window and an odd smile on her face for most of the ride. Occasionally, she reached over and grabbed Marceline’s hand, giggled, and let go again.

Marceline successfully managed to get Bonnibel into the house in good time, saying hello to Simon and Betty who were in the living room watching a movie.

She tried keeping Bonnibel hidden, but typically, she shouted “Hi, Simon,” at the top of her lungs and caught his attention.

“Is that Bonnibel out there?”

“Yeah, she got totally hammered and so I got her out of the party.” Marceline shrugged. “I don’t think she’s ever been drunk before.”

Betty frowned. “Bonnibel from your English class?”

“Yup.” Marceline nodded.

“Hm. I wouldn’t have thought you two would be friends.”

Marceline shrugged, looking towards an excitable Bonnibel who had taken to examining all of the shoes left by the doorway. “Yeah, she’s pretty cool.”

Simon grinned. “I knew you liked her.”

“Shut up.” Marceline rolled her eyes, biting back a grin. “I’m going to take her upstairs and make her get some sleep.”

“Get her a glass of water and an ibuprofen or something.” Betty advised.

Marceline nodded. “I’m on it.”

Marceline made her way back over to Bonnibel, who grinned. “Marcy,” She slurred, “Why are we here?”

“Your friend told me your parents wouldn’t like it if you were drunk, and I didn’t want you to get in any trouble.” Marceline explained, putting an arm around Bonnibel as she walked her up the stairs.

Bonnibel smiled lazily. “You’re sweet.”

“Thanks.” Marceline frowned, as she kicked her bedroom door open and helped Bonnibel towards the bed. “I think.”

Bonnibel flopped down onto Marceline’s bed, grabbing something from under the covers. Marceline froze. Bonnibel was holding onto Hambo.

Marceline gulped. “That’s not mine, I’m just holding it for a friend.”

Bonnibel cackled. “Marcy has a teddy bear.”

Marceline pried Hambo from Bonnibel’s grip and placed him on her dresser. “No, I don’t. I’m going to go get you a glass of water, and I want you to drink it before you sleep, okay?”

Bonnibel nodded, grabbing hold of Marceline’s hand and smiling. “You’re the best, Marceline. I like you. Let’s talk and gossip and tell each other secrets. Isn’t that what friends do?”

“Yeah...no. Not when you’re in this state, Bonnie.”

“Bonnie?”

Marceline blushed and bit her lip. “Yeah. Bonnie.”

“I like it. The girl I used to like called me that. She hates me because I’m gay.”

Marceline frowned. “You’re gay?”

Bonnibel’s eyes widened and she shook her head vigorously, her pink locks falling in her eyes. “No. Well, I am, but you’re not supposed to know that.”

“Chill out, Bonnie. I’m going to get you a glass of water, and then I’ll be back.”

“Promise you’ll come back?” Bonnibel pleaded.

“I promise.” Marceline assured as she slipped out of the door and jogged downstairs.

She filled up a glass of water for Bonnibel, heading back upstairs where she found Bonnibel plucking the strings on her bass. Bonnibel smiled when Marceline walked in the room. “Look, I’m a musician!”

Marceline sighed, holding back the amused grin that was fighting to be seen. “Come here.”

Bonnibel staggered over to the bed, flopping down on the soft surface. She sat up, and Marceline passed her the glass of water. “Drink that. It’ll cushion the blow of the huge ass hangover you’ll have.”

Bonnibel obediently drank the water, passing the empty cup back to Marceline, nearly dropping it as she did. “Thanks.”

Marceline examined Bonnibel. She was clothed in a rather frilly pink dress with a pink cardigan on top of it. Marceline sighed. She couldn’t put her in bed like that. She dug around in her drawers, finding a pair of grey sweatpants and a t-shirt advertising a band she didn’t even like that much anymore. She passed them to Bonnibel. “Here. Wear these and then get into bed and go to sleep.”

Bonnibel nodded and fumbled about trying to find the zipper on her dress which was hidden underneath her cardigan. Eventually, Marceline got tired of watching Bonnibel and stood up, assisting the girl in taking her cardigan off and unzipping the dress. Then, Marceline looked away as Bonnibel changed into the pyjamas, and stayed facing away from Bonnibel until she heard a small thud.

She turned to see that Bonnibel had fallen on the floor with the sweatpants halfway up her legs. The pink haired girl giggled. “Oops.”

Marceline rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh, leaning down and helping Bonnibel to her feet. Bonnibel managed to pull up the sweatpants and manoeuvre her way into Marceline’s bed, resting her head down on the pillow.

Marceline was about to leave the room, when she heard a small mumble from Bonnibel. “Marceline.”

Marceline turned. “Yeah?”

“Stay with me.” Bonnibel murmured.

Marceline froze. “Uh…I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” Bonnibel pouted.

“I don’t think you’d want me to if you were sober.”

“I would. Besides, I’m _completely_ sober.” Bonnibel slurred, shuffling over in Marceline’s bed and lazily patting the spot next to her. “Please?”

Marceline sighed. “Fine.”

She quickly changed into her pyjamas – completely aware of Bonnibel watching her the entire time – and tentatively climbed into her bed. Bonnibel smiled, grabbing hold of Marceline’s hand and playing with her fingers. “Thank you.”

“Uh…you’re welcome, I guess.”

Bonnibel shuffled closer to Marceline and smiled, burying her head into Marceline’s neck. “You smell good. I sniff your shirt when I go to sleep sometimes.”

Marceline couldn’t help but let out a snicker at that. “Why, exactly?”

“Because it smells like you.” Bonnibel breathed. “I like it.”

“You _really_ need to sleep off the alcohol.” Marceline said. “You’re saying weird things.”

“Okay.” Bonnibel yawned and wriggled closer to Marceline. “Night.”

Marceline awkwardly put an arm around Bonnibel. “Goodnight.”

It wasn’t long before Bonnibel was letting out soft little snores, and Marceline stealthily shuffled away from Bonnibel and climbed out of the bed. As much as she’d love to see the horror on Bonnibel’s face waking up next to her, she decided she’d just let Bonnibel get a peaceful night’s sleep.

Marceline grabbed Bonnibel’s clothes which were strewn about on the floor and attempted to fold them into a neat pile, placing them on the desk chair she usually used as a dumping ground for worn clothes. Bonnibel’s phone fell out of the pocket in the cardigan, and Marceline decided it’d probably be a good idea to text Bonnibel’s parents and let them know where she was. Luckily, Bonnibel didn’t have a password for her phone, and Marceline easily found the text conversation with Bonnibel’s Mom. Mirroring Bonnibel’s texting style, she typed out a message.

**_I’m staying over at a friend’s house tonight. See you tomorrow._ **

Then, she locked Bonnibel’s phone and placed it on the bedside table.

Marceline checked the time on her own phone. 10PM. Might as well get an early night.

She grabbed Hambo from her dresser and picked up her bass in her other hand, heading into the guest bedroom and sitting down on the cold sheets. She set Hambo on the pillow, pulling her bass onto her lap and plucking a few notes. Marceline let out a long sigh, falling back on the soft surface of the bed. She decided she wasn’t in the mood to play bass, so she leant her guitar against the wall and snuggled under the blankets of the bed, cuddling Hambo close to her chest. She shut her eyes, and the last thing that went through her mind was of the pink-haired girl that was currently asleep in her bed.

**Sunday 16 th February 2014**

Bonnibel woke up with Marceline’s scent surrounding her and a pounding headache.

Her focus was first on the blunt throbbing in her head. It was the first thing she could register as she woke up in a groggy, jumbled mess. She put a hand to her head and blinked hard, before she realised where she was.

Why the hell was she in Marceline’s room?

She looked over to the alarm clock on the bedside table that was incredibly dusty and looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. 12:36PM. Bonnibel frowned. She _never_ slept in this late.

She desperately tried to remember what could have happened the night before, but all she could conjure up were dream-like, hazy memories of her grabbing several different bottles of beer.

She really hoped she hadn’t said or done anything stupid, especially around Marceline. She’d _never_ live that down.

The space in the bed beside her was cold and didn’t look like it had been slept on. Bonnibel frowned. If she was here, where had Marceline gone? Bonnibel hoped that she hadn’t kicked Marceline out of her own bed.

She finally sat up and stretched, ignoring the pounding in her head. She looked towards the door, which was half open. Should she go downstairs?

She didn’t have to.

Marceline popped her head around the door to see an awake – albeit dazed and groggy – Bonnibel sat up in her bed. “Good, you’re up.”

Bonnibel frowned. “Marceline? What happened?” Marceline didn’t have chance to reply, as Bonnibel was already freaking out. “Oh, God! My parents! They’re going to be really worried about me.”

“Chillax, dude. I sent a text to your folks last night when you were passed out.”

“I passed out?” Bonnibel exclaimed, eyes widening. “What was I doing?”

“I’ll tell you the full story once you drink this water and take this.” Marceline said, producing a glass of water and an aspirin from behind her back as she walked into the room. The dark haired girl sat on the bed beside Bonnibel, passing the glass over.

Bonnibel gratefully took the pill and downed the water, placing the empty glass on the bedside table. She picked up her phone and unlocked it onto a text conversation with her Mom. She smirked when she read the text Marceline sent. “Spending the night at a friend’s, huh?”

“Yeah,” Bonnibel was amazed Marceline didn’t argue, “Anyways, you want to know what you did or would you rather forget?”

“I want to know,” Bonnibel stated, “Unless it’s completely stupid and I’ll want to crawl in a ditch and die of embarrassment later.”

“You weren’t _that_ bad.” Marceline said. “I actually think drunk Bonnie is pretty rad.”

“Bonnie?”

“Fuck.” Marceline cursed, looking down at her feet, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck. “Yeah, that’s what I call you in my head. Nickname. I usually give people dumb nicknames -,” She cut herself off. “Anyways, you don’t need to know this.”

Bonnibel found Marceline’s awkward rambling rather cute. “I like it. It’s better than princess. Call me it more often.”

“Princess was the original nickname.” Marceline admitted. “But when I started to like you it changed to Bonnie. _Anyway_ , back to your drunken mishaps,”

“Whoa, whoa,” Bonnibel cut in, smirking. “When did you start to like me?”

“Story for another day.” Marceline dismissed her. “Basically, last night you were drunk as fuck. I don’t know how you got drunk, but you were.”

“Why were you at my friends’ party, anyway? You don’t like them.” Bonnibel frowned.

“Marshall’s designated driver.” Marceline lied. She definitely wasn’t admitting to Bonnibel that she went because of her. “Do you want to know what you did while you were drunk or not?”

“Yes.”

“Then quit interrupting me. Save all questions until the end.” Marceline ordered. “Anyways, you came staggering over to me and started hugging me, and I realised you were drunk and so I was going to take you back to your house, but your friend,” Marceline paused in thought, “Lady, I think she’s called -,”

“What do you call her in your head?”

“That’s not important.” Marceline rolled her eyes, “Yeah, anyway, she was being super protective over you – I think she thought I’d suck out your soul or something, I don’t fucking know – but she basically told me not to take you home or your folks would flip, so I brought you back here. You were all giggly and weird. It was quite funny.”

“Glad you found amusement in me embarrassing myself.” Bonnibel muttered.

Marceline chuckled. “As always.”

“Did I say any dumb stuff?” Bonnibel pressed.

“Uh…” Marceline paused in thought, before snickering a little. “You told me you liked sniffing the shirt I gave you because you think it smells nice.”

Bonnibel flushed bright red. “I’m such an idiot. I probably creeped you out, didn’t I? I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine, dude. It was actually pretty funny.” Marceline said. “You messed around with my bass and announced you were a musician, you made fun of me,”

“Why did I make fun of you?” Bonnibel frowned.

“No reason.” Marceline bit on her lip. She definitely wasn’t telling Bonnibel she still slept with a teddy bear. “You tried to cuddle me.”

Bonnibel slapped a hand to her face and blushed a deeper scarlet. “I am _so_ embarrassing.”

Then, Marceline said something that made Bonnibel’s stomach drop.

“You told me you’re gay.” Marceline noticed the effect it had on Bonnibel. The usual smile was replaced by a look of horror, and her entire body had gone rigid. “Whoa, dude. Chill. It’s fine, man. I won’t tell anyone.”

Bonnibel felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, and she put her head in her hands. “I might as well just move back to New York.”

“I take it they were harsh about it there, huh?” Marceline questioned, before realising Bonnibel probably didn’t want to talk about it. “Uh, Bonnie?”

Bonnibel gulped and finally looked Marceline straight in her crimson eyes, her own vision blurred due to the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Yes?”

“Do you want a hug?”

Marceline didn’t need an answer; Bonnibel launched herself into Marceline’s arms, burying her head in the taller girl’s shoulder, inhaling the comforting scent. For once, Marceline hugged her back, albeit a little awkwardly, but it was soothing all the same. Bonnibel clung onto her for what felt like hours, until she finally found the courage to sit up and ask Marceline a question that had been bothering her since Marceline told her she knew. “You don’t care?”

“About you being gay? Of course not. I _do_ care about how you got your snot on my favourite shirt, though.”

Bonnibel let out a watery laugh, looking down at Marceline’s ‘no smoking’ shirt, which had a wet patch in the shoulder. “Sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it, Bonnie.” Marceline waved a hand in dismissal. “Does anyone else know?”

“The only people that know are my parents and you.” Bonnibel responded. “And the people I used to go to school with in New York.”

Marceline didn’t question what happened there; she knew Bonnibel probably wouldn’t want to talk about it. “Cool. Well, I won’t tell anyone.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Thanks, Marceline. I should think of a nickname for you.”

“Please don’t go with the generic, completely overused -,”

“Marcy.”

“There it is.” Marceline sighed, rolling her eyes. “Dude, be creative.”

“Uh…” Bonnibel looked up in thought. “I’ve got nothing.”

“You’ll think of something.” Marceline assured, standing up from where she was sat on the bed. “You’re probably hungry, so we can get you some breakfast and then I’ll take you home.”

Bonnibel nodded, although she wasn’t happy with the last part of that plan. She’d rather spend the day with Marceline, not that she’d admit that. She decided to open up a new conversational topic as her and Marceline were walking down the stairs. “So, what _do_ you call my friends in your head?”

“Uh…I don’t know, a bunch of stuff.”

“What’s Lady called?”

“Rainbows.” Marceline shrugged. She held her hands up in defence at Bonnibel’s judgemental glance. “What? She always wears rainbow.”

“Finn?”

“Which one is that again?” Marceline asked as they entered the kitchen.

“He always wears that white bear hat -,”

“Hatboy.”

“Really? And you tell _me_ to be creative?” Bonnibel laughed.

“If you’re going to make fun of the nicknames, I won’t tell you them.” Marceline shrugged as she hopped up on the counter. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“It’s nearly 1PM.” Bonnibel pointed out. “I’d hardly call it breakfast.”

“That’s usually my breakfast time.” Marceline countered. “So what do you want?”

“Anything.”

“That really narrows it down, thanks.” Marceline sarcastically shot back, rolling her eyes.

Bonnibel sighed. She really didn’t think that sarcasm was necessary.

“What have you got in?” Bonnibel asked.

“Cereal, Pop Tarts, I can make you toast.” Marceline listed. “I don’t know. All sorts. I’m going to have some ice cream.”

“For breakfast?” Bonnibel raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Marceline nonchalantly shrugged. “Why the fuck not?”

Bonnibel chuckled as Marceline jumped off the counter and rummaged around in the freezer. “Hey, Marceline?”

“Yeah?”

“Seriously, when did you start to like me?” Bonnibel asked, bringing up the question Marceline had been dodging in their earlier conversation.

Marceline pulled out a tub of Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream, setting it on the counter and closing the freezer. She grabbed a spoon from a drawer, before finally glancing up at Bonnibel. “Guess.”

“Um…” Bonnibel thought hard, chewing down on her bottom lip. “Last night?”

“Nope.”

“Today.”

“Nope.”

“Will you just tell me?” Bonnibel sighed.

Marceline rolled her eyes. “But that wouldn’t be as fun.”

“Please?”

“Fine.” Marceline sighed. “I started liking you when we went to McDonald’s with Keila.”

“Really? I thought you still hated me then.” Bonnibel frowned.

“I’ve never hated you. I don’t really hate anyone.” Marceline stated, prising the lid from the ice cream and driving her spoon into it.

“You sure act like it.”

Marceline just shrugged in response, hitting the frozen ice cream with the spoon. “Damn it, it’s hard.”

“That usually happens when you freeze things.” Bonnibel teased.

Marceline just rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Mrs Scientist. Hey, that can be your new nickname!”

“Stick with Bonnie.” Bonnibel hurriedly replied. “What are some other nicknames you have for people?”

“Uh…your friend that’s really hairy is called Wolverine.”

“Jake?” Bonnibel questioned. “I think he’d be pleased with that. What’s LSP?”

“I don’t actually have one for her. The only word that springs to mind when you mention her is annoying.” Marceline shrugged.

“Can I ask you something?” Bonnibel asked, carefully approaching Marceline who had sat herself back on the counter, eagerly awaiting the moment her ice cream softened up enough for her to eat it.

“Sure.”

“Why does she hate you so much?” Bonnibel frowned. “LSP, I mean.”

Marceline thought for a minute, frowning down at the spoon in her hands. Eventually, she looked back up at Bonnibel. “I have _absolutely_ no idea.”

“You don’t know?”

“Nope.” Marceline replied, attempting to stab the ice cream with her spoon. “She was always kind of mean to me back in kindergarten when I was weird and had no friends. Maybe I stepped on her Barbie or something.”

“Maybe I’ll ask her.” Bonnibel mused.

“If you do, tell me what she says.” Marceline responded, finally shovelling a huge spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. She patted the counter beside her. “Grab a spoon and pull up a counter.”

Bonnibel smiled, opening the drawer she saw Marceline get her spoon out of, grabbing one for herself. Then, she jumped and sat herself on the counter next to Marceline, getting a spoonful of ice cream and eating it. “This is good.”

“Yup.”

They were sat in a comfortable silence – well, comfortable for Bonnibel, Marceline just felt awkward – until Bonnibel finally spoke up. “So…we’re friends now?”

“Uh…I mean…I – If you...uh…” Marceline awkwardly fumbled over her words. “I don’t…uh…”

Bonnibel giggled. She found Marceline’s inability to find words to respond to easy questions rather adorable. “Is that a yes?”

Marceline didn’t bother trying to speak, knowing that she’d just make a mess of what she wanted to say. She simply nodded in response to Bonnibel’s question, refusing to meet Bonnibel’s gaze.

Bonnibel grinned, wrapping her arms around Marceline’s waist in a gentle hug. “Awesome.”

“Uh…so…what exactly do we do now?” Marceline asked, looking up at Bonnibel.

Bonnibel stared into the girl’s unusual yet entrancing crimson eyes. “I don’t really know. I’m not exactly very experienced in the field of socialising.”

“It’s probably easier when you’re not trying to make friends with a socially awkward person.” Marceline stated. “I’m sorry in advance.”

“ _You’re_ socially awkward? You always seem so…cool.” Bonnibel exclaimed, mouth agape.

Marceline actually laughed; one of those rare, real laughs that made Bonnibel’s stomach do a flip. “Me? Cool? I think you have me mixed up with someone else.”

“You do.” Bonnibel continued. “You’re so aloof and mysterious.”

Marceline laughed even harder at that. “Seriously? Whoa. News to me. Keila always tells me I look like fucking nerd.”

Bonnibel decided that Marceline looked beautiful when she was happy. “To me, you came across as this effortlessly cool person. I don’t know.”

“I don’t know what made you think that, dude.”

“Maybe it’s because you use words like dude and rad.” Bonnibel suggested. “And you can play all these different instruments and it’s just really cool and fascinating to me.”

“I’ll teach you to play if you want.” Marceline offered. “Then you can be ‘aloof and mysterious’, too.”

Bonnibel chuckled, taking another spoonful of the ice cream. “I already know I have the musical talent of a walrus.”

“Well, then I’ll teach you to have the musical talent of a walrus that can play an instrument.” Marceline shrugged. “I’ll teach you anything you want.”

“Which instruments won’t hurt my fingers?” Bonnibel asked.

“None, if you practise.” Marceline replied. “My ukulele has nylon strings and they don’t hurt your fingers that much as far as I know. My fingers were already calloused when I started playing that. Piano and keyboard won’t do anything to your fingers, though.”

“Which is harder?” Bonnibel asked.

“I’d say piano. Ukulele was super easy, though.” Marceline said.

“I’ll go with ukulele, then.” Bonnibel decided. “You’ll seriously teach me how to play?”

“Sure. It might be a good bonding experience or something.” Marceline shrugged. “It might be funny.”

“You seem like the type to lose your patience really quick, though.”

“Nah, I’m pretty chill.” Marceline stated. “It’s mostly just because I’m too lazy to do much. Shouting and arguing is too much effort.”

“Have you ever argued with Keila?” Bonnibel asked.

Marceline laughed. “Yeah, one time when we were in middle school. I ate all her ice cream, she got mad, I laughed at her, she laughed at me and we were all good.”

“You guys have never had a real fight?”

“Nope. We pretty much agree on everything.” Marceline said. “You know, unless you count our endless debates over which bands are better.”

“You guys talk about music a lot.” Bonnibel pointed out. “It’s confusing.”

“I’m surprised Marshall hasn’t taught you any of the music-talk we use or showed you any good bands.” Marceline frowned. “Although let’s not lie, the alpha twin over here,” She pointed to herself, “clearly has the better music taste.”

Bonnibel laughed. “But don’t you guys listen to the same type of music? Rock?”

“I listen to all sorts.” Marceline stated. “But mostly rock, yes. Marshall’s only really into rock.”

“What other stuff do you like?” Bonnibel pressed.

“Hm…acoustic stuff, I like some electronic, I’ll very occasionally like a song in the charts but that’s pretty rare, and country if you still count Taylor Swift as country.” Marceline listed. “But I’m into mostly rock and its subgenres.”

“ _You_ like Taylor Swift?” Bonnibel chuckled. “Never would’ve thought that.”

“She’s a not-so-guilty pleasure of mine.” Marceline admitted.

Bonnibel was about to ask another question about Marceline’s music taste, but Simon walked into the kitchen with two empty mugs. “Morning, Bonnibel! How’s that hangover?”

Bonnibel’s eyes widened. “You didn’t see me drunk, did you?”

“No, Betty and I heard you, however.” Simon chuckled. “It’s fine. You weren’t too bad. I’ve seen much worse with this one.” He nodded towards Marceline.

Marceline awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. “Yeah…we don’t talk about things like that when I’m attempting to make new friends.”

Simon beamed. “I told you Bonnibel was nice.”

“Shush.” Marceline hushed him, jumping off the counter and grabbing the nearly melted tub of ice cream. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go upstairs before you try to embarrass me.”

“Marcy, I’m basically your Dad, I’m going to be an embarrassment at times.” Simon joked.

Marceline leant down and put the ice cream back in the freezer, shutting the door. “Come on, Bonnie.”

Bonnibel slid off the counter and followed Marceline upstairs and back into her bedroom. Almost automatically, Marceline grabbed her TV remote and switched the TV on. “Anything you want to watch, or do you just want me to pick?”

“You can pick. I don’t watch much TV.” Bonnibel shrugged, sitting down on Marceline’s soft bed. “I’m sorry for stealing your bed, by the way. It was very comfortable, though.”

“It’s fine, dude.”

“Why didn’t you stay in with me? I wouldn’t have minded.” Bonnibel questioned.

Marceline avoided the question. “Why did you even get drunk in the first place? You never seemed the type to do that to me.”

“I don’t know. I decided I’d have one beer to be a social drinker, and I’d never had it before. It tasted quite nice, and so I kept going back for more. I guess that’s how I ended up how I was.” Bonnibel said. “I’m never going to do it again, though. My head hurts.”

Marceline sat down on the bed next to her. “Yeah, that’ll happen.”

Bonnibel rested back against the pillows and outstretched her legs. Marceline mirrored her actions and flicked through the TV guide, searching for something decent for the two of them to watch. Bonnibel looked down at Marceline’s feet, frowning when she saw Marceline was wearing mismatched socks. “Marceline, your socks are mismatched.”

“Yeah, I do that.” Marceline shrugged. “Always have.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just do.” Marceline said.

Bonnibel hummed in acknowledgement and the two fell into a comfortable silence as Marceline found some dumb comedy movie to watch. “Marceline?”

“Yeah?”

“When’s your birthday?” Bonnibel asked.

“Why, exactly?”

“I just want to know if I’ve missed it or not. I didn’t know Lady’s so I didn’t have a chance to get her anything.” Bonnibel said. “I need to know yours and Marshall’s so I don’t miss it.”

Marceline didn’t move her gaze from the TV. “I was born on October 31st.”

“Halloween.”

“Yup.” Marceline nodded. “Maybe that’s why your friend thinks I’m a vampire.”

“How do you know about that?” Bonnibel laughed.

“Someone literally came over to me and asked me and then they told me she started it.” Marceline shrugged. “Please tell me it’s meant to be an insult and she doesn’t _actually_ think I’m a vampire?”

“I think she believes her theory that you’re a vampire.” Bonnibel chuckled.

Marceline slapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh my fucking God. _Really_?”

“Yeah. She says it’s because of your eyes and because you’re so pale.”

Marceline looked up in thought, before a devilish smirk crossed her face. “I could think of a good prank here.”

“Please tell me you’re not going to do something stupid.”

“I’m not going to do something stupid.” Marceline replied. “I’m going to do something funny.”

Bonnibel didn’t want to think about what that meant, and decided to change the subject. “So yours and Marshall’s birthday is on Halloween?”

“Nope. Mine is. His is the day after.” Marceline said.

Bonnibel frowned. “But you’re twins.”

“I was born four minutes to midnight. He was born five minutes after midnight.” Marceline explained. “His birthday is November 1st.”

“Ah, I see.” Bonnibel nodded. “So you’re only just born on Halloween.”

“Yup.” Marceline nodded. “When we used to go trick or treating my Mom would make us wear a themed costume. We brought in twice the candy.”

“That’s cute.” Bonnibel smiled, although she couldn’t help but wonder about what Marceline had just said. _Her Mom_. Bonnibel knew she shouldn’t ask, and she bit back the question she was dying to know the answer to. Where were Marceline’s parents?

“If you want, I can take you home now. You still need to get dressed, but I can lend you some clothes.” Marceline offered.

“It’s fine, I’ll just re-wear what I wore last night.” Bonnibel said. “It’s not like I’ll be wearing them for too long; I’ll be getting into pyjamas once I get home.”

Marceline nodded, pointing towards the desk chair she rarely ever sat on. “Your clothes are over there on that chair.”

Bonnibel chuckled. “I know. They stick out like a sore thumb next to all those blacks and greys.”

Marceline just rolled her eyes in response, turning back to the TV as Bonnibel climbed off the bed and grabbed her clothes, heading into the bathroom to change.

As she was changing, Bonnibel couldn’t help but think about Marceline’s parents. She knew she shouldn’t and that it was none of her business, but she really was curious as to why Marshall and Marceline lived with Simon.

Maybe she’d ask, if her and Marceline ever got close enough.

It didn’t take Bonnibel long to change her clothes, and she carefully folded the pyjamas Marceline had given her into a neat pile, before walking out from the bathroom and across the hallway. She froze outside Marceline’s bedroom door when she heard the angelic voice from inside.

Marceline was singing.

Bonnibel didn’t recognise the song, and she didn’t care. All she was thinking about was the beautiful singing voice from inside the room. Marceline wasn’t even singing properly, she was just singing to herself as she played about on her phone, but Bonnibel still thought it was phenomenal.

Bonnibel lingered outside the half open door and listened to the beautiful voice.

 _“Thanks to you, I’m not myself,_  
I’m all strung out, that much is clear.  
And I’ll spend my whole lifetime with your lifeline wrapped around my throat.”

Bonnibel made herself known and walked into the room, setting the folded pyjamas on next to Marceline on her bed. She smiled at the other girl, who was texting someone – probably Keila. “You have a _really_ nice singing voice.”

“Thanks, Bonnie.” Marceline replied, standing up. “Alright, let’s get you home.”

* * *

 

The drive to Bonnibel’s house was unusually quick, and Bonnibel found herself upset when Marceline’s car pulled up outside her house.

Bonnibel smiled at Marceline. “Thanks for everything, Marceline.”

“Don’t sweat it, Bonnie.” Marceline shrugged. “It was no problem.”

Bonnibel opened the car door and stepped out. “I’ll see you at school.”

“Yeah. I’ll wait for you to get in.” Marceline nodded towards Bonnibel’s front door.

Bonnibel smiled. “Thanks.”

Bonnibel closed the car door and walked up her driveway, opening the front door which had been left unlocked. She turned and waved goodbye to Marceline, shutting the door and shouting up to her parents. “Guys, I’m home!”

Her Mom came out of the living room. “Did you have fun with your friends?”

Bonnibel nodded. She wasn’t going to tell her parents that she got drunk. They’d kill her. “Yeah. I had a good night.”

“Whose house did you stay at?” Her Mom pressed.

Bonnibel tried not to roll her eyes. Her Mom had always been really protective over her. “Marceline’s.”

A frown was what she got in response. “Marceline? You’ve never mentioned her before.”

“Yeah, she’s a new friend.” Bonnibel said.

“Do you like her?”

“ _Mom_!” Bonnibel exclaimed. “Not like that!”

“You should invite her over for dinner some time.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah, okay. Later.”

Her Mom didn’t reply, and Bonnibel took that as her chance to escape, quickly heading up to her room before her Mom could ask her any more questions about Marceline. She pulled out her phone once she sat down on her bed, sending a quick Facebook message to Marceline.

_**Bonnibel (2:37PM): My Mom didn’t seem to suspect I’d been drunk. Thanks again.** _

It took Marceline a few minutes to reply; Bonnibel assumed she’d been driving home.

_**Marceline (2:45PM): no prob, man** _

_**Marceline (2:45PM): now take a nap, your head is probably killing** _

_**Bonnibel (2:46PM): Aye, aye, Captain. ;)** _

_**Marceline (2:48PM): that could be your nickname for me** _

_**Bonnibel (2:49PM): Ah, but that would imply you had some sort of power over me.** _

_**Marceline (2:49PM): ah, but what if I do?** _

_**Marceline (2:49PM): what if secretly I’m the queen of everything** _

_**Bonnibel (2:50PM): You’re less awkward over text.** _

_**Bonnibel (2:50PM): Not that your awkwardness isn’t absolutely adorable. :)** _

_**Marceline (2:51PM): good to know, now take your nap** _

_**Marceline (2:51PM): and don’t call me adorable** _

_**Bonnibel (2:52PM): Sure, ‘Queen of Everything’. ;)** _

Marceline didn’t reply after that, and Bonnibel found herself thinking about the dark haired girl as she changed into her pyjamas – Marceline’s rock shirt and a pair of pink pyjama shorts. She sniffed the shirt; Marceline’s scent was fading. Bonnibel settled down under her pink duvet and closed her eyes; she was going to sleep her hangover off. Admittedly, she was hoping that maybe when she woke up, she could talk to Marceline over Facebook.

Bonnibel woke up from her nap a few hours later and checked her phone to see a Facebook message from Marceline.

Marceline’s message read, ‘text me, I hate facebook’ and had her number next to it.

Bonnibel grinned.

She was _definitely_ texting her.


	13. thirteen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> snow days are fun.

**Friday 21 st February 2014**

The first thing Bonnibel noticed when her alarm woke her up at 7AM that morning was that it had snowed overnight.

Bonnibel didn’t really know how she felt about that; sometimes she liked the snow, and other times she didn’t. She didn’t like how after a few days, it became an annoying slush which soaked her feet and ruined her shoes, but she did like how it made everything look so snug and wintery. She enjoyed going out into the back yard and building a snowman with her parents. She liked walking the streets and being the first to step on it and hearing the satisfying crunch as it flattened under her feet.

After staring out of her window at the sun which was just rising and looking out at the orange tinted sky, she headed downstairs for breakfast to see her Dad in the kitchen with his morning coffee. “Morning.”

He smiled. “Good morning, Bonnibel. Did you sleep okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“School is cancelled today, so you can go and get another few hours if you’d like.” He replied.

“School was cancelled?” She frowned. She couldn’t help but be a little upset by that. She liked school; she loved learning new things and she didn’t like spending days in bed when she could be being productive. “I take it it’s closed because of the snow?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “You could always do your homework if you don’t want another few hours sleep.”

“I did it all last night.” Bonnibel said. She could always do an experiment, but she had nothing she would like to research and she couldn’t be bothered getting her lab equipment out.

“Why don’t you call one of your friends and invite them round?” He suggested.

“They’ll all be going back to bed.” Bonnibel stated. “Is Mom working from home today?”

“Yeah.” Her Dad nodded. “She should be waking up soon.”

Bonnie nodded. “Okay. I’m going to make myself a cup of chamomile tea and then go upstairs and read. Maybe I’ll call Lady later on.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” He smiled.

As Bonnie was stood waiting for the water to boil, her Dad spoke up again. “How are you settling in here? I know you were reluctant to leave New York.”

She smiled. “I like it a lot. I have great friends and I’m confident that they’ll be accepting when I tell them about…you know.”

“You haven’t said anything yet?” He looked surprised.

“Of course I haven’t. After what happened back home I’m not telling another soul until I’m sure they won’t freak out at me.” Bonnibel said, before she hesitated. “I did tell someone by accident, however.”

“How do you accidentally tell someone you’re gay?” Her Dad laughed. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re really as smart as you let on.”

Bonnibel laughed, gently smacking his arm as she walked past him for a mug. “It just slipped out.”

“How did they take it?” He asked, as Bonnie was pouring the water into the cup and onto the teabag.

“She took it really well. I cried on her a little bit because I wasn’t ready to actually tell anyone, and she was super sweet about it.” Bonnie smiled.

“Was it Lady?” He asked.

“No.” Bonnibel said. “It was Marceline. You haven’t met her but she’s really cool.”

“Why didn’t you invite her round with all your other friends?” He pressed.

“We weren’t friends then,” Bonnibel said as she carefully lifted the teabag form her cup with a spoon and threw it in the trash. “But we are now.”

“Oh.” He nodded as she made her way to the door. “Well, have a nice day. I’m going to head to work.”

“See you, Dad.” Bonnibel called as she made her way back upstairs and into her bedroom, placing her mug down on her tidy bedside table. She picked up her phone out of habit to see no notifications, as usual.

Sighing, Bonnibel put her phone down and walked over to her alphabetically organised bookshelf, looking through her books. Nothing stuck out to her, so Bonnie snuggled back down in her bed and rested her head on the soft pillow. She grabbed her phone again and went into her text messages, thumb hovering above the conversation with Marceline. She thought for a moment, typing out a message.

_**Bonnibel (7:45AM): Hey, Marceline. School is closed today because of the snow and I was wondering if you would want to hang out. :)** _

She hoped the text didn’t look too pushy or desperate, locking her phone and placing it on her bedside table, picking up her mug of tea. She took small sips from the hot drink, her legs still wrapped up in her pink duvet, not expecting Marceline to text back as it was still pretty early. Marceline surprised her when her phone vibrated.

_**Marceline (7:47AM): okay dude but let me get a little bit of sleep first** _

_**Bonnibel (7:47AM): That’s fine. Come round whenever you like.** _

_**Marceline (7:48AM): 10:30 good for you?** _

_**Bonnibel (7:48AM): That’s fine. I’ll see you then.** _

Bonnibel settled down in her bed and smiled. She’d made plans for the day, so she wasn’t going to be sat around doing nothing. All she had to do now was pass the time.

7:30AM. She had 3 hours to kill.

She might as well follow Marceline’s lead and get an extra bit of sleep.

* * *

 

Bonnie woke up a second time at 9:47AM, and got up to get a quick shower and get herself ready for Marceline to come. She was dressed and ready in good time, and went downstairs to make herself breakfast; toast and yet another cup of chamomile tea. When she got back into her room after breakfast, she had two texts from Marceline.

_**Marceline (10:33AM): yo I’m walking round to yours now** _

_**Marceline (10:33AM): what joys do you have in store for me today** _

Bonnibel smiled, texting back.

_**Bonnibel (10:41AM): Anything you want to do. We’ll have fun, don’t worry.** _

_**Marceline (10:42AM): kinda hoping you’d come up with the ideas here tbh I literally haven’t made friends and bonded with another human since I was like five and even then that happened because I’m fucking clumsy and awkward** _

_**Bonnibel (10:42AM): If you want to make friends, just be yourself. That’s what my parents always told me as a kid.** _

_**Marceline (10:42AM): so you want me to be awkward and throw marmalade all over you** _

_**Bonnibel (10:43AM): You could try that if you like. ;)** _

_**Marceline (10:43AM): the wink face makes that text look really sexual** _

_**Marceline (10:44AM): mm yeah babe try that mmmmmmmmm ;)** _

_**Bonnibel (10:44AM): You’re a very distasteful individual, you know.** _

_**Marceline (10:45AM): thanks, I try** _

_**Bonnibel (10:45AM): I really don’t know how to respond to you taking an insult as a compliment.** _

_**Marceline (10:45AM): maybe you should stop sending me sexual wink face texts and then calling ME the ‘distasteful’ one** _

_**Bonnibel (10:46AM): They weren’t intended to be sexual, you big jerk.** _

_**Bonnibel (10:46AM): Unless you want them to be. ;)** _

_**Marceline (10:48AM): gosh quit trying to seduce me, fuckass** _

Bonnie laughed out loud at Marceline’s response, feeling a little bit stupid when she did. Luckily, her Mom wasn’t in the room to get involved and ask dumb questions about who she was texting.

_**Bonnibel (10:48AM): Bonding at its finest.** _

_**Marceline (10:50AM): you were the one that told me to be myself** _

_**Marceline (10:50AM): I’m outside by the way** _

_**Bonnibel (10:51AM): Okay, I’ll come and open the door.** _

Bonnibel walked towards the front door and unlocked it with the spare key, shooting Marceline a warm smile as she opened the door. “Hey.”

Marceline had her hands stuffed in the pockets of a black leather jacket, the hood of the jumper she was wearing underneath covering her ears. She quickly stepped inside. “I’m freezing my fucking tits off.”

“That was a lovely welcome.” Bonnibel joked, as Marceline kicked her shoes off.

“I should’ve walked here wrapped in my duvet or something.” Marceline stated, finally looking to Bonnibel. “Hey, Bonnie.”

“Why didn’t you drive?” Bonnibel questioned. “You have a car.”

“I couldn’t find my keys.” Marceline shrugged, “And I need the exercise. I’ve eaten like three McDonald’s meals this week.”

“Simon let you do that?” Bonnibel asked. Her parents barely let her have one McDonald’s a month.

“No.” Marceline said. “But what he doesn’t know won’t kill him. What are we doing today, anyways?”

“What do you want to do?” Bonnie asked. “We could go upstairs and watch a movie, if you want.”

“That’s cool with me, dude.” Marceline replied.

Bonnibel smiled, walking towards the stairs. “Follow me. If you don’t want to be harassed by my Mom, I’d keep pretty quiet.”

Marceline nodded, following Bonnibel up the stairs and into her bedroom, sitting down on her bed. She tucked her knees to her chest and looked up at Bonnie with an innocent expression which made Bonnibel want to hug her as tight as she could. “What movies have you got?”

“All sorts. If you don’t like any of my DVDs we can stream something online.” Bonnibel said.

“Ooh,” Marceline wiggled her eyebrows. “Illegal streaming, I like it.”

“Shut up.” Bonnibel rolled her eyes, biting back a small grin. “I don’t do it that often.”

“Dude, I streamed the entire season six of Buffy last night illegally. It’s no biggie.” Marceline assured. “I just didn’t expect little miss princess to do that.”

“I thought we were over that dumb nickname.” Bonnibel laughed.

Marceline mock gasped. “My nicknames are dumb, are they? I’m offended. Gosh, I can’t believe I even considered being friends with you.”

Bonnie sat down on her bed next to Marceline and elbowed the other girl. “Shut up. Your nicknames are awesome and extremely creative.”

“Heck yeah they are.” Marceline nodded, before letting out a light chuckle. “Nah, they’re dumb. I’m _really_ bad at thinking of them. I literally just go with the first thing that comes to mind. Speaking of which, how are your friends Rainbow, Hatboy and Wolverine doing?”

“Hearing you use them in casual conversation is pretty funny, not going to lie.” Bonnie laughed. “If you had to give yourself a nickname, what would it be?”

Marceline leant her head back against the wall and bit on her lip in thought, a sight which Bonnibel found adorable. “Uh…I don’t know…hm…Super Cool Punk Rock Mega Awesome Rad Dude.” Marceline stated, chuckling. Bonnie giggled. “Nah, man. I don’t know. Probably like Awkward Dumbass or something.”

“You’re not _that_ awkward.” Bonnibel assured.

“Really? ‘Cause I feel pretty awkward.” Marceline said, resting her head on her knees. “I don’t know, man. Fuck.”

“Why do you feel awkward?” Bonnie asked, tentatively placing a hand on Marceline’s shoulder.

“I don’t know, dude.” Marceline sighed. “I just do. I’m _really_ not used to talking to like…people, I guess. I just…ugh. I’m sorry, man.”

Bonnibel shot her a warm smile. “Well, you don’t have to feel awkward around me. We’re friends.”

Marceline nodded, and sent a genuine smile Bonnibel’s way. It was infectious. Bonnibel couldn’t help but grin back. “Yeah…thanks, Bonnie.”

Bonnibel gave her a reassuring squeeze. “No problem, Marceline.”

“So…” Marceline trailed off, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck.

Bonnie smiled. “If you want, I can do all the question asking.”

“That’d be good.” Marceline nodded. “Thanks.”

“Okay.” Bonnibel nodded. She tried to think up a good question, her eyes falling on Marceline’s nose ring. “When did you get your nose pierced?”

“I was fifteen. I wanted to do it the year before, but my Dad told me I wasn’t allowed. I did it anyway.” Marceline shrugged.

Bonnie was itching to ask about Marceline’s Dad, but she knew she’d definitely be overstepping some boundaries. “Did it hurt?”

“Mm…” Marceline looked up in thought before nodding. “I guess, a little. I don’t really remember. It was two years ago, man.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Well, it looks good on you.”

“Thanks, dude.” Marceline flashed a small smile. “Why’d you dye your hair pink?”

Bonnibel beamed; Marceline was actually asking her questions, too. “Well, I figured that every teenager has a streak of rebellion at some point, and I like the colour pink, so I decided I’d dye my hair. I was fourteen at the time, and I just kept it.”

“Oh. Cool. It really suits you.” Marceline replied.

There was a slightly awkward silence, and Bonnie decided to break it before it became overbearing. “Have you written any new songs lately?”

Marceline laughed. “Oh, _yeah_. I wrote one at like 3AM a few nights ago and when I woke up and read over it, I wondered if I was drunk when I wrote it. One of the lyrics was something like, ‘Oreos fill my heart with joy,’.”

“I’d buy that on iTunes.” Bonnie laughed. “You’re a lyrical inspiration.”

Marceline chuckled. “Some of my lyrics actually aren’t half bad. Others are weird and I was probably drunk or super sleepy when I wrote them.”

“I bet the sober lyrics are great.” Bonnie smiled. “You still need to teach me how to play ukulele.”

“I would’ve brought one if you mentioned it over text.” Marceline replied. “I’ll teach you some other time.”

“You can check out my Dad’s guitar if you want.” Bonnibel offered.

Marceline’s face lit up. “Seriously? Dude, that’d be rad.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Wait here, I’ll go get it.”

She slipped out of the room and into her Dad’s office, where his guitar was left adjacent to the bookcase. She picked it up, the instrument cold to the touch, and carried it back to Marceline, who held out her hands and made a grabbing motion with her fingers when the guitar was in sight. Marceline grinned like a little kid when the guitar was passed to her. She gently strummed a chord and picked a few notes with her fingers. “This is a really good guitar. Fender. I have a thing for Fenders.”

“Why?” Bonnie asked.

Marceline shrugged. “They just have a really nice sound. My ukulele is by Fender, actually.”

“You should play something for me.” Bonnibel said.

Marceline frowned. “Why?”

“I want to hear you play.” Bonnie explained, sitting back down on the bed. “I think you’re really talented already and so far I’ve only heard you play through a door.”

“I don’t know, Bonnie.” Marceline sighed. “No. Not yet.”

“Why not? I’m not asking for a full-fledged performance. I just want to hear you play the guitar.” Bonnibel assured.

“What if I fuck up?”

“I doubt you’ll mess up. Play.” Bonnie nodded towards the guitar, nudging Marceline. “You don’t need to sing or anything.”

“I don’t really feel comfortable enough to -,” Marceline started.

Bonnie cut her off. “Okay. Don’t worry about it. Another time.”

“I was _going_ to say that I don’t feel comfortable enough to sing, but I’ll play you a couple of chords.” Marceline rolled her eyes.

Bonnibel’s face brightened. “Oh! Great!”

“Pick some chords.”

“I don’t know any chords.”

“Pick four letters from the start of the alphabet.” Marceline said. “Up to G. I won’t bring sharps into this.”

“Uh…A, C, E and G.” Bonnibel listed.

Marceline nodded, softly strumming out a small sequence from the chords Bonnibel picked. Bonnie smiled in content as Marceline played. She really was talented. Marceline strummed each chord four times, and when she finished, she looked up at Bonnibel and smiled that real smile that never failed to amaze Bonnie. “Happy?”

“Very.” Bonnibel smiled. “Maybe some time you’ll sing for me.”

“Maybe.” Marceline shrugged, plucking a few notes on the guitar. “In the future.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah. I look forward to it.”

“Damn. I need to practise, then.” Marceline chuckled, setting the guitar down on the bed. “I don’t want to disappoint.”

“You’re forgetting I have the musical talent of a tone deaf walrus. I’m impressed if people can play two or three chords. You play like ten different instruments _and_ sing _and_ write songs. I highly doubt you’ll disappoint me.” Bonnie chuckled.

“I don’t play _ten_ instruments. I only play…” She paused and counted, tallying them up with her fingers. “Seven.”

“That’s still a lot.” Bonnibel crossed her arms.

Marceline shrugged and shuffled about, getting herself comfortable. Bonnibel watched as Marceline ran a hand through her side-bangs and pushed them from her eyes, before her fingers diverted to fiddling with the hem of her t-shirt. Bonnie smiled to herself, feeling rather relaxed. Well, until Marceline noticed the shirt she gave Bonnibel on the pink pillow closest to them. “You really _do_ sleep in it.”

Bonnibel blushed. “All the time.”

“Why?”

“It’s comfortable. I like it.”

“That’s not what you told me when you were hammered.” Marceline snickered.

Bonnibel gave Marceline a playful elbow. “Shut up. Apparently I blurt out secrets when I’m drunk. I’m never having alcohol again.”

“Keila says that every time she gets drunk.”

“Well, I’ve only been drunk the one time and I’m _certain_ I won’t be doing that again. The headache killed me.” Bonnibel said. “Have you ever been drunk?”

Marceline’s eyebrows shot up. “What do you think?”

“I think you have.”

“Correct.”

Bonnie smiled. “When did you first get drunk?”

“At a party when I was fourteen.” Marceline shrugged. “It was weird. I mean, I used to be kind of like you before I started actually leaving the house.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was a giant nerd.”

Bonnibel scoffed. “I’m not _that_ much of a nerd.”

“You’re literally the nerd queen.” Marceline laughed. “Former dork Marceline would have bowed down to you.”

Bonnibel elbowed Marceline in the ribs. “I am _not_ the nerd queen. I’m sure that there’s somebody out there who is even worse than me. What were you like, anyways?”

“Well, I was getting As in literally everything, and I stayed in all the time studying, I wore glasses -,”

“ _You_ need glasses?” Bonnie cooed. “Aw, that’s adorable!”

“I don’t even have bad eyesight. I’m just a little short-sighted and I never wear them anyways.” Marceline said. “And don’t call me adorable. It’s weird.”

Bonnibel held up her hands in defence. “Sorry. Continue your description of your former self.”

“Well…I was a _little_ chubby, but in my defence I did have a weak spot for Twizzlers.” Marceline stated. “And I was always super short for my age. By short, I mean there was a point in time where LSP was taller than me.”

Bonnibel giggled. “You’re painting a really pretty picture here, Marceline.”

Marceline slapped a hand to her forehead. “God, I hate myself. I literally want to go back in time and punch myself in the face.”

“If it means anything, we probably would have been friends back then.”

“I was friends with everybody back then.” Bonnibel wasn’t sure if she should ask what changed, but Marceline continued talking. “Just try and imagine past me drunk. Terrifying, isn’t it?”

Bonnie laughed at the mental image. “More hilarious than terrifying.”

“God, I was such a nerd.” Marceline said, before shaking her head.

“Would you tell me if I asked what changed?”

“With what?”

“You.” Bonnie said. “You used to be like that and now you’re like this.”

“I got into bands, got a piercing and started wearing skinny jeans.” Marceline frowned. “And I got thinner. That’s pretty much it.”

“Are you implying that secretly you’re still a nerd and you just dress like a hardcore punk?” Bonnibel teased.

Marceline shrugged, picking at her bitten-down fingernails. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re secretly a big dork, Abadeer.”

“Damn. You’ve figured out my big secret.” Marceline bit back a grin, sitting up. “Are we going to watch a movie or what?”

Bonnie smiled. “Sure. You pick.”

“Anything Disney is cool with me.” Marceline shrugged.

Bonnibel froze as she was sitting up. “Did that sentence _seriously_ just come out of your mouth?”

Marceline rolled her eyes and bit back a grin. “What? I like Disney movies.”

Bonnibel laughed, sitting up and heading over to her DVD drawer, searching through for some Disney movies, chucking the cases on the bed as she found them. “Luckily for you, I have quite a few Disney films.”

Marceline leaned forward and examined the DVDs, picking one up. “Lion King. Fuck yeah.”

Bonnie nodded, packing away the other DVDs and taking the Lion King disk from Marceline, putting it in her player and starting it up, settling back down next to Marceline. Bonnie smiled. “If you’d have told me I’d be watching The Lion King with you in the near future when I’d first met you, I’d have laughed.”

Marceline smirked. “What? Aloof and mysterious people can like Disney movies too.”

Bonnie laughed. “As much as you laugh at the concept, you really did come off as mysterious.”

“Really? Most people just say I’m scary.”

“Well, that too.” Bonnie admitted.

Marceline scoffed. “That was the part where you were supposed to say, ‘aw, you’re not scary’. Thanks for coming through, Bonnie.”

Bonnibel wrapped her arms around Marceline in a hug. “Aw, you know I don’t think you’re scary. I never really bought that act.”

“Act? Dude, I’m tough.”

“You tell yourself that, miss ‘I like watching Disney movies in my free time,’.” Bonnibel laughed. “You’re a softie and you know it.”

“Are you saying you think you could take me in a fight?” Marceline raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure I’d kick your ass.”

“In your dreams.” Bonnie teased, even though she knew if she was in an actual fight with Marceline, Marceline would definitely win.

Marceline smiled. “You know I’d never hurt you, Bonnie. You’d probably win because I wouldn’t do anything.”

Bonnibel grinned. “You’re the best, you know.”

“I try.”

* * *

 

Bonnibel really was happy she’d invited Marceline over. She’d had the most fun she’d had since moving, and she really didn’t want it to end. After they’d finished watching a few movies, Bonnie had suggested that the two of them should go outside and have some fun in the snow. Marceline had then launched into an anecdote on the way outside about how her and Marshall used to build igloos as kids and it was one of the only times they ever got along. Bonnibel then decided that that’s what the two of them should do rather than build the classic snowman.

Marceline – being the troublemaker she is – distracted Bonnie’s focus from the igloo they were building by throwing a snowball straight at her. When Bonnibel turned to her with a scowl, Marceline smirked. “What? I thought you wanted to have fun.”

Bonnie chuckled. “Oh, it’s on.”

“You’re going down.” Marceline said, throwing another snowball which hit Bonnibel’s shoulder.

Bonnibel scooped up a handful of snow, throwing it at Marceline. Marceline dodged out of the way. Bonnie huffed. “You can’t do that!”

“It’s a snowball fight, Bonnie. There aren’t really any rules.” Marceline replied, hitting Bonnibel with yet another snowball.

It turned into a full-blown snowball war, Bonnie chasing Marceline around the back yard incredibly determined to actually hit her with a snowball, which she failed to do most of the time she threw one.

Bonnibel was the one to call a truce, when Marceline snuck up behind her and put snow down the back of her jumper. Then, when Marceline was off guard, Bonnibel tripped her up so she fell in the pile of snow that was at one point their igloo.

“Bonnie! Not cool, dude!” Marceline exclaimed as she sat up. “You called a truce!”

“That was perfectly justified; you kept getting me with snowballs.” Bonnibel stated, holding out a hand to help Marceline up. “Come on.”

Bonnie pulled Marceline up by the other girl’s cold hand. Marceline brushed snow from her clothes. “Dude, you’re _brutal_.”

Bonnibel smiled. “I’d say I won that snowball fight.”

“By cheating.” Marceline added. “You cheated. Got me off guard.”

“I still won.” Bonnibel muttered. “Do you want to go inside?”

“Yeah. It’s fucking freezing out here.”

“You’d better not use that word around my Mom if you meet her.” Bonnie warned, smiling. “She’s one of those people that hates swearing.”

“I can usually hold it back around adults.” Marceline said. “People my age? Nope.”

Bonnibel pushed open the back door to her house, stepping aside for Marceline to go in. “You never hold it back around Simon.”

“I try to, but sometimes the occasional bad word will slip out.” Marceline replied as she slipped inside.

Bonnibel followed her in. “He doesn’t like it when you swear, does he?”

“Nah. He still sees me as an innocent little seven year old most of the time.”

“You? Innocent?” Bonnie frowned, closing the door. “Next joke, please.”

Marceline laughed. “Funny.”

Bonnibel grabbed Marceline’s wrist and pulled her along. “Come on, let’s go to my room.”

Marceline rolled her eyes, but let Bonnie pull her upstairs. She sat down on Bonnibel’s bed, her back against the wall. Bonnibel grabbed her phone and checked for notifications, surprised to see she had a text from Lady.

**_Lady (3:13PM): We’re coming round to get you in a bit because we’re all hanging out, I don’t care how much studying you want to do_ **

Bonnie frowned at the text, looking over to Marceline, who smirked. “Texting your girlfriend, huh?”

Bonnie blushed, picking up a pillow and throwing it Marceline’s way. “I don’t have a girlfriend. Lady just texted me.”

Marceline nodded. “If you want to hang out with your friends, just tell me. I’ll go.”

“No!” Bonnie replied, much too quickly. “Stay. I’m going to tell her I’m busy.”

“Dude, you don’t have to do that for me.”

“I like spending time with you and I know you don’t like them. It’s fine. I’d rather be with you.” Bonnibel said.

“You’d rather be with me?” Marceline repeated.

Bonnibel looked up and was surprised by the look of shock on Marceline’s face. She smiled. “Well…you’re fun to be around.”

Marceline smiled and looked at her feet, and Bonnie was sure she saw a light blush on Marceline’s cheeks. “Thanks, Bonnie. You’re pretty rad, too.”

Bonnibel grinned, before typing out a text to Lady on her phone.

_**Bonnibel (3:56PM): Sorry, I’m busy. I’ll hang out with you guys some other time.** _

Lady texted back quickly.

_**Lady (3:57PM): You always say that though, we’re already on our way anyway** _

_**Bonnibel (3:57PM): I’m with a friend.** _

_**Lady (3:58PM): A New York friend? Can we meet them?** _

_**Bonnibel (3:59PM): They’re not from New York. You already know her.** _

_**Lady (3:59PM): Well who is it?** _

_**Bonnibel (4:00PM): Marceline.** _

_**Lady (4:00PM): Now I know you’re lying** _

Bonnibel didn’t bother texting back. If Lady didn’t believe her, she’d see for herself when she came over. “Well, Lady’s adamant on coming over. Sorry.”

“It’s cool, dude. I’ll leave you to your friends.” Marceline replied, and went to sit up.

Bonnibel shook her head. “Don’t go. You don’t need to leave because of them. I told her you’re here and she doesn’t believe me, so it’s her fault.”

“I don’t know, man.” Marceline muttered. “Your friends kind of hate me and stuff.”

“They don’t hate you!” Bonnie assured. “They’re just…afraid of you.”

Marceline shrugged. “Either way, I don’t want to intrude on your nerd fest. I’ll go and see Keila or something. It’s fine, dude. I swear.”

Bonnibel sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry about them crashing our day.”

Marceline smiled. “It’s okay, Bonnie. Really. We’ll hang out again some other time.”

“Okay. I’ll walk you downstairs.”

Bonnie waited for Marceline to tie her shoelaces up and get her coat on, before unlocking the front door. Marceline was about to leave, when Bonnibel grabbed onto the sleeve of Marceline’s leather jacket. “You’re not leaving without a hug.”

Marceline let out a small laugh. “Whatever you say, Bonnie.”

Bonnibel wrapped her arms around Marceline’s middle and nestled her face into Marceline’s shoulder. She couldn’t contain her grin when Marceline gave her a gentle squeeze back. She looked up to see her Mom stood at the top of the stairs with an eyebrow raised, and she quickly let go of Marceline and smiled. “I’ll see you at school.”

“Yeah. See you on Monday, Bonnie.” Marceline said as Bonnibel unlocked the front door for her.

Marceline shot Bonnibel one last smile before making her way out of Bonnibel’s house.

As Bonnie watched Marceline walk down the driveway, she couldn’t help but be annoyed at Lady for cutting her time with Marceline short.


	14. fourteen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie has a sleepover with lady and worries about marceline, who seems a little too tired at school.

**Wednesday 26 th February 2014**

“Hey, Bubblegum.” Lady said as she was walking Bonnie to History. “Do you want to come over to mine and have a sleepover on Friday? It’ll be fun, I swear.”

Bonnibel smiled; she hadn’t been invited to a proper sleepover for a while. “Sure.”

Lady frowned. “Really? I thought I’d have to do much more convincing to get you to come.”

Bonnie laughed. “No, I actually quite like the idea. It’ll be fun.”

They arrived outside of Bonnibel’s classroom, and Lady pulled her in for a tight hug. “Awesome. I’ll talk to you about it later. See you at lunch.”

Bonnibel smiled to her as she walked down the hallway, entering her classroom and taking her usual seat next to Marceline, who looked incredibly tired. “Hey, Marceline. You look like you haven’t slept for a week.”

“Something like that.” Marceline mumbled. “You wouldn’t mind if I took a nap, would you?”

“You can’t take naps in class!” Bonnie exclaimed. “Class time is learning time.”

“You’re such a nerd.” Marceline muttered, sitting back and rubbing her eyes.

“Didn’t you sleep last night?” Bonnie frowned.

“No.” Marceline sighed.

“Why not?” Bonnibel asked, putting a comforting hand on Marceline’s shoulder.

“It’s kind of personal.” Marceline said. “Don’t worry about me, Bonnie.”

“You can trust me.”

Marceline stared at her for a second, finally letting out a small sigh. “I had a bad dream.”

Bonnie shot her a reassuring smile. “What about?”

“That’s _really_ personal.”

“Sorry.” Bonnibel apologised. “You know you can talk to me if you ever need anything.”

“I can?” Marceline frowned.

“Of course you can.” Bonnibel smiled. “We’re friends. You can tell me anything, I promise. I care about you.”

“I…I didn’t think that…” Marceline trailed off, staring down at her feet. “You care about me?”

Bonnibel felt her heart break at how small Marceline sounded. She couldn’t believe that Marceline was shocked to learn Bonnibel cared about her. “Of course I do.”

“You’re…thanks, Bonnie.”

“Are you going to tell me about your dreams?” Bonnibel questioned.

Marceline shook her head. “Not yet. That’s a bit _too_ intense.”

Bonnie smiled. “Okay. Baby steps. If you ever need me you can text me.”

“Thanks.” Marceline muttered. “Can we talk about something else?”

Bonnie smiled, gesturing towards the front of class. “How about we talk about the work?”

“As much as I hate to admit it, we should probably pay more attention in this lesson.” Marceline said. “Even though it’s pretty boring sometimes.”

“History can be interesting.”

“Since when?”

“The dawn of time.” Bonnibel replied. “Don’t you think it’s fun to learn about things that happened in the past?”

“If it involves dinosaurs, then yes.” Marceline stated. “But if it involves British politics, then no.”

“What’s so bad about British politics?” Bonnie asked.

“It’s so boring I can literally feel myself falling asleep during it.” Marceline sighed. “I’m just glad I live here so we don’t have to focus on it as a main topic. If I still lived in England I’d be fucked.”

“You used to live in England?” Bonnie frowned, surprised.

“Yeah. Moved here when I was like four.”

Bonnibel was interested. “Whoa. That’s really cool. Why did you move here?”

“It’s a long story.” Marceline said. “Basically, my Dad met my Mom when he went to England for a business trip and then he moved there but then he had to move back because of work.”

“I bet you can do a really good English accent.” Bonnie smiled. She _really_ wanted to ask about Marceline’s parents, but she tried her best to change the subject before her nosiness got the better of her.

“Maybe I can, maybe I can’t.” Marceline wiggled her eyebrows and smirked. “You’ll just have to find out.”

“You seem to like being mysterious.”

Marceline chuckled. “Don’t forget aloof.”

“Shut up.”

* * *

 

Admittedly, Marceline felt better after talking to Bonnibel, but that didn’t stop her from turning up on Keila’s doorstep straight after school. Of course, Keila was her usual, happy self and didn’t notice anything was bothering Marceline until she noticed the dark shadows under Marceline’s eyes and how Marceline seemed to be drifting off to sleep hallway through Keila’s very interesting story about a party she’d attended a few nights ago. She trailed off in the middle of her story. “You had another bad dream last night, didn’t you?”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah.”

“You need to tell Simon they’re happening again.” Keila stated. She really did worry about Marceline; the two girls were very close, and Keila viewed Marceline almost like a sister.

Marceline didn’t want Keila to worry. “It was just a one-time thing. I misplaced Hambo.”

“Do you know where he is now?” Keila pressed, taking one of Marceline’s cold hands in hers.

Marceline shrugged. “Somewhere in the house.”

“Find him. The second you get home, I want you to look for him.” Keila instructed, gently squeezing Marceline’s hand. “Okay?”

“Okay.” Marceline murmured. “Can I take a nap?”

“You _always_ have a nightmare when you don’t have Hambo.” Keila said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Do you want to watch a movie to get your mind off things?”

Marceline nodded, and Keila pulled her in for a hug. “If you get another nightmare, I’m telling Simon.”

“Don’t.” Marceline replied, a little too quickly for Keila’s liking. “I don’t want him to worry.”

“What was your dream about?” Keila asked.

“My Mom.” Marceline mumbled.

Keila didn’t have to ask anything else. She knew the rest of the dream pretty well, as Marceline had recounted it to her multiple times. “Okay. We’ll watch some stupid movie and I’ll order pizza and we’ll just try to get it out of your mind.”

Marceline shot Keila a weak smile. “Yeah. Thanks. You’re the best.”

Keila smiled back, standing up. “I’ve been told. Have you told anyone else about your dream?”

“Bonnie knows.”

Keila couldn’t stop the surprised look from forming. “You told her about everything?”

Marceline shook her head. “No. She just knows I had a bad dream.”

“Are you ever going to tell her about everything?” Keila asked.

Marceline shrugged. “Maybe, if she asks. I don’t know. She needs to reach a higher level of friendship before she can unlock my tragic backstory.”

Keila rolled her eyes. “Did you just talk about life like it’s a video game? You’re ridiculous.”

Marceline chuckled. “Coming from you? You’re the one that’s hyper 24/7. You really need to chill with the caffeine, man.”

Keila noticed that she was taking Marceline’s mind off her dream and that Marceline was cheering up. “I need _something_ now that I’ve quit smoking. Coffee is all I’ve got.”

Marceline smiled. “I’m glad you quit, you know. I don’t want to lose you earlier.”

“You really need to stop worrying about me. I’m tough, you know. I’m like, the Batman to your Robin.” Keila said.

“Okay, I am _not_ Robin.” Marceline defended. “Robin _wishes_ he was me.”

“In your dreams, Marmalade.” Keila teased.

* * *

 

Bonnibel just couldn’t focus on her homework. Usually, she had it all done in an hour, but the thought of Marceline being upset was at the back of her mind and knocking her concentration. She decided to send Marceline a text just to see if she was okay.

_**Bonnibel (5:54PM): Hi, Marceline. I was just wondering if you were okay, you still seemed kind of upset at school. :)** _

Marceline was quick to reply, to Bonnibel’s relief.

_**Marceline (5:55PM): cute** _

_**Marceline (5:55PM): i’m perfectly fine, i’m at keila’s and we’re just watching a movie** _

Bonnibel smiled to herself when she replied.

_**Bonnibel (5:55PM): Good to know. Text me if you need anything.** _

_**Marceline (5:56PM): will do, princess ;)** _

Bonnie tried to stifle the small smile tugging at her lips. She was no longer annoyed by Marceline’s silly nicknames, although she much preferred it when Marceline called her ‘Bonnie’.

_**Bonnibel (5:56PM): What did I tell you about that stupid nickname?** _

_**Marceline (5:56PM): omg sorry your majesty didn’t mean to offend** _

Bonnie was happy that Marceline was acting like her usual, sarcastic self. She felt much more confident knowing that Marceline was okay, and suddenly she remembered her homework.

_**Bonnibel (5:57PM): You’re so frustrating at times. I have to go and do my homework now, have fun with Keila.** _

_**Marceline (5:57PM): later dude** _

Bonnibel locked her phone and placed it on her desk. She’d just picked up her pen when it vibrated again. She smiled when she saw the name on the screen. Another text from Marceline.

_**Marceline (6:00PM): so hey if you wanted to hang out at the weekend that’d be cool I guess** _

Bonnie’s smile was hard to contain at this point. Marceline had actually asked to hang out with her.

_**Bonnibel (6:00PM): Of course! What do you have in mind?** _

_**Marceline (6:01PM): well nothing specific but you know there are thousands of possibilities** _

_**Bonnibel (6:01PM): I look forward to seeing what you come up with. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.** _

_**Marceline (6:02PM): bye, nerd** _

Bonnie put her phone down and continued on with her homework, which she was finding much easier now that she had confirmed Marceline was feeling better. She couldn’t help but worry about Marceline; she’d seen little flashes of her soft side, and Bonnie had figured out that Marceline was the type of person to close herself off rather than let out her emotions, which Bonnie knew wasn’t good.

Once Bonnibel had finished her homework, she went downstairs and made herself a cup of chamomile tea. Then, she settled upstairs with a book until she finally went off to sleep.

* * *

 

**Friday 28 th February 2014**

Bonnie was at Lady’s house, grazing on candy and talking to Lady about how she felt in the town now that she’d settled in.

“I really like it here, you know,” Bonnie said as she got herself comfortable where she was sat on Lady’s bed. “I’ve made a whole load of friends and I’m just glad that you guys are so great.”

Lady smiled. “You’re awesome, too. We won’t let Marceline harass you anymore, either.”

“If anyone is doing the harassment, it’s me.” Bonnibel laughed. “But Marceline doesn’t seem to mind. She’s warmed up to me a lot, actually. We’re hanging out tomorrow.”

“Wait, what?” Lady exclaimed, nearly dropping the candy bar she was unwrapping. “You weren’t kidding when you said you guys are friends? But…that’s weird. You guys are like, complete opposites.”

“Believe it or not, she’s actually kind of a dork.” Bonnie smiled, thinking about how cute Marceline was when the two of them were watching Disney movies together. Marceline had kept on pointing out certain things, or making remarks about how much she loved certain films. She was acting like a big kid, and Bonnie thought it was adorable. “She’s cool.”

“Since when did she let people talk to her?” Lady gawped at Bonnie as if she’d just won the Olympics. “That’s like, a miracle.”

Bonnie just shrugged, taking a bite from her chocolate bar. “You’ve just got to be persistent. I think once you let her know you’re not going away any time soon, she figures she might as well be your friend.”

Lady frowned. “I don’t know. She seems pretty scary to me.”

“No, she’s really nice. You should talk to her.” Bonnie said.

“I’m not talking to her without you waiting to defend my life if she decides to punch me.” Lady responded.

“She’s literally the weakest person on the planet. She tried moving her bed the other day because her phone fell down the side and she couldn’t, and then I did it pretty easily.” Bonnibel assured. “Just don’t tell people that. She doesn’t really like people talking to her, but I think you’d get away with it.”

Lady looked apprehensive. “Are you sure I should make friends with her? I mean, she always came off as the type of person I usually avoid. You know, thuggish.”

“Yeah!” Bonnie exclaimed. “She’s really cool, trust me. You always thought the same about Marshall and now you guys are friends.”

“Fair point.” Lady said. “Fine, I’ll try.”

Bonnie hugged her. “You’re the greatest.”

“ _If_ ,” Lady began, “You answer me a question.”

Bonnie quickly nodded. “Anything.”

“Are you gay?”

Bonnibel froze. She felt the exact same way she felt when Marceline told her she’d let it slip that night when she was drunk. “I…how…what makes you, um, think that?”

“Well, when we were buying snacks you stared at some girl’s butt,” Lady said, “And I’ve seen you checking girls out before. It’s no big deal if you are, I just want you to be yourself around me. You don’t need to hide it.”

“I…” Bonnibel couldn’t find words. Lady was being amazing. “You’re the best. Thanks.”

Lady smiled. “Well, you’re my friend. I want you to be honest with me.”

“I’m gay.” Bonnie said, surprised by how easily it came out.

“Okay.” Lady nodded. “So, what do you want for dinner? McDonalds or pizza?”

Bonnibel was in a state of shock at how casually Lady had just accepted everything. “You really don’t care?”

“Of course I don’t.” Lady laughed. “I doubt anyone else will, either. Have you told anyone else?”

“Marceline knows. I accidentally told her when I was drunk. She was really nice about it and comforted me when I got upset.” Bonnie said. “And she gave me ice cream.”

“This is Marceline Abadeer we’re talking about, right?” Lady frowned.

“Yes.” Bonnibel rolled her eyes. “She’s really nice, I swear. You have to talk to her at school on Monday.”

“Will you be there?”

“Yeah.” Bonnie nodded. “I’ll introduce you guys.”

“Okay.” Lady said. “Promise she won’t get violent?”

“I don’t get why people think she’s so scary.” Bonnie laughed. “Seriously, she’s really cool.”

“Maybe because she walks around giving people death glares all day.” Lady muttered.

Bonnibel rolled her eyes and lightly shoved her. “Don’t be mean.”

Lady just shrugged. “Seriously, though. What do you want for dinner, McDonald’s or pizza?”

“Pizza. I don’t want to go out.” Bonnibel said, pulling out her phone. “Just get it delivered.”

Lady nodded. “Cool. Who’re you texting?”

“Nobody,” Bonnie laughed, hiding her phone from view as she went onto the conversation with Marceline.

“Ooh,” Lady teased, wiggling her eyebrows. “Is it your girlfriend?”

Bonnie burst out laughing. “No, she’s just a friend. Now go and order the pizza.”

“What do you want?”

“Plain cheese, please.” Bonnie requested.

Lady nodded and headed out of the room. Bonnie turned to her phone and typed out a text to Marceline while she didn’t have Lady’s prying eyes looking over her shoulder.

_**Bonnibel (7:01PM): I told my friend she could be friends with you so you have to be nice.** _

Marceline texted back quickly.

_**Marceline (7:02PM): that depends on which friend it is** _

_**Bonnibel (7:02PM): Lady. Or, as you call her, Rainbow.** _

_**Marceline (7:03PM): hm let me think about it** _

_**Bonnibel (7:03PM): Will you be nice or do I have to buy you food as an incentive?** _

_**Marceline (7:03PM): i’ll be nice but i’m 100% totes holding you to the food offering** _

_**Bonnibel (7:03PM): Did you just say totes?** _

_**Marceline (7:04PM): ironically** _

_**Bonnibel (7:04PM): Right…** _

_**Bonnibel (7:05PM): So, you’re going to be nice?** _

_**Marceline (7:05PM): yeah** _

_**Marceline (7:06PM): aka me keeping my sarcasm to a minimum** _

_**Bonnibel (7:06PM): Good. Thanks. :)** _

Marceline didn’t text Bonnibel back, so Bonnie locked her phone and waited for Lady to come back from ordering the pizza. Unfortunately, Bonnibel’s phone vibrated when Lady sat back down next to her, and Lady watched over her shoulder as she read the text.

_**Marceline (7:08PM): so like we’re still hanging out tomorrow right** _

Bonnibel was aware of Lady watching her as she texted back.

_**Bonnibel (7:08PM): Yep. Am I coming to your house?** _

_**Marceline (7:09PM): yeah because reasons** _

_**Bonnibel (7:09PM): Reasons such as?** _

_**Marceline (7:09PM): top secret reasons** _

_**Bonnibel (7:10PM): Can I stay the night? If that’s okay, I mean.** _

_**Marceline (7:10PM): idk man that’s like level 5 friendship and we’re on like level 3** _

Bonnibel laughed at that, whereas Lady just frowned.

_**Bonnibel (7:11PM): Well, if I stayed over, maybe we could move up to level 5?** _

_**Marceline (7:12PM): you can’t just skip level 4 that level is fucking sacred man** _

_**Bonnibel (7:12PM): You’re such a dork. ;)** _

_**Marceline (7:12PM): playful insults is a level 4 thing** _

_**Bonnibel (7:12PM): You’ve been playfully insulting me since we met.** _

_**Marceline (7:13PM): those were just insults** _

_**Marceline (7:13PM): sorry about that by the way** _

_**Bonnibel (7:14PM): You’re forgiven if we can move up to level 5.** _

_**Marceline (7:15PM): you’ll have to share a bed with me and my cold feet** _

_**Bonnibel (7:15PM): I think I’ll live.** _

_**Marceline (7:16PM): …fine you can stay over but don’t make fun of me** _

_**Bonnibel (7:16PM): Why would I make fun of you?** _

_**Marceline (7:17PM): you’ll see** _

Bonnibel frowned, but didn’t bother texting back as she was painfully aware of Lady reading her texts. Bonnibel looked up to her, and Lady looked in the opposite direction quickly, as if she had been looking that way the entire time. “I know you read my texts.”

Lady scoffed. “Did not.”

“She said she’d be nice to you, by the way.” Bonnibel added.

Lady seemed reassured by this. “Really? That makes the thought of talking to her a little less terrifying.”

Bonnibel just rolled her eyes. “Is the pizza ordered?”

“Yep.” Lady smiled.

“Cool. I’ll give you the money for mine.” Bonnie said.

Lady shook her head. “No. You’re my guest, you’re not doing that. I’m buying.”

“Lady -,”

“I’m not letting you pay, and that’s final.” Lady crossed her arms and shot Bonnie a look which roughly translated to ‘my foot is down’, so Bonnie accepted that she probably wouldn’t change Lady’s mind. “Pick a movie or something, we can put that on in the background and just talk.”

“Sure.” Bonnie nodded, “Put any movie on.”

Lady grabbed a random DVD from her shelf and put it in the player. Bonnie didn’t bother asking what movie it was, as she doubted that either of them would pay any attention to it.

Once Lady had put the DVD on, she sat back down next to Bonnibel and smiled. “So…seen any cute girls?”

“Oh my God,” Bonnibel laughed, hiding her face in her hands and trying not to roll her eyes. “That’s why you wanted to know, isn’t it?”

“I’m just curious.” Lady shrugged, “I like talking about this stuff with my friends. You know about me and Jake.”

“All I know is that you guys are together. I don’t know any other details about your love life.” Bonnibel pointed out.

“Well,” Lady started, “We began dating two years ago when -,”

Bonnibel interrupted before Lady could get carried away. “That wasn’t me asking about your love life, either. I’m not one for gossip.”

Lady pouted. “I just want to do friend things with you. I like talking to you about stuff.”

“Well, I haven’t seen anyone that I’m attracted to.” Bonnibel said. “Happy?”

“Not at all.” Lady rolled her eyes. “Come _on_. You’ve got to have seen someone that you find remotely attractive.”

“There are lots of pretty girls around, but none that I would pursue a relationship with.” Bonnie explained. “But you never know what could happen. Someone may come along in the near future.”

Lady smiled. “You’re one of those people that doesn’t really get crushes, aren’t you?”

“You think?” Bonnie replied. “I had a bad experience once, and I don’t really like the idea of it happening again.”

“What happened?” Lady asked.

“A straight-girl crush gone wrong.” Bonnie sighed. “She was a really good friend of mine.”

“ _Was_? I take it that didn’t go down very well, then.” Lady said. She put an arm around Bonnibel. “That must’ve been hard on you.”

Bonnie nodded, trying not to think about the day she lost her best friend. “Yeah. Why do you think I get so scared when people figure out I like girls?”

Lady gave Bonnie a squeeze, before letting go. “I can promise you that nobody here will be mean about it. I mean, look at Gumball. He came out almost a year ago and he’s much happier. We all already knew, though. His crush on Marshall is _pretty_ obvious.”

“You all know about that?” Bonnie laughed. “Wow.”

“I think even Marshall knows about it. Marceline definitely does.” Lady said.

“Yeah, I told her.” Bonnie explained. “Gumball wanted me to ask her if Marshall likes guys and she kept asking why I wanted to know. She promised she wouldn’t tell.”

“I think it’s funny how Gumball thinks it’s this big secret he’s got.” Lady chuckled. “He stares at Marshall’s butt like there’s no tomorrow. He’s as good as hiding it as Finn is at hiding his crush on you.”

“He doesn’t still like me, does he?” Bonnie groaned. “I don’t want to let him down.”

“Tell him you like girls.” Lady shrugged. “Problem solved. He’ll get over it. He gets crushes like this a lot.”

“I just don’t want to hurt him.” Bonnibel said. “He’s a really nice kid.”

Lady smiled. “I know.”

Bonnie lay awake that night; in all honesty, she was rather nervous for tomorrow. She was going to be spending the night with Marceline. She wondered if they’d stay up talking or if they’d spend the time in comfortable silence. She couldn’t help but wonder why Marceline asked her not to make fun of her. What could she possibly do that Bonnibel would make fun of her for?

Bonnibel couldn’t help but be excited to spend time with Marceline. She did really enjoy her company, something she didn’t think she’d ever do when she first met Marceline.

It just goes to show that first impressions aren’t everything.


	15. fifteen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie and marceline have a sleepover.

** Saturday 1st March 2014 **

When Bonnibel arrived at Marceline’s the next day, she had to admit that she was rather nervous. She waited on the doorstep for Marceline to come and let her in, momentarily surprised when Miss Grof, her English teacher, opened the door.

Bonnibel politely smiled. “Hi, Miss Grof. I’m here to see Marceline.”

Miss Grof warmly smiled back, stepping aside to let Bonnibel in. “She’s in her room, as usual. And call me Betty outside of school, Bonnibel.”

“Thanks, Betty.” Bonnibel replied as she pulled her shoes off and headed towards the stairs.

Bonnibel walked upstairs and knocked on Marceline’s door, although she wasn’t sure if Marceline could hear her, as Bonnibel could hear Marceline’s loud rock music from outside. Eventually, Bonnibel pushed the door open and walked in, smiling at Marceline who was laying on her bed with her laptop on her stomach and was reading a book.

“Hi, Marceline.”

“Oh, hey. When did you get here?” Marceline shouted over the music she was playing from her computer.

Bonnibel sat down next to Marceline. “Just now. What’re you doing?”

“Nothing, really. I _was_ watching Buffy, but then I figured you’d be turning up so I started listening to music and read a couple of chapters of my book.” Marceline shrugged, placing her bookmark in her book and putting it on her bedside table. “Pretty boring day so far, I guess.”

Bonnie smiled. “Hopefully I’ll make it less boring.”

“You probably will.” Marceline stated. “You know, unless you start talking about science or your other nerd activities.”

“Nerd activities?” Bonnibel laughed. “I think we both know you participate in some nerd activities yourself.”

“Oh yeah?” Marceline raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Like _what_?”

“Well, you’re a total nerd when it comes to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all those other TV shows you watch _religiously_ , and your bookcase is probably bigger than mine.” Bonnie said. “Isn’t it a nerd trait to read or something?”

Marceline just rolled her eyes. “You are _ridiculous_ , Bonnie. I have _no_ idea what you’re talking about. I totally spend my weekends out with my friends getting hammered.”

“Clearly. You’re still in your pyjamas and it’s nearly 4PM.” Bonnie said. “So unless you just got in and got changed, you’ve probably not left this house since school yesterday.”

Marceline stared at her for a second. “You got all that from me wearing my pyjamas? You’re too smart for me.”

“I distinctly remember you getting an A on your History homework, when I only got a B. You’re pretty smart yourself.”

“Half of the time I don’t even _do_ my History homework. Or homework in general.” Marceline muttered.

Bonnibel smacked her arm. “Marceline! Homework isn’t optional.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.” Marceline sarcastically shot back. “Come on, Bonnie. I have better things to do.”

“Like what? Sitting in your pyjamas and listening to death metal?” Bonnibel exclaimed, raising an eyebrow.

Marceline laughed, a real laugh which Bonnibel tried not to smile at. “Okay, death metal? This is _nowhere near_ death metal. It’s All Time Low. They’re about as death metal as you. I don’t even listen to death metal.”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. “Whatever, you should still do your homework.”

“Not likely, princess.”

“I thought we were over that dumb nickname.” Bonnie muttered, shooting Marceline her best glare.

Marceline snickered. “If that look is meant to intimidate me, it’s not working very well. Sorry, Bonnie. You’re a little too pink to pull off the death glare.”

“Stop making fun of me, you meanie.” Bonnie sighed.

“Meanie? You’re really terrible at insulting people, you know.”

“Yeah, well you’re really terrible at…” Bonnibel paused in thought, “Doing your homework.”

“That’s the best you can come up with?” Marceline challenged, smirking. “Wow, Bonnie. I expected more from you.”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. “Shut up, _Marcy_.”

“You do realise that only annoys me when someone I don’t like calls me it, right?” Marceline asked. “Last time I checked, I like you.”

“Wait…I can call you Marcy if I want?” Bonnie frowned, inwardly overjoyed at how Marceline said she liked her; she couldn’t help being happy when she was reassured of that.

“I guess. I don’t really care either way, Bonnie.” Marceline said. “Call me whatever you want.”

“Oh.” Bonnie smiled. “Okay. Marcy it is, then.”

Marceline just rolled her eyes in response and pulled her laptop closer to her. “I’m not going to get dressed, by the way. It’s a sweatpants day.”

Bonnibel looked over Marceline’s pyjamas. She was wearing grey sweatpants which Bonnie had to admit looked extremely comfortable, and a black t-shirt advertising a band Bonnibel had never heard of. “You don’t need to get dressed for me. It’s not like we’re going anywhere.”

“I might put on some skinny jeans later and we can walk to the store and buy food, but I already have three bags of Twizzlers in my bedside drawer.” Marceline said. “I did have four, but I got hungry.”

“You ate a full bag of Twizzlers by yourself?” Bonnie questioned.

“Yeah.” Marceline replied. “Your point?”

“My point is that it’s bad for you.” Bonnie said.

Marceline just shrugged. “They taste good. Like I told you, I have a weakness for Twizzlers.”

“Any other weaknesses I should know of so I can bribe you with them in the future?” Bonnie teased.

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Like I would disclose that obviously secret and confidential information with you, Bonnie. You literally just said you’re going to use it against me.”

“I guess if I want you to hang out with me or my friends I’ll have to lure you there with Twizzlers, then.” Bonnie shrugged.

“Thanks for telling me your diabolical plan to trap me with the world’s most annoying group of people.”

“My friends aren’t annoying.” Bonnie replied. “They’re all happy and they like to have fun. _You_ on the other hand enjoy brooding by yourself. I want to change that.”

“I don’t brood.” Marceline defended. “I read my books when I’m up here and listen to my jams.”

“I’m sure you could live a day without listening to your jams.” Bonnibel said.

Marceline’s eyebrows shot up, and she let out a mock gasp. “You did _not_ just say that. I listen to music pretty much 24/7. Even if I look like I’m not, I probably am. Music is rad, man.”

“Show me some bands, then.”

“I’ll take you to a fucking gig one day.”

“Was there any need for that language?” Bonnie chided. “It’s not ladylike.”

“I think you and I both know I’m nowhere near the definition of ladylike.” Marceline replied. “If you didn’t by now I’d be wondering what the hell you’d done with the _real_ Bonnie, because you’d obviously be an evil clone.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t disagree. “True. I would be worried for anyone who thought you were ladylike.”

“Most people’s expectations for me fly out of the window within ten seconds of actually talking to me. I like laughing at people’s faces when I swear. For some reason, people _really_ don’t like the word fuck. I got told off by some old woman at the store for swearing when I dropped a bag of chips.” Marceline said. “She was all like ‘there are children around!’. I was so tempted to reply with something like ‘the children can fuck off’. I didn’t, though.”

“It’s bad language, and that’s why people don’t like it. If I so much as said the word crap in front of my Mom, she’d wash my mouth out with a bar of soap.” Bonnie said.

“No swearing around your Mom, then. You know, if I ever meet her.” Marceline muttered. “I’ll pretend to be all preppy and cheerleader-y and maybe she’ll like me.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Marcy, my Mom will like you. And if she doesn’t, I’ll make her.”

“With your persistence, I don’t doubt you’ll fail.” Marceline muttered.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“Well…when I told you to leave me alone you didn’t and you kept annoying me until eventually I just decided to put up with it.”

Bonnie gave Marceline a gentle smack on her arm. “You like me really.”

Marceline let out a long sigh before answering. “Sadly.”

Bonnie knew that the warm smile tugging at Marceline’s lips meant she really _wasn’t_ all that sad about it.

* * *

 

After a lot of coaxing and Bonnibel promising to buy Marceline a bag of Twizzlers, Marceline finally got out of bed and changed into some black skinny jeans and a grey t-shirt advertising Fall Out Boy, a band Bonnie had heard her mention before. Marceline brushed her hair and perched a black beanie on her head, which Bonnibel thought suited her very much.

“What do you want to do, then?”

Bonnie snapped out of her trance of admiring Marceline. “Um…I really don’t mind. We could go for a walk?”

“Where?” Marceline asked.

“We could go to the store like you said…” Bonnie trailed off. “Then come back here or go for a walk somewhere else.”

Marceline shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll take my card. I’ll get some cash out before we go in.”

Bonnie nodded. “Okay. I would pay for everything -,”

“Nope.” Marceline cut her off. “No _way_ are you paying for anything. Well…I’ll give you the money and you can pay at the cash register.”

“Why? The less social interaction the better for you, huh.”

Marceline paused for a second, before shrugging. “ _Sure_. Yeah. That’s why.”

Bonnie raised an eyebrow but didn’t question Marceline’s strange behaviour. She figured Marceline would tell her when she’s ready. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Marceline didn’t take her skateboard with them, which surprised Bonnie. She figured Marceline would. Bonnie was rather pleased when Marceline slipped on a leather jacket on the way out. Bonnie really thought that suited her. They were quiet as they headed out of the front door, and Bonnie decided to start conversation; she just didn’t know what about. “So…how about that essay we got in Literature?”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Really? You _really_ want to talk about school?”

Bonnie felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. “I didn’t know what else to talk about.”

Marceline shrugged. “I don’t know, man. Tell me stuff that you like to do.”

“Well…I won’t bore you with the details of my science experiments -,”

“If that’s what you want to talk about, then go for it.” Marceline said.

Bonnie shook her head. “No. That would make it a one-sided conversation, and I want you to be involved.”

“Aren’t you sweet?” Marceline sarcastically replied, before shaking her head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be sarcastic. It just happens sometimes. I don’t think and then I start talking and then I end up rambling and goddammit I’m doing it right now aren’t I? Fuck. I just don’t fucking shut up, do I? Damn.”

Bonnie took a few seconds to process this information. “I’ll be sure to cut you off next time,” She sent Marceline a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I think your awkwardness is cute.”

Marceline scoffed. “I’m not cute.”

“Whatever you say, Marceline.”

“Seriously. I’m not cute.” Marceline repeated. “ _Really_. I’m a big scary…person.”

“You’re like…a cookie. Sometimes you have to get through the tough outside to get to the gooey middle.” Bonnie mused.

“Nice metaphor, Bonnie.” Marceline rolled her eyes. “You’re just backing up my theory of you being a _giant_ nerd.”

“Shut up.” Bonnibel said. “I’m being serious.”

“Since when do cookies have tough outsides, anyway?” Marceline raised her eyebrows, trying to hold back her laughter.

“You know what I mean! Like, crunchy or something.” Bonnie explained. “It doesn’t matter, you get the point.”

Marceline chuckled. “You’re…really something, Bonnie.”

“A good something?”

“Yeah.” Bonnie couldn’t help but smile at that; Marceline was, and it really was hard not to smile when Marceline did.

“Thanks, Marceline.”

When they got to the store, Marceline kept by the plan and got some money from the ATM, passing it straight to Bonnibel. “Here. You’re the treasurer of this trip.”

“The treasurer.” Bonnie repeated. “Fancy. What’s your title?”

“Uh...” Marceline thought for a moment, biting down on her lip in thought. Bonnie tried not to call her cute again. “I’m the president. Of the world.”

Bonnie laughed. “President of the world? How extravagant.”

“Yeah, well.” Marceline shrugged. “I clearly have the social skills for that job.”

“Clearly,” Bonnie chuckled, “You’re really the humanitarian.”

Marceline gently elbowed Bonnie in the side. “Nice sarcasm, dork.”

“I learnt from the best.” Bonnie smiled.

Marceline was about to reply as they were on their way into the store, but she saw something and immediately left Bonnie’s side. Bonnie frowned, watching after Marceline until she realised that Marceline had run off to go and pet a puppy.

 _Marceline_. Bonnie tried not to laugh as she walked over to Marceline who was crouched down, petting a dog which was tied up outside the store while its owner was somewhere inside.

“Seriously? You ran away to go and play with a puppy? You softie.” Bonnie teased.

“What?” Marceline frowned. “It’s cute.”

“You’re really not helping yourself, you know. You claim you’re not cute and you do this.” Bonnie smirked. “You need to make up your mind.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “A serial killer could pet a puppy. Does that make them cute?”

“Are you saying you’re a serial killer?”

Marceline laughed, standing back up and fixing her beanie. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

As they walked into the shop, Bonnie frowned. “Wait. You didn’t deny being a serial killer.”

“Bonnie, I’m not a serial killer.” Marceline rolled her eyes. “Anyways, what candy do you like? You can buy whatever. Go nuts with my cash.”

“You literally got out $50. Why do you have so much money?” Bonnie questioned. “And why do you seem so chilled out about spending it? I save every penny I get.”

Marceline just shrugged. “My Dad. He’s like, rich or whatever and gives me loads of money.”

Bonnibel froze. Marceline’s Dad. Should she ask about him? Bonnie mentally debated with herself. If she asked about Marceline’s parents, would Marceline actually tell her? Bonnie decided against asking for the moment. “Oh. Well, you don’t need to buy me anything.”

Marceline shook her head. “I’m going to buy you something. Pick anything. Just not like, a flat screen TV. I can’t afford that.”

Bonnie laughed, before letting out a mock sigh. “Damn, that’s my first choice down the drain.”

Marceline grinned, but got in an eye roll. “You are unbelievable.”

They made their way to the candy aisle, and Marceline immediately grabbed a bag of Twizzlers. Bonnie tried not to roll her eyes. “Really? You said you have 3 bags at home.”

Marceline looked sheepish. “Even numbers are good luck?”

Bonnie laughed at Marceline’s dumb excuse. “You’re an idiot.”

* * *

 

When they were eventually finished going up and down the aisles and picking up unhealthy junk food, they made their way to the checkout. Bonnie was happy they’d got a basket to carry their food in, because Marceline told Bonnibel she’d wait outside while Bonnie paid.

“Why? Talking to people isn’t that bad.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Come on. Be sociable.”

Marceline shook her head. “You don’t get it. See the guy on the cash register? My ex. I can’t be held accountable for my actions if he talks to me. I’ll probably end up hitting him or something.”

It took Bonnie a little while to process that information. “I take it that didn’t end on good terms, then.”

“You don’t know the half of it. I’m leaving before he sees me.”

Before Bonnie could reply, Marceline had left the store and she was by herself. So, Bonnie hauled the shopping basket over to the checkout and waited for the boy to scan her items. She didn’t expect him to make conversation.

“That’s a lot of food. You having a party?”

Bonnie frowned. “No. My friend and I are having a sleepover.”

He nodded and began scanning the items, and Bonnie caught a glimpse of his nametag. Ash. She instantly recognised the name. She looked the boy over. In all honesty, he was rather scary. He looked to be in his twenties, and he had white hair which was styled in some sort of flat mohawk which Bonnibel had never seen on anyone else. He had a lip piercing which Bonnie was sure he probably shouldn’t be wearing at work.

“That’ll be $29.40.” He said.

Bonnie handed him the money and he gave her the change. “Thank you.”

Bonnie picked up her bags and was about to leave, but he called her back. “Hey, can I get your number? You’re hot.”

Bonnie just kept walking. If _Marceline_ avoided that guy, she was definitely going to.

Bonnie found Marceline stood against the wall of the store outside. Her phone was out; Bonnie assumed she was texting Keila. “Hey.”

Marceline looked up, and Bonnie felt a little warmth in her chest at the way Marceline immediately smiled when she saw her. “Hey. You okay?”

“Yeah.” Bonnie dug around in her pocket and pulled out the rest of Marceline’s money, tucking it into the pocket of Marceline’s leather jacket. “Your change.”

Marceline nodded, holding out her hand for one of the shopping bags in Bonnie’s hand. “Pass me one of those.”

Bonnie shook her head. “I’m fine with carrying both.”

“And I’m _not_ fine with you carrying both. Give me one, you dork.”

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you can handle carrying one? They’re pretty heavy. You might break an arm.”

Marceline elbowed Bonnie in the side. “Shut up. I’m not _that_ weak.”

“You sure about that?” Bonnie teased.

Marceline sighed. “Suit yourself. Carry the bags, do all the manual labour. If you regret it, I won’t help you.”

“That’s fine.” Bonnie assured. “I can handle it.”

“Alright.” Marceline went back to her phone.

Bonnie couldn’t help but be a little nosy. “Who’re you texting?”

“Keila.”

“What about?” Bonnie asked.

“Secret stuff.” Marceline replied. “That only cool people can know about.”

“Are you implying that I’m not cool?” Bonnie questioned, getting on her tiptoes and looking at Marceline’s phone over her shoulder.

Marceline chuckled at Bonnie’s attempt to look at her phone. “You’re so short, Bonnie. How tall are you, 4ft?”

“Shut up! It’s not my fault you’re like freaking Mount Everest or something.” Bonnie exclaimed. She always got exasperated when people made fun of her height. “And I’m 5’3, thank you very much.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Mount Everest? You sure you haven’t got me confused with Marshall? I know we’re twins, but I swear we’re not identical.”

“You’re really tall, though.” Bonnie pouted. “If you make fun of me for my height, I’ll make fun of you.”

“I’m only 5’7.”

“ _Only_?” Bonnie exclaimed. “You’re saying that like that’s short.”

“Well, it’s not that tall.” Marceline shrugged. “Dude, chill. God, why do short people claim I’m like a giant or something? Keila does the same thing as you.”

Bonnie let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re tall, okay? You’ve got 4 inches on me.”

Marceline just shrugged. “That’s not -,”

“Don’t argue with me or you’ll feel my wrath.” Bonnie interrupted.

Marceline laughed. “I’d have a head start, though. You’d need to go get your ladder.”

Bonnie lightly punched Marceline’s upper arm. “That was uncalled for.”

Marceline smiled. “You’re really easy to wind up. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Please don’t.” Bonnie quickly replied.

“What? Sorry, can’t hear you from all the way down there.” Marceline smirked.

“I’m not afraid to hit you with one of these bags.” Bonnibel nodded down to the two shopping bags she was holding in her left hand.

Marceline held up her hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. Truce. I’ll stop making fun of your height if you stop threatening to abuse me.”

Bonnie smiled. “Okay, truce.”

* * *

 

When they got back to Marceline’s, they headed straight up to Marceline’s room and proceeded to eat most of the things they’d bought. When Bonnie was halfway through a chocolate bar, she got a text from Finn.

_**Finn (5:55PM): Hi Bubblegum! We’re all hanging out right now and you should come over** _

_**Finn (5:55PM): We’re at Gumball’s** _

_**Bonnibel (5:56PM): Sorry, Finn. I’m with a friend.** _

Marceline noticed her typing. “Who’re _you_ texting? A secret girlfriend?”

Bonnie blushed. “No. It’s Finn.”

Marceline went back to her laptop. “You know he has a crush on you, right? It’s probably the most obvious thing ever.”

“Yeah. I think it’s cute, but it’ll never happen.”

“Because you like girls.”

“Pretty much.” Bonnie chuckled. “Thanks for not having a problem with that, by the way. All the people I’ve told aside from my parents have.”

“Well, then those people are assholes and they clearly didn’t deserve you in the first place.”

Bonnie wrapped her arms around Marceline’s waist and pulled her in for a hug. “You’re amazing.”

 _That’s debatable_ , Marceline thought as she hugged Bonnie back. “Thanks. You’re pretty rad too.”

* * *

 

They settled down to watch a few movies after that, and Bonnie didn’t know why she let Marceline put _A Nightmare On Elm Street_ on. Bonnie knew it would scare her; she’d never been good with horror movies, but she told Marceline it was fine. She didn’t want to seem like a loser. Bonnie knew it was stupid, and she knew Marceline probably wouldn’t care if she didn’t want to watch the movie, but Bonnie felt the need to impress Marceline. She’d wanted to be her friend for a while, and now they were actually having a sleepover; Bonnibel didn’t want to ruin it.

They were fifteen minutes into the movie, and Bonnie knew something scary would be happening soon. They were sitting in the dark – which made it all the more terrifying for Bonnibel – and Bonnie knew Marceline wasn’t scared at all.

When the first jump-scare happened, Bonnie jumped towards Marceline and clung on, hiding her face in Marceline’s neck and inhaling her comforting scent. “Hey, Bonnie. You okay there?”

“Yeah.” Bonnie murmured, her face still hidden in Marceline’s neck. “I’m fine.”

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” Marceline chuckled. “If you didn’t want to watch the movie, we wouldn’t have.”

“I don’t like scary movies.” Bonnie muttered into Marceline’s collar. “I’m sorry.”

“What’re you apologising for, you idiot?” Marceline laughed. “We’ll watch some dumb comedy movie and then go to sleep. Deal?”

Bonnie nodded, finally looking up to see Marceline watching her with an amused smirk. “Deal.”

Marceline turned her TV off, effectively cutting off the scary movie. Bonnie gave a sigh of relief. “God, I _really_ didn’t want to watch that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that when I asked, then?”

“Because I’m an idiot.” Bonnie sighed.

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Come on, Bonnie. What’s the _real_ reason?”

“It’s really lame.” Bonnie murmured. “But I didn’t want you to think I was a wimp.”

Marceline laughed. “Really? Bonnie, why the hell do you care what I think? I walked into a door and apologised to it last night.”

Bonnie chuckled. That little anecdote did cheer her up a little. “I don’t know…you just give off this whole ‘too cool’ sense. I wanted to impress you.”

Marceline laughed even harder. “You’re such a fucking dork.”

Bonnie flushed. “Shut up.”

They didn’t end up watching another movie, as Bonnibel announced she was feeling tired and was ready to get into bed. They got into their pyjamas – Bonnibel changed in the bathroom – and then Bonnie got herself comfortable in Marceline’s soft double bed. Marceline awkwardly sat down on the edge of the bed. “So…uh…you know I made you promise not to make fun of me?”

Bonnie remembered. “Oh, yeah! What was that about, anyway?”

“Uh…okay, so it’s kind of dorky, but I like…” Marceline bit down on her lip. “I sleep with a teddy bear, okay?”

Bonnie’s face broke out into a grin. She’d seen this teddy bear before. “Aw, Marceline. That’s so cute.”

“Stop calling me cute.”

Bonnie smiled. “Fine. It’s sweet, though.”

“You promised you wouldn’t make fun of me.” Marceline muttered.

“I’m not.” Bonnie defended. “I swear. If it helps you sleep, then I won’t make fun of you for it.”

Marceline finally met Bonnibel’s gaze and smiled. Bonnie decided not to bring up the slight pink in Marceline’s cheeks. “Thanks, Bonnie. You’re rad.”

“Thanks.” Bonnie smiled, patting the bed next to her. “Come on.”

Marceline shuffled under the covers and Bonnie caught a glimpse of the plush toy in her arms and smiled. “So…goodnight, I guess.”

Bonnie grinned. “Goodnight, Marceline.”

Bonnie fell asleep pretty quickly; she was used to having early nights. Marceline, on the other hand, was awake for what felt like hours, wondering how the hell someone as amazing as Bonnie wanted to be her friend.


	16. sixteen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the group celebrates finn's birthday and bonnibel spends some time with marceline and keila.

** Monday 3rd March 2014 **

Bonnibel was pleasantly surprised by Marceline on Monday. Usually, the two didn’t talk in school aside from when they goofed off from work in lessons they shared, to Bonnie’s disappointment. She really did enjoy Marceline’s company. So, when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder when she was getting books out of her locker, she really didn’t expect to turn around to see Marceline.

Bonnie immediately smiled at the sight of her. “Hey, Marceline. How are you?”

Marceline had an internal debate about how she could answer that question. In all honesty, Marceline never really felt all that good, but she definitely wasn’t about to tell Bonnie that. “I’m good. You?”

“Tired. I just had double Physics with Simon. We were covering wavelengths and although I enjoy science, I’ve been over it a hundred times myself and I find it rather boring repeating things I’ve already learnt.” Bonnie rambled. “And I didn’t get a very good night’s sleep last night. I was up all night finishing up an experiment on photons in plants, but I won’t bore you with the details. Any particular reason you wanted to talk to me?”

Marceline blinked at her; that was a lot of information for her to process, especially on a morning. “Um…sucks you didn’t get that much sleep…and no, not really. I guess I just wanted company.”

Bonnie beamed, grabbing her books for her next class – History – from her locker and put her Physics books back in. Bonnie shut her locker and turned back on Marceline. “Well, luckily for you I enjoy spending time with you. Let’s walk.”

“Okay.” Marceline nodded, allowing Bonnie to lead the way. “Where exactly are we going?”

“To my friends.” Bonnie smiled. “We sit outside.”

Marceline froze in the middle of the hallway. “No _way_.”

Bonnie sighed and looked Marceline up and down. She couldn’t understand what Marceline had against her friends. As Bonnie studied Marceline, she realised that the dark haired girl was rather tense. Bonnie gently put an arm around Marceline and tried to walk her down the hallway. “Hey. My friends are nice. Don’t worry, they’ll be fine.”

Marceline wouldn’t budge. “No. I can’t, I’m sorry. I can’t deal with that.”

“With what?” Bonnie asked. It was evident Marceline was terrified of the idea of hanging out with Bonnibel’s friends.

Marceline shook her head and tried to relax. “It doesn’t matter. Can we just…not go there?”

Bonnie shot Marceline a reassuring smile. “Of course. Where do you want to go?”

“Simon’s room? Or straight to History? I don’t know.” Marceline shrugged. Bonnie could tell she was still rather tense, so she figured taking Marceline to Simon would help.

“I think we should go to Simon.” Bonnie suggested, escorting Marceline towards Simon’s classroom which they weren’t that far from.

When they entered the room, Simon immediately shot up from his chair and walked over to Marceline. “Marcy, are you okay? You look kind of pale. You haven’t had a -,”

“I’m fine.” Marceline was quick to cut him off and shot him a look which Bonnie couldn’t read. “ _But_ if you have any cookies I’d feel even better and I’m sure Bonnie would too.”

Simon chuckled, heading over to his desk drawer and rummaging around in it for something. “I bought you some Oreos on the way here his morning.”

He tossed the packet over to Marceline, who caught it and grinned. “Sweet. Thanks.”

“Don’t eat them all at once.”

Marceline smirked, opening up the packet and offering a cookie to Bonnie, who took one. “It’s cute that you think I’m going to listen to that.”

Simon smiled. “I remember back when you were younger you’d actually listen to me. What a wonderful time.”

“I was a dumbass when I was younger.” Marceline said.

“Was?” Simon teased.

Marceline mock gasped. “Simon! You’re supposed to be _nice_ to me. Damn.”

Bonnie smiled at the exchange. She really did think Marceline was adorable. Once Bonnie had eaten her Oreo, she tugged on the sleeve of Marceline’s grey hoodie. “Come on, we should go to History.”

Marceline sighed. “Do we have to? I’d rather not waste an hour and a half of my life learning about the history of politics, thanks.”

“If you’re thinking about skipping class, I’ll drag you there.” Bonnie threatened. “I swear.”

Marceline rolled her eyes, but judging by the look on Bonnie’s face, the pink haired girl wasn’t kidding. “Don’t be ridiculous, I haven’t skipped class since freshman year.”

Bonnie frowned. “You say that like it’s an accomplishment. I’ve never skipped class in my life.”

“Trust me, if you knew me in freshman year you’d get it.” Marceline said, before nudging Bonnie towards the door. “Let’s go.”

Bonnie smiled as Marceline held the door open for her. “Thanks, Marceline.”

Marceline nodded in acknowledgement and said goodbye to Simon. As soon as they were out of Simon’s classroom and down the hallway, Marceline spoke up. “So…what did you do yesterday?”

“Well, the experiment I told you about before,” Bonnie thought, “I finished the book I was reading, so now I have nothing to read until I can get out to the bookstore.”

“What were you reading?”

“It was a book about Einstein.” Bonnie said. “Nothing you’d be interested in. But, if you have any book recommendations for me, I’d be happy to check them out.”

“Well…my favourite series is called The Maze Runner. It’s like, futuristic.” Marceline explained. “The main character, Thomas, wakes up in this weird place called The Glade which is surrounded by this giant maze and they’ve got to find a way out of it, but the maze is filled with these monsters called Grievers. It’s really cool.”

Bonnie smiled. “Sounds interesting. I’ll buy that when I’m out next.”

“You can just borrow mine, if you want.”

“Thanks, Marceline.” Bonnie grinned as Marceline held open the door to the History classroom for her. Bonnie slipped into the History room and headed towards their usual desk, realising how much she actually enjoyed talking to Marceline. Conversation always seemed to come so easily. As Marceline sat down next to her, Bonnie decided to invite her over. “Hey, would you want to come round to my house at the weekend? We could hang out, watch a couple of movies. Anything, really.”

Marceline shrugged. “That depends. Would your friends be there?”

“Nope. Unless you want me to invite them.” Bonnie said. “Which I doubt you do.”

“You can invite whoever you want, Bonnie.” Marceline assured. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll be happy about it. There would probably be a lot of sarcasm.”

Bonnibel laughed. “I think I’ll keep it to just the two of us. Maybe Lady, if she keeps her promise of talking to you. _And_ if you keep your promise on being nice.”

“I promise I’ll be nice.” Marceline rolled her eyes, before holding out the packet of Oreos to Bonnie. “Oreo?”

Bonnie took one. “Thanks. So, you’ll come over on Saturday?”

Marceline froze. “Fuck, I can’t. I have band practice. I can come on Sunday, though.”

“That’s fine. Also, be prepared to meet my parents.”

“Fuck, I forgot you had parents.” Marceline sighed. She really didn’t want to meet Bonnie’s parents just yet. Things like that made her nervous. “I guess I’ll just have to deal with it, won’t I?”

“They’ll like you, don’t worry. Just mention how good your grades are and my Mom will probably want to adopt you.” Bonnie joked, before realising that may be a sore spot for Marceline, considering she doesn’t live with her parents.

“Noted.” Bonnie’s comment seemingly didn’t faze Marceline at all. “Should I mention my music to your Dad? You said he played guitar.”

“Oh, yes.” Bonnie nodded. “He’d be very interested in that, especially because you play like, twenty different instruments.”

“Seven.” Marceline corrected. “Drums not included in that. Bongo tried to make me play them like two weeks ago and I ended up sniffing the drumsticks for like ten minutes. They smelt _really_ good. Like, when you get a new book and you sniff the inside.”

“I don’t sniff books.”

“Well, you’re weird.”

“I think _you’re_ the weird one.” Bonnie chuckled. She did find it adorable when Marceline rambled. “Anyways, have you written any new songs lately?”

Marceline laughed and tried to hold back a smile. “I literally wrote one about doughnuts at like 3AM on Friday night. Wild weekend or what?”

“Are all your songs about food?”

“Pretty much.” Marceline chuckled. “No, not really. Some of them are okay, I guess.”

“What are those ones about?”

“Life.”

“Really?” Bonnie questioned. She found this topic quite intriguing. “What aspects of it?”

“You do realise that’s what I say when I don’t want to answer, right?” Marceline chuckled, eyebrows raised. “But, I don’t know. I write songs about what I’m feeling. Emotions, I mean. They’re usually either really depressing or are about wanting to hit something. I can’t write happy songs.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m too busy doing the thing that makes me happy to write about it.”

Bonnie smiled. “Hopefully you’re too busy to write songs most of the time, then.”

Marceline didn’t reply, because _honestly_ , how could one person _physically_ be so amazing? Bonnie was such a sweetheart to everyone she met, no matter how much of a douche they were, and Marceline just hoped that nothing would fuck that up for her.

“So…” Bonnie spoke up, cutting Marceline’s train of thought off. “Sunday.”

“I thought we worked that out five minutes ago?”

Bonnie just shrugged. “Well, I didn’t know what to say. If you want to watch some movies, bring a couple of DVDs round.”

“Okay,” Marceline nodded, “I’ve got all the Harry Potters, Star Wars -,”

“I’ve never seen Star Wars.” Bonnie cut Marceline off. “Bring those.”

“Hold on…you’ve _never_ seen Star Wars? What the fuck have you being doing with your life, Bonnie?” Marceline exclaimed. “That’s just odd. I grew up on Star Wars. Marshall and I used to have lightsaber fights as kids.”

“Well, bring them over. Educate me.” Bonnie smiled.

“You bet your ass I’ll fucking educate you. I’ll make you have a lightsaber fight with me.”

“You’re a really big dork for someone who acts all cool and sarcastic, you know.” Bonnie pointed out.

“…Shut up.”

* * *

 

Bonnie was prepared for a very social weekend. As she sat down with her friends at lunch, Jake and Fionna had taken her aside and explained plans for a surprise birthday party on Friday for Finn. They’d told her that it was his 16th birthday, and that he’d wanted a big party every year, but his Dad had always said no. So, they’d been planning this party for the past few months.

Bonnie promised she wouldn’t let anything slip, and Fionna made her swear she’d make an appearance and not be a ‘social recluse’, a comment which made Bonnibel laugh. Bonnie assured her she would come, but only for an hour or two, because parties really weren’t her thing.

Bonnie went over to Gumball after that, sitting down next to him as he was quickly typing out a text to someone. She smiled. “Who’re you talking to?”

“Marshall.”

“Aw, you’re in love.” Bonnie teased.

His face flushed a bright pink which nearly matched Bonnie’s hair. “Shut up.”

“It’s cute!” Bonnie exclaimed. “Any updates on that field, while we’re on the subject?”

“I don’t know. We’re getting closer.” Gumball shrugged casually, but his face wasn’t getting any less red. “He invited me to his band practice on Saturday, but I don’t know if I want to go. His friends seem scary.”

“If you do go, at least talk to Keila. She’s really nice. We’re sort of friends, I think.” Bonnie said.

“I don’t think I’m going to go. I’m going to come to movie day instead.” Gumball decided. “Maybe I’ll invite Marshall. I invited him to Finn’s party. Are you coming to movie day?”

“With Finn’s party on Friday and meeting up with Marceline on Sunday, I think I’ll keep Saturday as a homework day.” Bonnie said. “I have to have some time to do some science.”

“Good call.” Gumball smiled. “What’re you doing with Marceline?”

“We’re going to watch Star Wars. I’ve never seen it.” Bonnie explained. “She was annoyed I hadn’t seen it. It was funny.”

“So you two are friends now?”

“Yeah.” Bonnie nodded. “She’s really cool and I like hanging out with her. I was with her at break, actually.”

“I think we all knew it’d eventually happen. We still don’t know why you wanted to be her friend in the first place.”

Bonnie smiled. “Well, I figured the whole sarcastic, disaffected act she puts on was, well, an act. And I was right.”

Gumball just shrugged. “Well, okay. So, you’re definitely coming to Finn’s party?”

“Yeah. Do you know if it’s going to be crowded at all?” Bonnibel asked.

“I think so. Jake has invited as many people as he can, and they’ll probably invite more people. Finn wanted a big party, anyway.” Gumball explained.

“Okay.” Bonnie nodded. She really didn’t like big parties, but she’d promised she’d go and she was going to stick to that.

She really hoped she wouldn’t end up drunk again.

* * *

 

** Friday 7th March 2014 **

“I can’t wait to see his face when he sees the party.”

“Me too. He’s going to love it.”

“I wonder if he’s suspecting anything.”

“Of course he’s not. Jake has kept this a secret for a month.”

Bonnie was sat with her friends and some other people she wasn’t quite familiar with. There were a lot of people there, actually, but the more the merrier for Finn.

They were all waiting for Jake to come in and tell them Finn was coming, so they could all jump out and surprise him. A lot of people were only there for the party, and most of them we’re rather restless in waiting for Finn to come.

Bonnie sat and talked to Gumball for a while.

“I still can’t believe Marshall came.” Gumball smiled. “Apparently, he’s the one who hooked Jake up with the alcohol.”

“There’s actually going to be alcohol?” Bonnie questioned.

“Of course there’ll be alcohol.” Marshall said as he sat down next to Gumball. “It’s not a party if there isn’t.”

Bonnie shuffled uncomfortably. “I’m not sure if I want to be around alcohol. Last time I was, there were some bad consequences.”

“Just don’t drink any.” Gumball said. “You don’t have to.”

“Yeah.” Marshall added. “By the way, I couldn’t get Marceline to come. Sorry, Bubblegum.”

“It’s fine, I didn’t think she would want to. Not really her scene, huh?” Bonnibel half-heartedly replied. She was honestly much more worried about the fact there would be alcohol.

“She likes parties, but I guess she just thought that a party with these guys is more like sitting around drinking juice-boxes and watching cartoons.” Marshall shrugged. “I tried convincing her, but it didn’t work.”

Fionna walked over to them. “Hey, guys,” Bonnie noticed how she scowled at Marshall, “Finn is going to be here in like, five minutes, so we’re all getting into position now.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Thanks for letting us know.”

The five minutes crouched down behind a couch really weren’t the most comfortable five minutes of her life, and Bonnie was relieved when Finn finally arrived and everyone jumped up and yelled, “Surprise!”

At the start of the party, it honestly wasn’t that bad. The person who Marshall had trusted with the alcohol hadn’t arrived yet, and mostly, Bonnie just walked around and chatted with her friends and helped Finn open up some of his presents.

When the alcohol was brought out, Bonnie started to have less fun and more worries.

She really didn’t know what to do. She was standing around, watching her drunken friends messing about playing drinking games and getting themselves progressively more drunk.

What really made Bonnibel annoyed was the fact that Ricardio was there. She’d not seen him at the start of the party. He was drunk, and Bonnie hoped he wouldn’t notice her. She couldn’t handle a sober Ricardio, and she didn’t have Marceline here to help her.

She kept an eye on him as she watched everyone else. Finn had traded his bear hat for a party hat, and – to Bonnie’s surprise – had gone a little overboard with alcohol and was staggering around. The wide smile hadn’t left his face since everyone had jumped out and surprised him.

Lady was the only other one of Bonnibel’s friends that wasn’t drunk, but she might as well have been. They were all being loud – although Bonnie couldn’t hear what any of them were saying over the pounding pop music that was playing.

Finn came staggering over to her, still grinning. “Hey, Bubblegum! Thanks for coming to my party!”

His words were slurred and Bonnibel knew he’d have a pounding headache in the morning. “No problem, Finn.”

“Come play games with us! We’re going to play this thing Marshall told us about.”

“I’ll pass on that. I’m getting pretty tired.” Bonnie said.

Finn just shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Bonnie watched as he staggered away and headed back to where everyone else was.

Bonnibel wanted to go home, but it was quite late and she really didn’t want to be walking back. She contemplated calling her parents, but if they came across this huge party, they’d probably ground her for a month.

As Bonnie scrolled through her phone, her thumb hovered over Marceline’s contact name. Should she ask Marceline to pick her up? Or would Marceline be at a party somewhere, hanging out with her bandmates? Eventually, she hit call, and decided it couldn’t hurt if she tried.

On the second ring, Marceline picked up. _“Hello?”_

“Hey, Marceline. Are you busy?”

 _“Not really. Why?”_ Marceline asked.

“Could you maybe pick me up from Jake’s house, if you know where it is? They’re having this big party and I’ve had enough.” Bonnie said.

 _“Yeah, dude. I’ll be like, ten minutes.”_ Marceline said. _“Keila says hi, by the way.”_

“You said you weren’t busy! If you’re with Keila then stay there. I’ll just walk home or something.” Bonnie exclaimed. She didn’t want Marceline going out of her way to come and get her.

 _“Chill, man. We’re not really doing anything and Keila wanted to go and get pizza, so we’re coming.”_ Marceline said. _“We’ll be there in ten.”_

“Okay.” Bonnie sighed. “I’ll see you then. Thanks.”

 _“Bye._ ” Marceline hung up, and Bonnie decided she’d go wait outside after saying goodbye to her friends.

Bonnie made her way over to Lady, who had begun to get a little tipsy, and said her goodbyes. Lady frowned. “You said you’d stay for an hour.”

“I’ve stayed for two. We’ve been here since six.” Bonnie chuckled. “I’ll see you guys on Monday if I don’t see you before. Tell Finn I said happy birthday.”

Lady smiled. “Sure. Bye, Bubblegum.”

Bonnie made her way outside and away from the party, the headache that had been coming on almost immediately clearing up. Bonnie knew it was probably because of the loud music that was blaring out of the house, which Bonnie could still hear fairly clearly at the bottom of Jake’s driveway.

Marceline and Keila arrived in what Bonnie presumed was five minutes. She was thankful they were rather quick in getting there, and it was still quite cold out, and Bonnie hadn’t thought to bring her coat to Jake’s.

Bonnie climbed in the back seat and was greeted by Keila immediately. “Hi, Bonnibel. How are you?”

Bonnie smiled. “I’m good. You?”

“Great, actually. We’re getting pizza.” Keila grinned. “Pizza always makes me super happy and I’m weirdly excited.”

Marceline just rolled her eyes. “Where to, Bonnie? You can come with us and get pizza and play video games, or you can go home and be a nerd.”

Bonnie chuckled. “You want me to come with you?”

“Sure.” Marceline nodded. “I like you, you know that.”

Bonnie looked to Keila, who smiled and nodded. “You should come with. Marmalade says you’re fun, so yeah.”

“I did _not_ say that.” Marceline replied, a little too quickly. She looked at Bonnibel. “I wasn’t talking about you. I swear.”

“She was.” Keila teased. “She -,”

“Do you want me to hit you?” Bonnie tried not to smile as Marceline’s cheeks turned a slight pink.

Keila laughed. “You’re about as strong as a goldfish.”

“Yeah? Well, you _look_ like a fucking goldfish.”

“Nice comeback.” Keila chuckled. “And you don’t _really_ think that.”

Marceline smiled. “Yeah, I know. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Keila said, before banging her hand on the car dashboard. “Now _drive_!”

“I can’t, Bonnie hasn’t made the crucial decision which will determine where we go.” Marceline replied. “Because _we_ were too busy arguing like a fucking married couple.”

Keila turned around to Bonnibel. “Are you going to come to Marmalade’s with us or do you want to go home and be a nerd?”

“I think I’ll come with you guys.” Bonnie said. “All I would have been doing if I went home would be making myself some chamomile tea and getting into bed.”

“Chamomile tea tastes like cat sick.” Marceline said. “How can you drink that stuff?”

“I think it’s nice.” Bonnie shrugged. “But everyone’s different. Anyways, I think Keila is going to explode if you don’t drive.”

Marceline looked over to Keila, who was shooting Marceline her best glare and nodding in agreement. “Yup. You don’t want me to explode, do you?”

“I don’t think you want me to answer that question.” Marceline said, chuckling as Keila lightly shoved her in offence. “You know I’m kidding. ‘Course I don’t want you to explode.”

Marceline drove, and Keila grinned. “To the pizza!”

“So, what were you guys doing before I rudely interrupted?” Bonnie asked.

“We’re having a sleepover and playing GTA. Marmalade doesn’t even do the challenges and just goes around running people over and destroying buildings.” Keila chuckled. “She always ends up chased by the police.”

“I ended up blowing up my car before we left, though. I tried crashing through this building to get away from the cops but it turns out you can’t go through it and it crashed and then I died.” Marceline said. “We were listening to music and a really inappropriate song came on when it happened. It was such good timing.”

“Which song was it?” Bonnie asked.

Keila snorted and tried to hold back her laughter. “Highway to Hell.”

Both Marceline and Keila were in stitches at this, and Bonnibel did understand why they thought it was funny. She even let out a little laugh herself. “That is pretty inappropriate.”

Marceline just shrugged. “I figured it was rather relevant. I mean, I _had_ just been running random civilians over.”

“True.” Keila agreed. “But yeah, now we’re just going to get pizza and then we’re going back to Marmalade’s and just chill.”

“Chilling sounds more my speed than a party.” Bonnie smiled. “I’m glad I called you guys.”

Marceline put some music on – it was rock, typically – and her and Keila sang along to every song that came. Bonnie was envious of the both of them; they both had really amazing singing voices, Marceline especially.

The music seemed to make Keila even happier than she was. “God, I can’t fucking wait until May.”

“What’s happening in May?” Bonnie asked.

“Me and Marmalade are going to see this band live. They’re one of our favourites.” Keila explained. “All Time Low.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun.” Bonnie smiled.

There was a comfortable silence in the car, filled only with Marceline humming along to the song that was playing.

After a few minutes, Marceline’s humming cut out. “Hey, Bonnie?”

“Yeah, Marceline?”

“Since when do your friends throw massive parties with alcohol?” Marceline asked. “I thought their idea of a wild night was drinking too much soda and watching TV or something.”

Bonnie shrugged. “Honestly, I think it’s Marshall that’s influenced them.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.” Marceline said. “He’s always going out to parties and stuff.”

“You do too, though.” Bonnie pointed out. She knew Marceline sometimes went out with her band and drunk a little more than she should.

“Yeah, but not that much. Only every month or so.” Marceline explained. “I don’t know, I don’t really like big groups of people.”

Bonnie smiled. “Me too.”

“You’re both so antisocial.” Keila said. “Parties are great.”

“You just like an excuse to drink.” Marceline pointed out.

Keila laughed. “Parties aren’t the only place I drink. We’re having beer when we get back to yours.”

“I’m not going to let you get drunk, though. You’re hyper enough as it is, I don’t want to have to stop you from jumping off the roof or something.” Marceline said.

“Remember that time you got drunk and tried to go down the stairs on a sled?” Keila chuckled.

Marceline cringed a little. She remembered that night really vividly. Luckily, she didn’t break anything. “Yeah. I do _not_ recommend trying that.”

“You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” Bonnie was quick to ask; she didn’t like the idea of Marceline in the emergency room with broken bones.

“Not seriously. I just sprained my wrist and it was really awkward for a week or so.” Marceline said. She thought it was sweet Bonnie had asked that. Not that she’d ever admit that.

Bonnie smiled. “Well, I’m glad you were okay.”

 _Yep_ , Marceline thought, _I’m really fucking lucky that I have her_.

* * *

 

“Hey, Marceline?” Bonnie was rested on Marceline’s bed in between Marceline and Keila, and the three of them were watching a movie that Keila had picked out and announced was her favourite movie. It was called _The Heat_ , and so far there was a lot of swearing. Bonnie knew her Mom wouldn’t let her watch this and would probably throw a fit if she knew.

“Yup?” Marceline didn’t take her eyes off the screen, and continued chewing on a pizza crust.

“How come you decided you liked me?” Bonnie asked. “I don’t think you ever told me.”

Marceline just shrugged. “I don’t like you.”

Bonnie froze. “What?”

Marceline let out a light hearted laugh and turned to look at Bonnibel, almost shocked at the sad expression on Bonnie’s face. She shot Bonnie a mischievous grin. “Chill out, man. I’m just messing with you. Of course I like you. And to answer your question, I didn’t _decide_ to like you. I just do.”

Bonnie let out a sigh of relief. “Good. You scared me.”

Marceline put an arm around Bonnie’s shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Sorry, dude.”

“Please don’t do that again. If you want to scare me, just jump up behind me like a normal person would.” Bonnie said.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Marceline replied. She moved her arm from around Bonnie and went back to watching the movie.

“So, Bonnibel,” Keila said. “I know that you’re a scientist, so can you answer me a question?”

“I can try.”

“Not _this_ again.” Marceline groaned and leaned back on the bed, sighing. “She asked me this earlier.”

This made Bonnie even more intrigued to hear Keila’s question. “So, how come some people are born with good singing voices, and other people aren’t?”

Marceline smacked a hand to her forehead and rolled her eyes, but Bonnie saw the little smile on her face. “Oh my God, Keila.”

“Actually, that’s a rather interesting question.” Bonnibel mused. “I’ll look it up and get back to you.”

Marceline laughed. “You’re seriously going to investigate that for her?”

Bonnie nodded. “Any excuse to do a little research is enough for me.”

“Nerd.”

Bonnie chuckled. “I’m going to start counting the amount of times you call me that.”

“I’m just telling the truth here,” Marceline held her hands up in defence, “You can’t blame me for that.”

“You want truths?” Bonnie questioned, raising an eyebrow. Marceline smirked at her, as if challenging her to continue. “Fine. You’re a nerd too.”

“Let’s face it, guys,” Keila said, “We’re all in sweatpants and eating our body weights in pizza at 9PM on a Friday night. We’re _all_ losers.”

Bonnie looked down at the comfortable grey sweatpants Marceline had let her borrow. “So, you’re saying if I take these off, I’ll no longer be a loser?”

“No, they just make it ten times worse. You’re better than me and Marmalade, though. You actually went out to a party earlier. We’ve just been sat watching TV all night.” Keila explained.

Marceline shrugged. “I have no regrets.”

“Isn’t this what you usually spend your weekends doing anyway?” Bonnie asked.

“Well, sometimes I go and hang out with Simon and Betty if they’re downstairs, and I let Schwabl in here when he comes scratching at my door.” Marceline thought. She smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “I know, it gets wild up in here.”

“You do leave the house on Saturdays most of the time, though.” Keila cut in. “Band practise.”

Bonnie kept forgetting Marceline and Keila were in a band, and it just reminded her that they were ten times cooler than she was.

Marceline nodded. “Yeah, true. Sundays I go back to ignoring people, but I’m seeing Bonnie this week.”

“You’re still coming over?” Bonnie smiled. She looked forward to having times like these with Marceline, when they just hung out and talked.

“Uh, _yeah_.” Marceline stated as if it was obvious. “I need to educate you on good movies, remember?” She turned to Keila, pointing an accusative finger at Bonnie. “Can you believe this girl has _never_ seen Star Wars?”

Keila stared at Bonnibel as if she’d just jumped up and done a backflip. “Wait, _what_? But you’re like, some sort of science nerd! I always figured you’d be into that stuff.”

“I guess it just never took my interest. Alien movies aren’t really my thing.” Bonnie admitted. Her favourite type of movie was the cheesy, romantic comedies she usually watched when she went round to Lady’s.

“Marmalade, promise me you’ll make her see the light.”

“I promise, man.” Marceline said.

There was a comfortable silence, and for once, Marceline decided she’d be a good host and offer her friends drinks. “Either of you want anything to drink?”

Keila was quick to reply. “Soda.”

“Any specific type of soda?” Marceline asked.

Keila bit on her lip and creased her brow, looking as though she was deep in thought. Eventually, she made a decision. “Dr Pepper.”

“Okay.” Marceline then turned to Bonnibel. “Bonnie?”

“Uh…if you have any chamomile tea, that would be nice.” Bonnie said. “If you don’t have it, then it doesn’t matter.”

“We’ve probably got some in the cupboard. Simon drinks it a lot.” Marceline replied, shuffling off the bed and heading towards the door. “I’ll be right back.”

She slipped out of the room, leaving Bonnibel and Keila to their own devices. In all honesty, Bonnie was rather comfortable with Keila and didn’t worry about an awkward silence. She knew the older girl was quite chatty, and so they probably wouldn’t just sit in silence.

“Hey, thanks for being her friend and all.” Keila said. She nodded towards the door. “Marmalade, I mean. She actually doesn’t hate school as much now you’re around to keep her company.”

Bonnie smiled. “It’s fine. I like spending time with her. She’s funny.”

Keila grinned. “Hah, I know. We go to the mall sometimes and we play this game where we say the weirdest sentence we can think of when someone walks past us, to see if we can creep them out. It’s so funny. We get the weirdest looks from people.”

“Do you guys actually do any shopping when you go to the mall?” Bonnie chuckled. She couldn’t really imaging Marceline or Keila being into shopping.

“Sometimes when a band one of us likes brings out a new album.” Keila said. “But most of the time we just walk around making fun of people and acting like idiots.”

“Doesn’t anybody notice?”

“Most of the time they just look at us funny and it makes us laugh harder.” Keila explained. “The reactions are one of the best parts.”

“Sounds like fun.” Bonnie said. “You guys _always_ seem like you have fun.”

“We do. We’re like, a constant party.” Keila said. “It’s even more fun when Marmalade isn’t trying to act all cool.”

Bonnie smirked a little. “Act all cool?”

“Dude, you really think she’s usually this serious? Hell no, man.” Keila laughed. “She’s a fucking dork! She gets excited over like, everything, and she’s usually laughing the majority of the time when we hang out. She just wants you to think she’s cool, dude.”

Bonnie smiled. “That’s cute.”

“What’s cute?” Marceline asked as she walked into the room, Keila’s Dr Pepper in one hand and Bonnie’s chamomile tea in the other.

Keila quickly replied. “Oh, I told her about that game we play when we go to the mall.”

“Ah, yeah. That’s always fun.” Marceline smiled and passed the two of them their drinks.

Bonnie smiled as the warm cup of chamomile tea was passed to her. “Thank you, Marceline.”

Marceline shrugged. “It’s no big deal, man.”

As they all settled back down to finish the movie they were watching, Bonnie absentmindedly rested her head on Marceline’s shoulder as she sipped on her tea. Initially, Marceline tensed up, and Bonnie saw her exchange a glance with Keila, but after a few seconds, Marceline relaxed. Bonnie was rather relieved she didn’t tell her to get off or asked her what she was doing.

Bonnie stayed like that for the rest of the film, and by the time it was finished, it was 10:30PM. Marceline stretched out her arms and cracked her knuckles, and Bonnie sat up.

“If you want, I’ll take you home now.” Marceline offered.

Bonnie nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Keila yawned. “I’m just going to stay here and get in my pyjamas. You two have fun on your little road trip.”

Marceline gave Bonnie time to change from the sweatpants Marceline loaned her back into her outfit she was wearing at the party, and then the two set off to Bonnie’s house.

* * *

 

“So, I’m definitely still seeing you on Sunday, right?” Bonnibel questioned as Marceline drove.

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Man, Bonnie. You don’t need to keep asking. _Yes_.”

Bonnie smiled. “Okay. I was just making sure, you know, in case you decided you didn’t want to come over.”

“I think it’s pretty important that I do. You need to be educated in the world of good movies _and_ music if we have time.” Marceline said. “What do you even do in your free time? You know, when you’re not busy creating the next Frankenstein?”

“Okay, 1) I’m not reanimating corpses when I do experiments and 2) I usually read.” Bonnie replied.

“Man. Sucks. You could’ve reanimated like, Kurt Cobain or something. That’d be rad.” Marceline said. “Or you could’ve made me a monster that eats people I dislike.”

“If I could do that, I probably wouldn’t.” Bonnie chuckled. “There’d only be like, three people left in the world.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Marceline laughed, but she was quick to add what came next. “Kidding, kidding. I like more than three people.”

“Really? Name ten people you like that you actually know. You can’t name band members.” Bonnie challenged.

“Y’know, I’m sure we’ve played this game before.”

“Just do it.” Bonnie rolled her eyes.

“Fine.” Marceline’s brow creased in thought, and Bonnie picked up on how she usually chewed on her bottom lip when she was thinking. “You, Keila, Guy, Bongo, Marshall, Simon, Betty…that’s 7. More than three.”

“You’re 3 down.”

“Uh…Schwabl?”

“He’s a dog, Marceline.” Bonnie chuckled.

“Yeah, well he’s my friend.” Marceline responded. “Hambo?”

“ _He’s_ a teddy bear.” Bonnie laughed even harder. “I’m asking for real people here, Marceline.”

“Okay.” Marceline thought even harder. “Question: do they have to be alive?”

“No.” Bonnie said.

“Okay, easy. My Mom.”

Bonnibel didn’t reply. Marceline’s Mom was dead? If Marceline was willing to share this information with her, would she tell her why she didn’t live with her Dad?

Marceline snapped Bonnibel out of her thoughts.

“If you let me use Hambo and Schwabl I’ll buy you candy.” Marceline bribed. “Come on, it’s a sweet deal. You let me win the game, and you get free food. It’s a win/win situation.”

Bonnie figured Marceline was changing the subject for a good reason, so she played along. “Hm, I don’t know…I’d quite like telling my friends I managed to beat you in a debate.”

Marceline’s eye widened. “Okay, you don’t want candy? I’ll buy you like…a test tube or something.”

Bonnie laughed. “It’s going to take more than a test tube to win me over, Marceline.”

“Well, name something you want and I’ll buy you it if you let me win.” Bonnie laughed even harder as Marceline pulled the car up outside Bonnie’s house and pulled her infamous puppy-dog eyes.

“Uh…how about another sleepover sometime soon?”

“Done.”

“Fine, you win. You like ten people.” Bonnie replied.

Marceline grinned. “Rad. I told you.”

“I’m holding you to that sleepover promise, though.”

“I know, I know.” Marceline rolled her eyes. “Now get out, dork. I got places to be.”

“You just want to go home and hang out with Keila, don’t you?”

“Yup, so hit the road.” Marceline pointed towards the car door. “Seriously, though. I’ll see you on Sunday.”

Bonnie smiled, opening up the car door. “Yeah. See you on Sunday.”

Marceline frowned as Bonnie unbuckled her seatbelt and made a move to leave. “Hey, wait.”

Bonnie was halfway out the car. “Yeah?”

“Give me a goddamn hug before you go.”

Bonnie grinned wider than she had all night, and shuffled back into the car to give Marceline a hug. Bonnibel buried her head into Marceline’s neck, inhaling the intoxicating scent that was much like the one on the t-shirt she still wore to bed almost every night. She felt Marceline hug her back, and Bonnibel smiled even wider, if that was possible. Marceline began to let go, and Bonnie followed her lead.

“Alright, I’ll see you later.” Marceline said.

Bonnie just couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. “Yeah, bye. Thanks for rescuing me from the party.”

“Don’t thank me for that, dude.” Marceline replied as Bonnie climbed out of the car. “It’s no big deal, honestly. I’ll see you on Sunday.”

“Yep. Bye.” Bonnie said, finally closing the door and heading up to her front door.

Once she was inside, she immediately jogged up to her room, ecstatic. Marceline had actually asked to hug her. Bonnie’s smile seemed permanent.

Sunday just couldn’t come quick enough.


	17. seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline meets bonnie's parents.

** Sunday 9th March 2014 **

Bonnie spent the morning tidying up her bedroom and making sure everything was impeccable for Marceline’s visit. She knew Marceline probably wouldn’t care, but Bonnie had seen how tidy Marceline’s room was, and she wanted to meet her standards.

She straightened up her bookcase made her bed three times before she was satisfied it looked good enough, and even went as far as dusting. She knew she was being a little over the top, but it was passing the time and Bonnie wanted to make her room look nice. She even tidied up Science’s cage, which was still on her desk. Her little rat didn’t seem too pleased that all of his things were being messed up, and even gave Bonnibel a small nip on the finger. She just rolled her eyes and continued to clean.

When Marceline finally did arrive, Bonnibel’s Mom was out grocery shopping, and Bonnie was honestly relieved. She knew her Dad would like Marceline, but her Mom was pretty uptight when it came to a lot of things, and Bonnie had noticed she’d pointed out piercings and tattoos in distaste, and Bonnie hadn’t thought to tell Marceline not to wear her nose ring.

Luckily, when Bonnie opened the door, Marceline wasn’t wearing it. “Hey, man.”

“Hi, Marceline. Come in, my Mom is out but my Dad is upstairs in his office.” Bonnie said.

Marceline nodded. “Okay. Can we just sneak up to your room and pretend I’m not here all day?”

“You have to meet my parents at some point.” Bonnie chuckled. She thought it was quite cute how Marceline was nervous to meet her parents. “You’re my friend, remember? My parents like to meet my friends.”

“Suddenly I’m regretting my decision to be your friend.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. “No, you’re not. Let’s go up to my room.”

Bonnibel grabbed onto Marceline’s wrist and dragged the older girl upstairs and into her bedroom, sitting her down on her bed.

“I brought the DVDs.” Marceline produced 3 DVDs from seemingly nowhere. “It’s just the original trilogy. I’ll bring the others some other time, yeah?”

Bonnie nodded. “Yeah. We’ll have to watch them on my laptop; I haven’t got a DVD player.”

“Okay.” Marceline placed the DVDs on the bed in front of her, and then sat back on Bonnie’s pillows and got herself comfortable. “I’ll just let you do all the setting up and junk.”

Bonnie chuckled. “Okay. How are you, anyway?”

“Tired, as usual.”

“Sleep more.”

“I don’t think it’s possible for me to sleep more than I do.” Marceline said. “Especially because school starts so unnecessarily early.”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes. “Go to bed earlier.”

“I can’t. I have stuff to do.” Marceline shot back. “How are you, though?”

“I’m good.” Bonnie smiled. “Thank you for asking. Have you written any songs recently?”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded. “I wrote one about Simon. It was a sarcastic one. I compared him to Santa Claus and gave him a one off performance.”

Bonnie smiled. “I feel like I should’ve been there for that.”

“I’ll write you a song one day.”

“What about?”

“It’ll probably be something along the lines of; Bonnie is a fucking nerd / she does way too much studying in her free time / she should get out more / but then again saying that makes me a hypocrite / because I never leave the house too.” Marceline joked. “That’s just a first draft, though.”

“Put some music to that and you’ve made a masterpiece.”

“Tell me about it.” Marceline smiled, biting down on the nail on her index finger.

Bonnie frowned, although she was rather happy to be seeing Marceline next weekend. “You shouldn’t bite your nails, you know. It’s a really bad habit.”

“I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember.” Marceline defended, although Bonnie noticed how Marceline ceased biting at her nails. “I don’t think I’ll be stopping any time soon.”

“It’s still bad for you.” Bonnie muttered.

“Yeah? So is a lot of stuff.” Marceline said. “That doesn’t stop me, Bonnie. I’m _totally_ a hardcore rebel.”

Bonnie laughed. “Totally.”

Marceline gently elbowed Bonnie in the side. “You say that like it’s a joke. I was being serious.”

Bonnie could tell by the small smile on Marceline’s face that she wasn’t being serious at all. Bonnie grinned, holding her hands up in defence. “I apologise. You’re the most rebellious person I’ve ever met.”

“You bet your ass I am.”

Bonnie smiled, and grabbed her laptop from her desk, where it was sat next to Science’s cage. Marceline’s gaze followed her, and Bonnie knew she’d be wondering what Bonnie was keeping in the cage. “That’s my pet rat.”

“ _You_ have a rat?” Marceline raised an eyebrow. “What’s it called?”

“His name is Science.”

She heard Marceline let out a little sigh, and there was a long pause before Marceline finally replied. “I’m trying so hard not to comment on that.”

“You’re doing well.” Bonnibel responded, walking back over to the bed and switching her laptop on. She looked over the DVDs. “Marcy, you brought 4, 5 and 6. Shouldn’t we watch the first three?”

Marceline chuckled. “Nah, these are the original ones. They made 4, 5 and 6 and then 1, 2 and 3. The original trilogy is the best, though.”

Bonnie nodded, picking up the first DVD and holding it up to Marceline. “Is this the one we’re watching first?”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded.

Bonnie got everything set up, before sitting close to Marceline and placing the laptop in between them. Bonnie rested her head on Marceline’s shoulder, which was comfortable, albeit a little bony.

They’d just begun watching the film, when Marceline pointed out a character. “That’s Princess Leia. She’s fucking badass, man. She gets shit done.”

“You like her?” Bonnie asked.

“Strong female characters keep me going, man. Why do you think I like Buffy so much?” Marceline raised an eyebrow.

Bonnie smiled. “I don’t know. I just figured you’d like the supernatural element.”

“That is one of the reasons. I feel like I’m cheating on Buffy if I watch any other supernatural show, though. It is my one true love.” Marceline joked. “Well, that and food.”

“More specifically, Twizzlers.” Bonnie added, as she pulled out a big bag of them from her bedside table, which she’d bought at the store the other night.

Bonnie found herself smiling as Marceline grinned. “Dude! Okay, I’m marrying you if you keep giving me loads of food.”

Bonnie worried herself for a moment when she realised she wouldn’t have a problem with that, but she quickly shook the thought from mind. _Don’t, Bonnibel_ , She scolded herself, _remember what happened last time_. “Well, if you play me some relaxing music then I guess I won’t have a problem with that arrangement.”

“You get really awkwardly flirty sometimes.” Marceline smirked as she opened up the packet as quickly as she could. “I like it. Sassy Bonnie is one of my favourite Bonnies.”

“Which is your number one favourite?” Bonnibel asked out of curiosity.

“Oh, drunk Bonnie. Hands down.” Marceline replied as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. “But sassy Bonnie is a close second.”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. “Keep your voice down when you mention the whole alcohol incident. My parents don’t know and I don’t ever want them to find out.”

Marceline mock saluted her. “Aye aye, captain. I’ll keep quiet.”

“Thank you.” Bonnie replied, resting her head back down on Marceline’s shoulder. “You’re a good friend, you know.”

“I try.” Marceline said. “I’m still terrified to meet your Mom.”

“What about my Dad?” Bonnie questioned.

“Well, at least I’ll be able to talk about music with him, but your Mom? What am I supposed to do there?” Marceline exclaimed. “What does she like?”

“She likes traditional things. You know, good manners -,”

“Well, I’m fucked.”

Bonnie sighed. “You are if you use language like that.”

“You’re always getting on me for being ‘distasteful’ or whatever, and you still like me.” Marceline pointed out. “You _do_ still like me, right?”

“Of course.” Bonnie smiled.

“Good.” Marceline breathed out a sigh of relief. “Anyways, your Mom will hate me.”

“Just be nice and don’t swear and you’ll be fine.” Bonnie assured. She recalled Marceline telling her she could usually hold her bad language back.

“Okay.” Marceline nodded.

“She won’t ask you too many questions or anything. Probably just what you like to do in your free time.” Bonnibel added.

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Okay. Will it be believable if I say homework?”

“I don’t think you’ve done a piece of homework before in your life.” Bonnie chuckled.

“I _used_ to do homework.” Marceline offered. “That doesn’t make it any better, does it? I don’t know, I just have better things to do with my time than answer math problems.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Bonnie challenged. “And you can’t include binge-watching Buffy on this list.”

“You make it almost impossible for me to win arguments.” Marceline chuckled. “But I write songs in my free time. And _sometimes_ I socialise. For example, right now.”

“Sometimes?” Bonnie laughed. “An apocalypse is more likely than you socialising.”

Marceline shrugged. “I have my reasons.”

“Such as?” Bonnie pressed.

“Can we think of a safe word that we can say when the one of us asks a question that makes the other uncomfortable?” Marceline shot back, effectively changing the subject.

Bonnibel smiled, taking hold of Marceline’s hand. “Sure. You pick.”

“Uh…okay,” Marceline bit down on her lip in thought and creased her brow. “I don’t know. Can’t think of any words.”

“Say the first thing that comes to mind.” Bonnie suggested.

“Boobs.”

Bonnibel couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Very mature, Marceline. Seriously.”

“That _was_ serious.” Marceline said. “You told me to say the first thing that came to mind!”

“And _boobs_ was the first thing?” Bonnie giggled. “You know, for a straight girl you sure have some pretty gay stuff on your mind.”

Marceline smirked. “Who said I was straight?”

“You’re not straight?”

“Boobs.”

Bonnie laughed. “We’re _not_ using that as a safe word. How about...socks?”

“That is the most uncreative thing you’ve ever suggested.” Marceline mocked. “But _fine_ , if you want to be boring.”

“I don’t see why everything has to be creative with you.” Bonnie said. “There’s nothing wrong with being a little cliché.”

Marceline shrugged. “Fair point. I just think that you should be as creative as possible. I mean, life is pretty boring and it doesn’t seem to be getting any more exciting.”

“What do you mean?” Bonnie asked.

“Well, we have to spend our entire lives working towards the future. What if the future fucking sucks, man? I mean, your childhood is supposed to be the best years of your life, but that’s sucked so far, and if it only gets worse then I don’t want to be a part of it.” Marceline explained. “I don’t want to _die_ , but I don’t want to live, either.”

Bonnie frowned. Sure, you spent your life working for the future, but when the future became the present, it was the present you’d wanted all along. “You think life sucks? Why?”

“Socks.” Marceline rejected the question. “I just don’t think that your life is supposed to be this big fucking journey about finding yourself and junk. Like, no. It’s about creating yourself. Life _should_ be an adventure where you can grow as a person and do a load of fun stuff that makes you happy. You shouldn’t have to work shitty jobs just to get by. It’s fucking stupid.”

“That’s awfully philosophical.” Bonnie commented.

“Yeah, well.” Marceline shrugged, running a hand through her hair and sitting back. “Sorry for getting on a rant.”

Bonnie waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. You made a good point.”

* * *

 

They sat in silence for the rest of the movie, Bonnie laying comfortably against Marceline, who occasionally explained things about the film to her. They got about half an hour into the second movie, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, when her Dad knocked on the door and pushed his way into the room. “I’m going out to pick your Mom up and then we’re going for lunch. We’ll be back by around 4ish.”

“Okay, Dad.” Bonnie smiled, “This is Marceline, by the way.”

Marceline shot her Dad a smile. “Hey.”

They shook hands, and her Dad already seemed to like Marceline as far as Bonnie could tell. “Ah, you’re the one she accidentally came out to.”

Marceline laughed at the memory, but thankfully didn’t mention that Bonnibel was drunk at the time. “Yeah. Good times, right Bonnie?”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. “Shut up. I was scared you’d hate me.”

“Like I would ever hate you.” Marceline retorted, before looking back up at Bonnie’s Dad. “You have a _really_ cool guitar, by the way.”

“You play?” Bonnie’s Dad seemed impressed. “How long?”

“Uh…since I was like 7 or 8.” Marceline said. “Yeah. I learned violin first. My Mom taught me.”

Her Dad seemed even more impressed, and Bonnie could tell he was liking her more by the second. “How many instruments to you play?”

“Seven. _Mostly_ string instruments.” Marceline replied.

“Your Mom taught you all of them?”

Bonne couldn’t help but notice a flash of sadness in Marceline’s eyes before she answered. “No, she taught me violin. I taught myself everything else. The theory was probably the hardest part but it’s good to know if you write music as often and I do.”

Her Dad seemed incredibly impressed by this. “That’s really impressive. You must be very talented to be able to do all of that.”

Marceline bit on her lip and looked down, scratching the back of her neck. “Uh…not really, I mean – it wasn’t…”

“Marceline, shut up and accept my Dad’s compliment.” Bonnie chuckled, throwing an arm around Marceline’s shoulders.

“I’ll see you kids later,” Her Dad beamed, heading towards the door. “And Marceline? Call me Peter.”

When he left, Marceline let out an audible sigh of relief and flopped down on the bed. Bonnie grinned and patted her head. “He likes you. Definitely.”

“One down, one to go.” Marceline said, her voice muffled by Bonnie’s pink duvet. “Your Mom is like, the boss level.”

“You need to stop with the video game metaphors.” Bonnie chuckled. “Or just stop playing video games.”

Marceline gasped. “Never. I need to practice regularly if I want to keep my winning streak on pizza nights.”

“I bet I could beat you at Mario Kart.” Bonnie muttered.

“What was that? A challenge?” Marceline raised an eyebrow. “I’ll kick your ass all the way back to New York, princess.”

“Or I’ll kick _your_ butt all the way back to…your house.” Bonnie laughed. “And I thought we were past the whole princess thing.”

“What? You don’t like my loving nicknames?” Marceline placed a hand on her heart and looked away in mock hurt, pretending to cry. “I’m deeply hurt. I feel betrayed.”

Bonnie gently shoved her. “Shut up, you dork. Let’s go downstairs and play on my Mario Kart, and we’ll see how tough you think you are then.”

Marceline broke her upset façade and smiled. “Game on, motherfucker.”

* * *

 

Bonnie was really glad that her Mom wasn’t in to hear the profanities that Marceline yelled during their video game session. Whenever Bonnie overtook Marceline, the older girl would loudly shout different variations of the word fuck until she managed to overtake Bonnie again. At one point, she even went as far as stealing Bonnie’s controller and throwing it halfway across the lounge.

Marceline won, and spent five minutes running around Bonnie’s living room calling her a loser.

Bonnie called her a cheater, and then the entire match started over again.

When Bonnibel won that round, Marceline sat on the couch sulking for ten minutes until Bonnie finally coaxed her back upstairs with Twizzlers and the promise that she could play on her Dad’s guitar.

Marceline was sat happily munching on Twizzlers and picking random notes of chords when Bonnie heard her parents come in.

“Well, I guess it’s time for me to climb out of the window and run away.” Marceline said.

Although Bonnie knew Marceline was only half serious, she still grabbed onto the sleeve of Marceline’s ‘no smoking’ t-shirt. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“I’m pretty sure keeping me here against my will would class as kidnapping.” Marceline rolled her eyes. “But I was only kidding.”

“You promise?”

Marceline grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Promise.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, after I meet your Mom, will you walk me home?” Marceline asked.

“You walked?” Bonnie frowned. If she could drive, she probably wouldn’t even walk to Gumball’s house, which was only just down the road from her. Marceline lived at least fifteen minutes away on foot.

“Yeah. I need the exercise. I regretted it, though. I nearly slipped on ice a few times.” Marceline said.

“It’s icy?” Bonnie exclaimed.

“Yep. I was like ‘it’s March, what the fuck’ when I was desperately clinging onto a tree for dear life.” Marceline explained. “It sucked. I just can’t wait until it gets warm again.”

“You’d think with living here for your whole life you’d be used to walking on ice by now.” Bonnie commented.

“Do I look like a professional ice skater?” Marceline shot back. “Dude, I walk on the road as much as possible. I need you to escort me back so a) I don’t fall on my ass, and b) I can hold onto you so if I fall, you can help save me.”

“Remember that time you mocked me for asking to hold your hand in case I fell off your skateboard?” Bonnie chuckled. “I don’t think I’ll help you out. I think it would be rather funny to watch you fall over.”

Marceline pouted. “But _Bonnie_ ,” She dragged out the last two vowels for as long as she could. “You like me and don’t want me to hurt myself and die.”

“I doubt you’d die from slipping on ice.” Bonnie rolled her eyes.

“You’ve jinxed it, now.”

“You’re such a dork.” Bonnie teased. “Fine, I’ll look after you.”

“Good.” Marceline smiled. “By the way, I’m sorry about all of the…raging bitchiness from before.”

Bonnie pulled Marceline in for a hug. “You had your reasons. I just want to know what they were.”

“Socks.”

“Okay.” Bonnie smiled. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“You’re the greatest.” Marceline grinned.

“I know.”

* * *

 

Meeting Bonnie’s Mom wasn’t half as terrifying as Marceline originally expected it to be. First of all, Marceline had braced herself for a really strict, stoic person. In reality, Bonnie’s Mom was almost as sweet as Bonnie herself. The first thing she did when she saw Marceline was give her a warm hug, and then asked her how she was, an finished her sentence with, “And please, call me Lynn.”

Marceline was as polite as possible around Bonnie’s Mom – she had to admit that conversation came a lot easier with Bonnie’s Dad. But, when Bonnibel’s Mom asked her about her music, it suddenly became a lot easier to talk. Marceline knew music; she was comfortable talking about it. It interested her, and honestly, she could go on for hours about the importance of suspended chords, but instead, she asked Bonnie’s Mom about her taste in music.

Marceline was incredibly happy with the answer.

“Oh, I like all sorts. Peter likes a lot of the classic rock style – Bruce Springsteen, Def Leppard, Guns n Roses and other things like that. I listen to whatever grabs my attention.”

“Guns n Roses are rad.” Marceline agreed. “Actually, I taught myself ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ on guitar a few months back. The riffs in it are awesome.”

“Peter mentioned you play a lot of instruments. I have to say, I was quite impressed myself. What do you play?”

“I started with violin when I was five and then moved onto guitar, then bass, then classical piano which I transferred over to keyboard, and then banjo and about half a year back I taught myself ukulele.” Marceline listed. “I actually kind of want to learn the harp.”

“You taught yourself all of that?” Marceline never really understood why people found it so impressive. Learning instruments seemed like second nature to her.

“All except for violin. My Mom taught me that.”

“She must be a very talented woman herself, then.” Bonnie’s Mom smiled. “It would be nice to meet her.”

Marceline flinched a little. Bonnie noticed and felt Marceline grip onto her hand. “Uh…she’s - she died when I was seven.”

Bonnie tried not to pull Marceline in for a big hug when she heard the small crack in her voice. She decided to change the subject. “So…we should go. Simon will want you home for dinner.”

“Yeah…yeah, he will.” Marceline nodded and smiled at Bonnie’s Mom, although Bonnie could see the sadness behind it. “It was nice to meet you, Lynn.”

“You too.”

Bonnie escorted Marceline out of the house, and once they were around the corner, she began spewing apologies. “God, I am _so_ sorry she brought up your Mom -,”

Marceline cut her off. “Can we just… _not_ talk about that?”

“Okay. I’m just… _really_ sorry she upset you.” Bonnie rambled. “I hate seeing you upset, oh my God.”

Marceline shook her head and bit down on her lip. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not.” Bonnie continued. “She shouldn’t have said that -,”

“ _Hey_. Bonnie. Cool your jets.” Marceline met Bonnibel’s gaze. “It’s fine. _I’m_ fine. She didn’t know. No harm done, honest.”

“You still look upset.”

“I’m _fine_.” Marceline snapped. Bonnie was taken aback. Marceline hadn’t snapped at her since before they were friends. “I’m sorry,” was an automatic follow up. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just…it’s kind of a sensitive topic for me, okay?”

“Understood.” Bonnie replied.

Marceline took hold of Bonnie’s hand again and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Seriously. Calm down, dude. I’m okay. I shouldn’t have snapped at you, and I’m sorry. Let’s just forget it, okay?”

Bonnie nodded, squeezing Marceline’s cool hand back. “Yeah. Have you done our History homework?”

“Cute.” Marceline snickered. “Of course not.”

“What do you do when teachers ask for it in and you haven’t done it?” Bonnie questioned.

“Easy,” Marceline responded. “I just say I’ll bring it in next lesson and then I never do. They end up forgetting about it.”

“My parents would ground me for life if I did that.”

“They don’t really seem all that strict, to be honest.” Marceline said.

“They are.” Bonnie assured. “They just like looking cool in front of my friends. I think they realised that you’re like, ten times cooler than me on the social hierarchy and didn’t act all over-protective and junk.”

“Okay, what the _fuck_ is a social hierarchy?” Marceline laughed. “And I’m definitely not – _fuck!_ ” Bonnie tried not to laugh as Marceline nearly slipped over on some ice and grabbed onto her for support, “Cooler than you.”

“You’re in a _band_. That automatically puts you pretty high on the coolness scale in my books.” Bonnie responded. “Someone like you wouldn’t have even acknowledged me back in New York.”

Marceline frowned. “I don’t get why you think I’m so cool. I’m not, man.”

“I don’t know. I guess I just never expected one of my closest friends to be in a band and have cool older friends and be all ‘punk rock’ and stuff.” Bonnie rambled.

Marceline froze. “Closest friends?”

Bonnie blushed. “Oops. I guess…yeah. I mean, you know about me liking girls, and I trust you. I like spending time with you and I actually see you outside of school.”

Marceline smiled and wrapped her arms around Bonnie in a hug. “You’re such a nerd.”

Bonnie grinned at how Marceline was opening up to her more and more and initiating contact, something that would have shocked her a few weeks ago. She really did love how close they were becoming.

“Yup,” Bonnie laughed, “And _you’re_ one by association.”


	18. eighteen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnibel go on a coffee run and have another sleepover.

** Thursday 13th March 2014 **

Bonnie managed to convince Marceline to sit on her table with Lady and Gumball in English. Well…she didn’t _convince_ her; she grabbed onto Marceline’s backpack and pulled her down into the seat next to her. “Whoa, was there any need to attack me?”

Bonnie nodded. “Yes, because you probably would have just gone off and sat by yourself.”

“I like sitting by myself. I can put my music in while I work and nobody tries to talk to me.” Marceline reasoned. “Can I leave now?”

Bonnie kept a tight grip on the sleeve of Marceline’s leather jacket. “Stay.”

Marceline sighed, her gaze flicking over to Bonnibel’s two friends who were looking rather apprehensive. “Do I have to?”

“Yes.” Bonnie confirmed. “Can I trust you not to run away if I let go of your jacket?”

Marceline let out a long sigh, although Bonnie could tell she was just pretending to be annoyed. “I _guess_.”

Bonnie let go of Marceline’s jacket and smiled. “Good.”

“Why do you even want me to sit with you? We always end up distracted in History.” Marceline pointed out. “And I don’t want to compromise your education, Bonnie.” Really, she just liked listening to music for an hour without being disturbed; Betty always just let her get on with her work.

“You’re ridiculous.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “You’re staying here from now on, and I swear if you want to listen to music I won’t annoy you.”

“You don’t annoy me.” Marceline replied, a little too quickly. She realised she wasn’t just by herself with Bonnie, and put on a smirk. “ _Much_.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Right back at you.”

Bonnibel watched as Marceline got her notebook and folder out of her backpack, and couldn’t help but admire how _good_ Marceline looked in her leather jacket and purple Led Zeppelin t-shirt. “Are you going to get your stuff out or just keep checking me out?”

Bonnie blushed. “Uh…yeah. My stuff, I mean. I wasn’t checking you out.”

“I know. I was just kidding, dude.” Marceline rolled her eyes as she placed her backpack on the floor and leaned back on her chair. She turned to Bonnie’s friends, who had been watching the scene in surprise. They hadn’t realised how close Marceline and Bonnibel had become. Marceline nodded in acknowledgement at them. “Hey.”

Lady tried a smile. After all, she had promised Bonnibel she’d be nice to Marceline. “Hi…so…you two really _are_ friends.”

Marceline looked to Bonnie, who was fumbling with her backpack. “Nah, not really. She’s too uncool for me.”

Bonnie overheard and gave Marceline a small smack on the arm. “Meanie.”

“Hey! I was only kidding.” Marceline rubbed her arm where Bonnibel had hit it. “ _Damn_ , Bonnie. That hurt. You need to be careful with me, I’m fragile.”

Bonnie chuckled. “Okay, Marcy. Sorry.”

Marceline looked to Lady. “If that didn’t prove it for you, yes, we are friends. She bullies me, though.”

Bonnie scoffed and looked up. “I do _not_. You always tease me and try to scare me.”

“That’s because it’s funny.” Marceline shot Bonnie a wide grin. “And you’re cute when you get all annoyed.”

Bonnie blushed. “I’m not cute.”

“You tell yourself that, dork.” Marceline rolled her eyes, untangling her earphones.

Bonnie frowned, taking them from her. “Hey! You said you’d be sociable.”

“And _you_ said you won’t annoy me if I wanted to listen to music.” Marceline shot back, outstretching her hand for her earphones. “Give ‘em, come on.”

Bonnie sighed. “Just put one in, okay? I want to get to talk to you a little.”

“Okay,” Marceline nodded, plugging them into her phone and putting an earphone in one ear. She tapped around on her phone for a few seconds, picking a song, and then locked it and placed it on the desk.

Bonnie then turned to Gumball. “So, how’s it going with Operation Marshall?”

Gumball’s eyes widened. “Bubblegum! Lady is literally right next to me!”

“She already knows!” Bonnie laughed. “You’re not that good at hiding it, you know.”

“Oh, God!” Gumball’s face paled. “What if Marshall knows? That’ll ruin everything! But I can’t ask him, because then he _will_ know and then what will I do?”

Marceline looked up from where she was sat doodling in her notebook. “You can relax, dude. He’s way too stupid and self-absorbed to figure out you like him.”

Gumball frowned at her. “That’s a relief. And don’t talk about him like that.”

Gumball’s eyes immediately widened after he realised what he said, and Bonnie figured he thought Marceline was going to hit him or something. She didn’t.

“I’m just telling the truth, man.” Marceline shrugged. “Sue me for trying to help.”

Bonnie felt Marceline grab hold of her hand under the table, and she smiled. Bonnibel gave Marceline’s cold hand a reassuring squeeze.

Lady seemed surprised that Marceline didn’t at least glare at him. “Hold on…you’re not going to hit him for talking back to you?”

Marceline looked up, and eyebrow raised in amusement. “No. Why would I?”

Lady frowned. “But…you’re supposed to be mean.”

“I am? Okay…let’s see…” Marceline bit on her lip in thought, “Oh, I know -,”

Bonnie cut in before Marceline could say anything potentially terrifying. “Marceline…you promised to be nice to my friends.”

“I promised to be nice to _Lady_. I said nothing about the others.” Marceline shot back. “And technically, I’m not breaking any of your rules. They’re _asking_ me to be mean. I’m just being nice and coming through.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Just be nice, okay?”

“Okay,” Marceline said, shooting her a smile and squeezing Bonnie’s hand, before dropping it and picking up her pen again. “The things I do for you, Bonnie.”

Bonnibel chuckled. “You’re the cute one, by the way.”

Marceline laughed. “I’m _really_ not. Trust me on that. I’m the ‘scary’ one, according to your buds here.”

“Sorry for interpreting your death glares as scary.” Lady muttered, not expecting Marceline to hear.

“I don’t think I’ve ever glared at you before. You’re okay.” Marceline replied.

Lady looked up in surprise. She really _wasn’t_ expecting that. “I’m okay?”

“Yeah.”

Bonnie hugged Marceline before she could say anything else. She got close to Marceline’s ear, and whispered two words. “Thank you.”

“Don’t sweat it, man.” Marceline whispered back.

Lady shot Marceline a real smile, and Bonnie was incredibly happy. She’d honestly expected Marceline to act cold towards her friends. “You know…you’re okay too.”

“Seriously, thanks for being nice to my friends.” Bonnie smiled as she walked out of school with Marceline.

“Seriously, _stop_ saying thank you.” Marceline said for what felt like the hundredth time. “They’re not that bad, I guess. And I mean, they care about you, so at least we have one thing in common.”

“That was smooth.” Bonnie teased.

Marceline just shrugged. “I’ve done better.”

“Yeah? Try some of your flirty moves on me, then.” Bonnie leaned back on the passenger door of Marceline’s car, sending her a challenging smirk.

Marceline rolled her eyes and smiled. “Are you asking me to seduce you or something? In the middle of the parking lot? Damn, Bonnie, that’s pretty hardcore.”

Bonnibel blushed. “I’m not asking you to _seduce_ me. I just want to see some of your moves.”

Marceline raised an eyebrow. “You’re already blushing; I don’t think you need the sexual goddess that is me making you even worse.”

“Sexual goddess?” Bonnie laughed. “Wow.”

Marceline couldn’t hold back her laughter either, leaning against the car next to Bonnie. “Yeah, that was a joke. You do realise I haven’t had a date in like 3 years, right?”

“At least you’ve _had_ a date.” Bonnie replied.

“You said you’d never had a crush on anyone.” Marceline frowned. “So I don’t know what you’re expecting.”

“Yeah, I said that when I still thought you were a demon from the gates of hell.” Bonnie said. “Of course I’ve -,”

“ _Hold on_ , demon from the gates of hell? _Really_?” For a second, Bonnie thought Marceline was mad, and looked up at Marceline to make amends, only to see her lightly laughing. “I don’t think I was _that_ bad.”

Bonnie just shrugged in defence. “You threatened to kill me like three times and sent me death glares quite a lot, too.”

Marceline scratched the back of her neck and then pulled Bonnie in for a hug. “Sorry. You’re my bud now, though.”

Bonnie hugged Marceline back. “I know. You’re my friend too, and I forgive you for all the pre-friendship stuff.”

Marceline gave Bonnie one last squeeze. “Good. Anyway, back onto the conversational topic from before – who were you loving it up with back in New York then, huh?”

“I wouldn’t call it ‘loving it up’. She wasn’t really...understanding when I admitted my feelings for her.” Bonnie sighed at the memory. “It was horrible. One minute she was my best friend, and the next she hates me.”

“Well, she’s a fucking dickhead, then.”

“You went kind of British when you said the d word.” Bonnie chuckled, “It was cute.”

“Fuck off.” Marceline pushed herself off the car and walked round to the driver’s side, getting in. “You want me to drive to New York and hit her for you?”

“You can’t even snap a Twizzler in half.” Bonnie pointed out as she got in the car. “I’d rather get a hug. You’re a good hugger.”

Marceline leaned over and gave Bonnibel a tight hug. “Here, dork. And in my defence, I _can_ snap a Twizzler in half.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Marcy.” Bonnie chuckled, as Marceline stopped hugging Bonnie and went to start the car. “I just don’t get how you’re such a weakling -,”

Marceline scoffed. “I am _not_ a weakling.”

“Let me finish,” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “I don’t get how you’re such a weakling and yet you can throw a good punch.”

“I can only do that when I’m angry.” Marceline said. “Which isn’t often, really.”

Bonnie frowned. “How come you hit Ricardio so hard, then?”

“He made me angry.” Marceline shrugged. “By harassing you.”

“But you didn’t like me then.” Bonnie pointed out. “We weren’t friends when you stopped him.”

“Bonnie, I’ve liked you a lot longer than I admitted,” Marceline revealed, “I was just trying _not_ to.”

“Why?”

“Socks.”

Bonnie sighed. “You’ll tell me eventually, right?”

“Eventually, yes.” Marceline told her.

Bonnie studied Marceline for a second. She couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t tell her things. She could trust Bonnie. “Why not now, then?”

“Socks.”

“Come on,” Bonnie pleaded, “At least tell me _that_.”

“Well, for you to be able to understand the answers to a lot of the questions you ask, you’d have to know a lot of background information which is usually traumatising to relive and I don’t really know if I can trust you with that stuff yet.” Marceline explained.

Bonnie frowned. “You _can_ trust me, you know.”

“I know. You’re pretty rad with how you don’t care about gossip and junk and I don’t think you’d tell anyone.” Marceline replied as she backed out of the parking space they were in.

“Then why won’t you tell me now?” Bonnie asked.

“Because a lot of it is pretty… _intense_ …and I don’t want you to judge me on it.” Marceline admitted. “It’s just a little soon for that, okay?”

“I wouldn’t judge you.” Bonnie assured. “Seriously. You know I wouldn’t.”

“Bonnie, can we just drop it?”

“Fine,” Bonnibel answered, “But _will_ tell me, right?”

“Like I said, eventually.” Marceline confirmed as they drove away from school. “Anyway, we’re doing a coffee run and then I’ll drop you off at your house. I can give you a ride on mornings if you want.”

“I don’t have any money for coffee,” Bonnie said, “And if it’s not too much trouble, that’d be cool. My Mom has to go into work earlier now, so I’ll have to start getting the bus soon.”

“It’s on me,” Marceline replied, “And yeah, I’ll probably be round for like, 8:30? Marshall and I sometimes go earlier and stop by McDonald’s.”

“Speaking of Marshall, have you just driven off without him?” Bonnie laughed.

“Nah, he had extra math after school until 4:30. I’m not waiting another hour.” Marceline said. “It won’t kill him to walk home.”

Bonnie nodded. “Yeah, I guess. Would you want to come in and hang out with me for a bit when we get to mine?”

“I can’t. Keila and I are doing some writing tonight.” Marceline replied, and Bonnie couldn’t help but feel deflated. “Sorry, dude. Maybe some other time.”

“Am I still coming over on Saturday to sleep over?” Bonnie questioned.

“Yup,” Marceline confirmed, popping the p, “If you still want to, that is.”

“Of course I still want to.” Bonnie smiled.

“Okay, cool. Band practise is at my house this week anyways, so when you come they might still be hanging around. But I mean, you know 2/4, so it’ll be fine,” Marceline assured.

Bonnie frowned. “Keila and you?”

“No, Keila and Marshall. I wasn’t including myself in that.” Marceline rolled her eyes “Duh,”

“Well, sorry I’m not psychic.” Bonnie shot back. “It would be cool if I _was_ , though.”

“For you,” Marceline added, “I’d be terrified if you could read my thoughts. You _really_ don’t want to know what’s going on up here,” She tapped her temple with two fingers.

“Why don’t I want to know that?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, it’s just intense.” Marceline said. “A lot of stuff goes on up there.”

Bonnie just shrugged. “I bet you’re just secretly thinking about how much you want to make out with me or something.”

She looked over to Marceline to see if she’d had an effect; she hadn’t. Marceline was smirking at her, rather than blushing, which was Bonnie’s desired effect. “Look, flirty Bonnie came out to play. Sorry, dude. I don’t fuck dorks.”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes, aware of the embarrassed red hue on her cheeks. “Whatever. I know you’re straight, Marceline.”

Bonnie could’ve sworn Marceline muttered, “I’m not straight,” under her breath, but decided not to comment. “So, why do you feel the need to take me on a coffee run, anyways?”

“I like coffee, and I like you. Combine the two and that’s enough to make me happy for the night.” Marceline shrugged. “Nah, I don’t know. I just want to buy you a drink. What do you want?”

“You don’t have to buy me anything.” Bonnie insisted. “I can pay you when we get to my house.”

“Just let me buy you coffee, Bonnie,” Marceline sighed. “Please.”

“Why?”

“Socks.”

“ _Seriously_? You can’t just use that every time I ask you a question.” Bonnie exclaimed. “I highly doubt this will involve you telling me anything you like to keep secret.”

“Well, it doesn’t,” Marceline admitted, “But it’s embarrassing.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, “Come on, I won’t make fun of you. I swear.” Bonnie linked her pinky with Marceline’s, “See, pinky swear. That’s the most sacred of all promises.”

Marceline let out a long sigh. “I guess I just want to _thank_ you or whatever.”

Bonnie frowned. Thank her? Thank her for what? “What do you mean?”

“For like…putting up with all of my bitchiness, I guess.” Bonnie found herself smiling at the pink blush on Marceline’s cheeks. “Just…thanks for not giving up on me, Bonnie. You’re really rad.”

“Aw, Marceline!” Bonnie couldn’t help but grin. She really did think that was sweet. “You don’t need to buy me coffee for that. You’ve thanked me enough by just being my friend and looking after me even when you weren’t.”

“Just let me do this one thing.” Marceline said. “I just want to do something nice for you.”

“Well, do you buy your other friends things?”

“I buy Keila presents sometimes.” Marceline shrugged. It was a normal thing for both her and Keila to buy something for the other when they saw something in the store that they thought one another would like. “She gets me stuff too.”

“You guys are cute.” Bonnie smiled. “I guess I could let you buy me a coffee, but I’ll buy you something some other time. Like, some guitar strings or something.”

“Dude, no.” Marceline looked at her like she’d just committed murder. “Guitar strings are _hella_ expensive.”

“Did you just say ‘hella’?” Bonnie laughed. “Fine, I’ll get you a few guitar picks or whatever.”

“I guess that’s okay.” Marceline sighed. “But it kind of ruins the whole purpose of me buying you coffee to show my gratitude.”

“Sorry to one-up you.” Bonnie apologised. “I just wanted to pay you back.”

“Yeah, but by paying me back, it devalues the original purpose of my actions.” Marceline rambled.

Bonnie frowned. She really didn’t get what Marceline meant. “ _Right_ …well, I’ll only get you one guitar pick. Deal?”

Bonnie extended her hand, and Marceline took one hand off of the steering wheel and shook Bonnie’s. “Deal.”

* * *

 

“What do you want?” Marceline asked as they pulled up in the parking lot of the local Starbucks.

“Um…a Frappuccino.” Bonnie said.

“Any specific flavour?” Marceline questioned.

“Surprise me.”

Marceline brought back a strawberry Frappuccino for Bonnie – which she defended with “It was pink so you must like it.” – and a vanilla latte for herself. She placed her drink in the cup holder and pulled out of the parking lot. “Okay, let’s get you home so you can study.”

“I don’t _just_ study, you know.” Bonnie rolled her eyes.

“ _Really_? What else do you do, then?” Marceline raised her eyebrows as if she was challenging Bonnie. “You’re like, queen nerd.”

“And you’re like, queen punk.”

“You always seem to forget that being punk is a compliment to me.” Marceline said. “But I mean, if you’re looking to offend me, you can always call me a drug addict again.”

Bonnie sighed in exasperation. “I apologised for that. I know you don’t do drugs.”

“I know. I just think it’s funny.” Marceline smirked.

“Really? Why did you want to hit me when I called you it, then?” Bonnie frowned.

Marceline laughed. “Are you _seriously_ asking that question?”

“Yes.” Bonnie replied. She really didn’t get what was so funny about that.

“So, you _wouldn’t_ get offended if someone you barely knew called you a drug addict?”

That was when Bonnie got it. Her eyes widened in realisation. “ _Oh_. Yeah…okay. I get it now. I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

“I deserved it, man. Don’t apologise.” Marceline rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t deserve me judging you -,”

Marceline cut her off quickly. “Have you _not_ realised I’m a hypocritical bitch yet? I literally judged you straight away. I thought you were – actually, no. I’m not going into _that_. My point is, don’t apologise, because I bitched at you for being judgemental when I was judgemental myself.”

“What did you think I was?” Bonnie was rather curious to know, even though she knew she’d probably regret asking.

“I’m not telling you.”

“No, tell me.” Bonnie persisted. “I’ll tell you what I thought of you.”

“I don’t even want to _know_ , Bonnie.”

“Please?”

“Ugh,” Marceline huffed. “Fine. Just remember that you asked for this.”

“Okay.”

“I thought you were a pretentious, bitchy cheerleader type that always appears nice but is actually fucking _Darth Vader_ in disguise.” Marceline muttered.

Bonnie laughed. “Okay, first of all, _Darth Vader_? Really? You call _me_ a nerd when you make Star Wars references? Secondly, _cheerleader_? I’m about as coordinated as a blind walrus.”

“I feel bad for walruses.” Marceline absently replied. “You make them out to be tone-deaf, uncoordinated, and generally useless.” Suddenly, she seemingly snapped out of a daydream. “Sorry. Off topic. But yeah, I didn’t know you, so what was I supposed to think? You’re a pretty teenage girl. Sorry the connotations suck.”

Bonnie grinned; Marceline had called her pretty. “You think I’m pretty?”

“You _are_ pretty.” Marceline said. “Work it, girl. Okay, literally forget I just said that. Jesus fucking _Christ_. ‘Work it’? What the fuck is wrong with me?”

“Don’t forget that you just called me ‘girl’. Who are you, LSP?” Bonnie laughed.

“If you ever make that comparison again, I’ll…I’ll do _something_.”

Bonnie smirked. She couldn’t help but love how Marceline suddenly couldn’t think of any empty threats to shoot her way. “You can’t even threaten me anymore. It’s cute.”

“I’m not cute.” Marceline pouted, making her look even cuter, in Bonnie’s opinion. “I’ll probably just glare at you disapprovingly if you ever compare me to her again.”

“Glare at me disapprovingly.” Bonnie repeated. “Wow. I’m shaking in my boots.”

“You’re not wearing boots.”

Bonnie looked down to her pink Converse. “Don’t be a smart ass.”

“Did you just say ass?” Marceline frowned, and then her red eyes widened in fright. “Okay, who the _fuck_ are you and what have you done with Bonnie?”

“Very funny.”

“I’m serious.” Marceline continued. “If you don’t tell me where she is I’ll beat you up until you do, you _alien_ _imposter_!”

Bonnie laughed, gently hitting Marceline’s upper arm. “Shut up, you. I swear I’m not an alien imposter.”

“You’d better not be.” Marceline stated. “Because I honestly _cannot_ be bothered to go through time and space to rescue you.”

“Really? You’d just let aliens _kidnap_ me? Thanks, Marceline.” Bonnie chuckled.

“Well, let’s face it,” Marceline began. “You’d enjoy it. You’d be all like ‘science!’ and you’d probably become best friends with your alien captors and talk about a bunch of science stuff.”

Bonnie considered Marceline’s point. “True. I guess you’d be doing me a favour and letting me fly around in outer space. You never know, I might meet Luke Skywalker or something.”

Marceline was silent for a second, before smiling. “Maybe I’d join you for a little bit.”

“Thought so.” Bonnie smiled, sipping on her Frappuccino.

* * *

 

When Marceline dropped Bonnie off at home, Marceline didn’t even bother asking for a hug and just grabbed Bonnie before she left and hugged her tight. “This is compulsory, okay? You have to hug me when you leave.”

Bonnie laughed, wrapping her arms around Marceline’s skinny waist. “You know, I never would’ve thought you were such a hugger.”

“I like cuddles. Judge me.” Marceline shrugged, giving Bonnie one last squeeze before letting go. “Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow. Study for the History test, okay?” Bonnie said as she climbed out of the car.

Marceline laughed. “Yeah, _okay_.”

“Seriously! You need to get good grades.” Bonnie exclaimed.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll see you at school.”

“Yeah, bye.” Bonnie shot Marceline one last smile before shutting the car door and walking up her driveway. She’d just unlocked the front door when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She unlocked it, laughing out loud at the message as she walked into her house and shut the door.

_**Marceline (4:15PM): c u l8r gurl** _

_**Marceline (4:15PM): that was sarcastic if you didn’t get that** _

_**Bonnibel (4:16PM): Yeah, I realised. I’d be slightly worried if you sent that text in seriousness.** _

_**Marceline (4:16PM): wot gurl I always txt lyk dis wat u talkin about** _

Bonnibel laughed again, her Mom frowning at her from the top of the stairs. “Who’re you texting?”

“Marceline. She’s being a dork.” Bonnie smiled down at her phone, before texting back.

_**Bonnie (4:17PM): I couldn’t even understand half of that. I loved the different variations of ‘what’.** _

_**Marceline (4:18PM): good I pride myself on my wide vocabulary** _

_**Marceline (4:18PM): I would be worried if you could understand that to be honest** _

_**Bonnibel (4:19PM): I’m worried for anyone who can understand that.** _

_**Bonnie (4:19PM): Now stop texting, I don’t want you to crash your car or anything.** _

_**Marceline (4:21PM): not gonna crash my car** _

_**Bonnie (4:21PM): Well, I worry. Please stop texting because I don’t want to get a message saying you died in a car crash or something. I care about you. :)** _

_**Marceline (4:22PM): dammit you’re too nice** _

_**Marceline (4:22PM): I care about you too by the way :)** _

_**Bonnie (4:22PM): Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.** _

_**Marceline (4:24PM): yeah, see you then** _

Bonnie smiled, locking her phone and heading upstairs, passing by her Mom. “What were you guys talking about?”

“Oh, she was just typing funny to make me laugh.” Bonnie said. “It was a joke.”

She left before her Mom could question her any more about her texts with Marceline, and sat down on her bed, pulling out a book. She opened it on the page that was bookmarked, and read as much as she could, although she couldn’t help but be distracted at how happy she was. Marceline was actually opening up around her and being herself.

In all honesty, Bonnie was overjoyed. She just hoped nothing would screw this up.

* * *

 

** Saturday 15th March 2014 **

When Bonnie arrived at Marceline’s, there were a few cars in the drive and pulled up outside, and Bonnie knew that Marceline’s band practice was still going on. She wasn’t sure if she should just go back home and wait and hour or so, but she couldn’t be bothered to walk back to her house, so she just knocked on the door.

Keila was the one who opened it, shooting her the biggest grin imaginable. “Hey! I didn’t know you were coming. Marmalade didn’t say anything.”

“Is the rest of your band here?” Bonnie asked. She knew she probably should say hello, but honestly, she was rather scared to meet Marceline’s bandmates.

“Yeah, they’re upstairs.” Keila said, seeming to sense Bonnie’s nerves. “Don’t be worried. Guy and Bongo are cool. Guy might hit on you, but Bongo’s pretty quiet.”

“Should I just walk into the room and announce I like girls, then?” Bonnie asked, but then her eyes widened when she realised that she just came out unintentionally. Being out around Marceline had made her feel way too comfortable.

“Actually, that might be a good plan.” Keila smiled, grabbing Bonnie’s hand and pulling her up the stairs. “He’ll back off once you tell him you’re not interested.”

Bonnie smiled. Obviously, Keila didn’t seem to care that Bonnie liked girls. “Well, I’m not.”

Keila pulled her into Marceline’s room and then went to sit back on the bed. She grabbed the guitar in Marceline’s hands. “Give me my baby back.”

“You literally threw it at me and ran away when the doorbell rang.” Marceline stated, passing it back to the always optimistic older girl. “Don’t act like I stole it. Hey, Bonnie.”

Bonnibel smiled, sitting next to Marceline on the bed and hugging her. “Hey. How are you?”

Marceline shrugged. “I’m fine. You?”

“Happy.” Bonnie smiled. “I always try to be as optimistic as possible.”

Marceline looked from Bonnie to Keila. She saw a correlation between the two of them. “Okay, have you guys been hanging out behind my back or something?”

Keila frowned. “No?”

“You two are oddly alike.” Marceline frowned. “It’s creeping me out a little.”

Bonnie laughed. “How are we alike?”

“Well, you’re both _weirdly_ happy all the time, you’re both smart as hell, you’re both my friends -,” Keila cut Marceline off with a small clearing of her throat. Marceline rolled her eyes. “Keila, you know you’re my _best_ friend.”

“I know, I just like hearing you say it.” Keila smiled. “Continue.”

Marceline shot Bonnie and exasperated look, before continuing. “I don’t know, guys. You’re just alike and it’s creeping me out. Maybe I just have a weird choice in friends or something.”

“Dude,” The guy with the shaggy, sandy hair who was absently tapping the keys on a keyboard spoke up. Bonnie recognised him. “I am _not_ like Keila.”

Keila scoffed. “Yeah, I’m better.”

“You both act like you’re five.” Marceline replied.

“So do you!” Keila exclaimed.

“Did I say that was a bad thing?” Marceline chuckled. “No. I’m just pointing out similarities.”

The boy rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying, I’m nothing like her.”

“Guy, shut the fuck up.” Keila huffed. “Stop being childish. We have company.”

Guy’s eyes landed on Bonnie then, and she couldn’t help but shuffle a little closer to Marceline. Bonnie couldn’t help but gaze at the rather intimidating lip ring he was wearing. “Well, hey there. How’s about you and me ditch these losers and -,”

“You’re _literally_ the biggest douchebag on the planet.” Keila sighed and sat back on the bed on Marceline’s other side, plucking the strings on her guitar. “She’s not interested.”

“Oh, can you read her fucking mind?” Guy rolled his eyes. “Seriously. Who _isn’t_ interested in me?”

“Every female on the planet.” Marceline muttered.

Keila tried to hold back her laughter, but couldn’t. “That was good, Marmalade.”

“Thanks.” Marceline smirked, before wrapping an arm around Bonnie’s shoulder. “Besides, she’s my girlfriend, dude. Back the fuck off.”

Bonnie blushed scarlet at the thought, but she wasn’t planning on objecting. If it would make Marceline’s friend back off, Bonnie was happy to go along with it. “Yeah.”

Guy sighed. “Dammit. Why are the hot ones always taken?”

Bonnie blushed even harder at that. Marceline glared at him. “Dude! Seriously, back the fuck off.”

Guy held his hands up in defence. “Sorry. Jeez.”

Marceline rolled her eyes, before turning to Bonnie and nodding towards Guy. “In case you didn’t realise, that douche is Guy, and the quiet guy sitting in the corner being antisocial as _fuck_ is Bongo.”

Bonnie looked over at Bongo. He was pale, with a curly mop of black hair and incredibly toned biceps. Bonnie was sure he could probably snap her in half. However, the smile she was receiving from him told her he probably wouldn’t do that. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Bonnie said. “I’m Bonnibel.”

He nodded and went back to whatever he was doing on his phone. Bonnie guessed he wasn’t a talker. Marceline then captured Bonnie’s attention as she took her arm from around her and started playing a relaxing sequence of notes on her bass. Bonnie rested her head on Marceline’s shoulder. “That’s nice.”

“Thanks.”

“What song is it?” Bonnie asked.

“It’s not really a song. I’m just playing whatever comes to mind.” Marceline shrugged.

Bonnie was incredibly impressed. She could never make music that nice if she put her full focus into it; Marceline was just plucking anything and somehow it came together beautifully. “How do you do stuff like that?”

“I’m just playing scales; notes that naturally work with one another.” Marceline said. “You just put them in a random order and then you’ve got a riff or a solo. Usually we come up with songs by just messing around and playing whatever sounds right.”

Bonnie smiled. “That’s really cool.”

“Thanks.” Marceline said, squeezing Bonnie’s hand. In a hushed voice, she added, “Sorry I told him we were dating. I figured you wanted him to back off but it was the first thing that came to mind.”

“Hey, I don’t mind.” Bonnie held her hands up in defence. “Not that I like you like that, or anything, I just -,”

“ _Bonnie_ , I know. Just because you’re gay doesn’t mean you like every girl you see.” Marceline cut in. “I know that. You don’t need to reaffirm that you don’t like me romantically every time you hug me or something.”

Bonnie hugged Marceline. “Thanks. You’re the greatest.”

“I wouldn’t say that, but -,” Bonnie shot her a stern look, and she sighed. “Fine, I guess I’m the greatest.”

“Damn right you are.” Bonnie grinned.

* * *

 

Marceline’s bandmates slowly dispersed within the next half hour, until it was just Marceline and Keila left keeping Bonnie company; Marshall had gone out with Guy and Bongo.

Keila was sat absent-mindedly strumming a chord sequence on guitar, and Bonnibel was watching as Marceline played along with it on one of her electric guitars, plucking singular notes. She was fascinated by how they both seemed so synchronised. They were listening to each chord change the other made, and Bonnie was very relaxed listening to the calming music.

Suddenly, Keila switched the chord sequence, and Marceline frowned and stopped playing. “Hey. What song is that? I recognise it.”

“Stay Awake by All Time Low.”

“Play the chorus again,” Marceline said.

When Keila restarted the chord sequence, Marceline began singing along, and Bonnie was suddenly paying full attention to every single sound. She’d only ever heard Marceline sing through doors and over the top of her favourite songs, and now she was getting the real thing.

 _“Stay awake, get a grip and get out your safe,_  
From the weight of the world just take,  
A second to set things straight,”

Bonnie was mesmerised. She genuinely thought Marceline was better than most singers nowadays, and she just wanted to sit here and listen to Marceline sing for as long as she could. Marceline’s singing voice was as soft as silk, compared to her husky speaking voice.

 _“I’ll be fine,_  
Even though I’m not always right,  
I can count on the sun to shine,  
Dedication takes a lifetime  
And dreams only last for a night.”

“What band was that?” Bonnie found herself asking. She really liked the lyrics, and she knew it’d remind her of this moment whenever she listened to it.

“All Time Low.” Keila said.

“The song’s called Stay Awake. They did an acoustic version, if that makes you like it even more.” Marceline added.

“It does.” Bonnie smiled. “You know me well, Marcy.”

Keila smiled. “Anyways, I’m going to leave you two to bond. I’ll see you later, Marmalade.”

Bonnie watched as Keila hugged Marceline tightly, before making her way out of the room and downstairs. Marceline then turned to Bonnie and smiled. “Sorry it took them like, ten years to leave. Anyways, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.” Bonnie shrugged. She honestly didn’t mind what they did, as long as it was fun.

“You don’t know? Bonnie, you’re the one who wanted a fucking sleepover in the first place.” Marceline laughed. “You have to have _some_ idea.”

“I don’t have ideas! I’m new to this whole friend thing.” Bonnibel reminded her. “No friends in New York, remember?”

“You think I’m _not_ new to this whole making friends thing?” Marceline shot back. “Dude, the last friend I made was Guy and we hated each other for like a month until we made friends.”

“That’s like us, then.” Bonnie replied.

“I didn’t hate you!” Marceline exclaimed. “I’d _never_ hate you. You didn’t hate _me_ , did you?”

Bonnie was honestly shocked by the genuine look of fear on Marceline’s face. “Of course I didn’t hate you. I mean, I thought you were scary, but everyone does, so…yeah. I don’t think you’re scary now, though. You’re basically a giant teddy bear.”

Marceline frowned, although Bonnie could see the relief washing over her. “I’m not. I’m tough.”

“Fine, you’re a giant, _tough_ teddy bear.” Bonnie corrected her previous statement with a smirk, expecting Marceline to object. She didn’t.

“Damn straight I’m a tough teddy bear.”

Bonnie smiled. “You agree you’re a big cuddly idiot, then?”

Marceline rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t hide the light hearted smile on her face. “Yes, but if you tell _anyone_ I’ll bop you on the nose for gossiping.”

“You’ll ‘bop’ me?” Bonnie laughed. Marceline’s threats had gone from actually scary to downright adorable.

Marceline bit down on her lip and sighed, pulling her phone from her pocket. “Leave me alone.”

Bonnie smiled as she watched over Marceline. The taller girl was checking her reflection in her phone screen and fixing her hair up, and Bonnie couldn’t help but notice how she stuck her tongue out in concentration. “It’s not my fault your threats are ridiculous. You might as well offer to shower me in bunnies and rainbows. You’re losing your touch, Abadeer.”

“Hey! I thought you _wanted_ me to be nice to you. I can bring the bitch mode back if you’re into it.” Marceline offered.

Bonnie chuckled. “No, thanks. I like my teddy bear how she is.”

“You are _not_ calling me teddy bear. I won’t allow it.” Marceline crossed her arms and shook her head. “No way in hell, Bonnie.”

“You told me to think of a creative nickname.” Bonnie shrugged innocently. “I’m just doing what you asked of me.”

“If you call me that, I’ll bring back princess.”

Bonnie huffed. She _really_ didn’t like that nickname; even though it wasn’t offensive or anything, it reminded Bonnie of when Marceline disliked her. “Fine.”

“Thank you.” Marceline smiled, and Bonnie couldn’t help but smile back. It was just natural; whenever Marceline smiled, Bonnie did. “I still want you to think of a good nickname, though.”

“Does it have to be approved by you?”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded. “I’m not going to let you call me anything that could ruin my rep.”

“What rep?”

Marceline laughed. “I honestly have no idea. I don’t really have a rep, do I?”

“Not really.” Bonnie said. “Unless the whole ‘fear me’ thing counts.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever said the phrase ‘fear me’ in seriousness in my life.” Marceline chuckled. “Can I just ask you something? How come that never fooled you?”

“The whole scary thing?” Bonnie asked. Marceline nodded. “I don’t know. Mostly it was just guesswork. I just hoped that you wouldn’t actually kick my teeth in if I kept on annoying you. At one point you _almost_ had me believe the act, but then you apologised like the little softie you are -,”

“I’m _not_ a softie.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bonnie didn’t believe that last statement for a second. “But you apologised and I realised you were actually really sweet even though you decided to hide it, and I guess after that I just kept annoying you until you realised you’re stuck with me.”

Marceline put an arm around Bonnibel. “I like being stuck with you.”

Bonnibel beamed. “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve said to me.”

“Don’t make it weird.” Marceline rolled her eyes, but couldn’t fight back a small grin.

“Marceline? Why _do_ you cut people out and pretend to be much scarier than you actually are?”

“Socks.”

“Yeah. I figured.” Bonnie sighed. She really wanted Marceline to open up to her, but she knew that probably wouldn’t happen for a little while.

Marceline could tell Bonnie was a little disheartened, and decided to brighten up the conversation and cheer Bonnie up. “So…seen any cute girls?”

Bonnie burst out laughing. That was the _last_ topic she’d ever expected Marceline to lead her onto. She laughed so hard she was eventually fighting for breath. “Oh my God!” She managed to splutter out.

Marceline smiled. Her plan to cheer Bonnie up had worked. “What? Is it wrong to know what’s going on in my friend’s love life?”

“It’s just…really out of character. I just never would’ve expected you to ask that.” Bonnie was still chuckling to herself a little. “But no, I haven’t seen any cute girls yet. None that I would date, anyways.”

Marceline shrugged. “Well, if you do…talk to me about it. I’m okay with advice for someone whose life is so horribly fucked up and unorganised.”

“Your life isn’t screwed up.” Bonnie said.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Bonnie.” Marceline replied. “And a lot you don’t _want_ to know about me.”

“I do want to know.”

“You don’t. Trust me.”

“I do.” Bonnie confirmed. “Can I ask you five questions? You can ‘socks’ them if you want, but I want to know some things about you.”

“Fine, I guess.”

“1) Why don’t you live with your Dad when he’s still around?” Bonnie asked.

“He’s a giant douche.”

“2) Why are your eyes red?”

“I literally have no idea. You’re the scientist, Bonnie. You figure it out.”

“3) Why did you stop being sociable and nice to people?”

“Because people are assholes.”

“4) Why do you still sleep with Hambo?”

“He stops me from getting nightmares.”

“5) What are those nightmares about?”

“My Mom.”

Bonnie frowned. Surely Marceline didn’t get nightmares about her Mom? What could trigger that sort of thing? “Oh. Okay.”

“Yeah.” Marceline scratched the back of her neck. “Satisfied?”

“Yes. For now.” Bonnie replied.

After a long silence, Marceline finally spoke up. “I’m going to go get my Star Wars DVDs. We didn’t finish the original trilogy. We got like, halfway through the Empire Strikes Back.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Bonnie smiled.

* * *

 

They didn’t really end up playing much attention to the movies. Bonnie spent her time plucking strings on Marceline’s ukulele and poking her until she finally decided to stop watching the TV and teach Bonnie something on it.

“Just teach me some chords.” Bonnie insisted. “You _did_ say that you would.”

Marceline sighed and stood up, going into her closet and pulling out another black ukulele and passing that one to Bonnie. “Here, you get this one.”

“What’s the difference?” Bonnie asked as she passed Marceline the ukulele she was holding.

“The one I’m giving you is cheaper.” Marceline shrugged. “So if you break it, I won’t really care.”

Bonnie smiled, taking the ukulele from Marceline and plucking an open string. “Okay. Grace me with your musical knowledge.”

“Well…” Marceline thought for a second, before putting her ukulele down on the bed and shifting to sit behind Bonnibel. “Are you right or left handed?”

“Right handed.”

“Okay.” Marceline grabbed Bonnie’s left hand and put it to the frets. She positioned Bonnie’s fingers above certain places on strings, so eventually her hand was in the shape of a G chord. “Alright, press down on the strings. You’ll have to press pretty hard, but it should sound something like this,” Marceline picked up her own ukulele and played the chord with ease.

Bonnie nodded and mimicked Marceline, but it didn’t come out very well. Marceline cringed, and for a second, Bonnie was disheartened, until Marceline spoke up. “Yep, that’s out of tune. Give it.”

Bonnie passed over the ukulele and Marceline plucked each individual string and twiddled the knobs on the top of the instrument until she was satisfied. She strummed them all together and nodded, passing it back to Bonnie. “Okay. Just put your fingers like I showed you and then play. It should be in tune now.”

“You just tuned that by ear?” Bonnie asked, amazed as she repositioned her fingers.

“Yeah. It’s pretty easy to do once you’ve been – no, that finger goes _there_ ,” Marceline paused as she put Bonnie’s fingers in the right place on the strings. “Yeah. Tuning by ear gets easy once you’ve been playing for a while. You just get used to how it should sound.”

“That’s really amazing.” Bonnibel smiled. “Seriously. You’re _really_ talented, Marceline.”

Marceline bit down on her lip and looked anywhere but Bonnie. “Thanks, I guess.”

Bonnie pressed her fingers down on the strings of the ukulele and strummed the chord. One of the notes didn’t come out properly – Bonnie hadn’t been holding it down hard enough, but overall, Marceline was quite impressed. “I told you that you weren’t tone-deaf.”

“Maybe you’re just a miracle worker.” Bonnie shot back, strumming the chord again. “What chord is this, again?”

“G.” Marceline said. “Actually, the chord shape you’re using now is the same shape as a D on guitar. You don’t care about that stuff, though.”

“No, I do! I find it quite interesting; you know, the mathematics of it all, the theory. Like, why is this shape a D on guitar but a G on ukulele?” Bonnie asked.

“You _really_ want to know all that junk?” Marceline frowned. “Huh. When I was learning it all as a kid, I just wanted to get it over and done with so I could get onto the actual playing. It used to bore me a lot, but it’s useful to know, I guess.”

“Because it makes you a better musician?” Bonnie questioned.

“Interestingly, no.” Marceline said. “I mean, Marshall has no fucking clue what he’s doing most of the time, and he’s pretty good at guitar. It _does_ make it easier to learn other instruments, though, because you can transfer most of it over and stuff.”

“Does Marshall play anything other than guitar?”

“Not really. He plays a little bit of bass, but that’s pretty much it.” Marceline said. “Anyways, yeah. Back to playing.”

“You never answered my question.” Bonnie pointed out. She actually was interested to know the answer to it, as dorky as that was. “About the chord shapes.”

“Oh. It’s literally just the way the notes are arranged. Because on guitar, the string order is EADGBe, and ukulele is GCAD. So the notes are in different places. That’s all.” Marceline replied. “Pretty simple, really.”

Bonnie played the chord again, although she had to check the positions of her fingers with Marceline. “Like this?”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah. You pick stuff up fast.”

“Thanks.” Bonnie smiled, as another question hit her. “Marceline?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you read music?” Bonnie asked. It had always amazed her how people could read music; it was almost like another language made up entirely of symbols.

“Can you breathe?” Marceline shot back, before she laughed. “Yeah, I can.”

“Was that hard to learn?” Bonnie asked.

“At first, but once you’ve got the basics down it gets pretty easy.” Marceline replied. She thought back to when she was younger and how she always used to complain to her Mom about reading sheet music and how she wanted to just play.

“I don’t get how you can call all these things _easy_.” Bonnie said. “It all seems so complicated to me.”

“Well, think of it this way; you can understand chemical equations and rules of physics and everything – I can’t do that.” Marceline said. “To you, that’s easy. To me, it’s like lifting a billion-tonne weight.”

“Oh.” Bonnie replied. “Because you’ve been doing it your whole life?”

“Yeah, pretty much. I just _get_ it.” Marceline explained. “Like, how it’s just second nature to you to be a badass scientist.”

“I wouldn’t call myself badass.” Bonnie chuckled. “But thank you for the compliment. Now teach me another chord!”

* * *

 

Marceline taught Bonnie 4 chords; G, B, C and D, and by the end of the day, she could play a sequence of them in any order Marceline gave her, although she sometimes struggled holding her fingers down on the strings for long periods of time and occasionally got mixed up. Bonnie was honestly quite amazed; Marceline had managed to teach _her_ – the most tone deaf person on the planet – a musical instrument.

When Bonnie announced her gratitude, Marceline laughed. “Dude, you _can’t_ be tone deaf if you managed to pick that up so quickly. I mean, your level of intelligence probably helped, but _Marshall_ plays guitar and his IQ isn’t exactly the highest. You’ve got to have _some_ musical talent in there somewhere.”

“Thanks for the inspirational pep-talk, Marcy.”

“Any time.”

 

Marceline put the instruments away and straightened up her room a little, while Bonnie was in the bathroom getting changed. She quickly changed herself, trading her skinny jeans for sweatpants and her t-shirt for a softer, baggier one from – shockingly – almost 4 years ago. Then, she sat on her bed and strummed one of her favourite guitars – her black Fender acoustic, and waited patiently for Bonnie to return.

She was actually quite surprised by how much fun she had when she was hanging out with Bonnie. Honestly, when she first met Bonnibel, she didn’t think they’d ever talk, and she was fine with that. At first, at least. Then, Bonnie had started talking to Marshall and _then_ started talking to her, and Marceline wanted nothing more than to keep her at arm’s length.

But then she realised what Bonnie was _really_ like, and Marceline made the idiotic decision to open up to her.

So far, everything had been going good, but Marceline couldn’t deny that she was _terrified_ of something ruining that, whether it be Bonnie’s stupid friends or Marceline fucking up. The only time she didn’t worry about that was when she was with Bonnie. They just had so much fun when they hung out, and Bonnie seemed to help her forget most of the things she was constantly thinking about.

Overall, Marceline was happy she took the risk and made friends with Bonnie. Things like that were never easy for her.

Bonnie arrived in the room dressed unsurprisingly in pink pyjamas, and sat down on the bed next to Marceline. She took one look at Marceline's attire and frowned. “No, I have something for you!”

“If it’s pink, I’m not wearing it.”

“It’s not pink.” Bonnie promised.

Marceline was surprised when Bonnie passed her the black t-shirt she’d given her that night she took her home from the party. She frowned as Bonnie passed it to her. “Uh…why are you giving this back?”

“Well, it doesn’t smell like you anymore, so I need you to wear it and then get it back to me in the morning.”

Marceline frowned at the shirt and then at Bonnie, although she was relieved that Bonnie wasn’t just giving her the shirt because she didn’t want it anymore. “Wait…why do you want it to smell like me?”

“It’s comforting. Like how you need Hambo to sleep. I like sleeping in that because it reminds me that even though a lot of people have left before, I’m pretty confident that you won’t.” Bonnie explained. “I know it’s pretty nerdy, but -,”

“Hey.” Marceline cut her off. “It’s not nerdy. I get it.” Bonnie saw her gaze flick down to the stuffed toy in her arms.

In all honesty, Marceline felt like spilling everything then and there. Everything about her past, confiding in Bonnie about every single thing that had happened to her, all because of that one statement.

“ _Even though a lot of people have left before_ ,”

Bonnie knew what it was like, too. That thought comforted Marceline a lot.

Her train of thought was cut off when Bonnie spoke up. “So, what’re we going to do now?”

“I don’t know. We can play video games or something?” Marceline offered, deciding that she probably shouldn’t tell Bonnie about everything just yet. She needed time.

Bonnie shook her head. “No. You’re scary when we play video games. _And_ you cheat.”

“I do _not_ cheat!” Marceline exclaimed. “I just…change the odds a little bit.”

“By cheating.” Bonnie finished.

Marceline just glared at her. “I stand by my statement that I’m not a cheater. I just know how to _subtly_ move things to my advantage.”

“Subtly? You mean by stealing my controller and throwing it around the room?”

“I…yeah.” Marceline nodded. “I really need to look up the definition of subtlety, don’t I?”

“A little bit, yeah.” Bonnie smiled “Can we just…listen to music and talk?”

“Sure. I’ll put my chilled playlist on.” Marceline fiddled about with her phone for a second, scrolling through her music library. She opened up her playlists and clicked on one labelled ‘sleep’, and set it to shuffle the songs. Then she set her phone on her bedside table and got herself comfortable, before turning to Bonnie. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Anything, to be honest.” Bonnie said. “You. Life. Other things.”

“Me?” Marceline raised an eyebrow. “What sort of stuff?”

“Anything. Like…why did you get into music?”

“I got into music because I grew up with it. I mean, my Mom was a musician, and we used to listen to music all the time. She’d play me her violin and almost every time I wouldn’t stop asking her to teach me.” Bonnie saw a sad smile appear on Marceline’s face. “On my fifth birthday, she took me down to the local music store and bought me my first violin. I was _so_ happy. It was the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

Bonnie smiled, but felt her heart aching at the tears in Marceline’s eyes. “That’s cute.”

“I guess.” Marceline muttered, wiping her eyes. “Anyways, yeah…when did – uh…when did you get into science?”

“Well, you know how little kids are always asking ‘why’ about everything?” Bonnie asked, trying not to think about how upset Marceline seemed. Marceline nodded. “I guess I just never stopped. I’ve always liked science. I like knowing how the world works and how smaller things within it work. Being in the know is always something I’ve liked.”

“Cool.”

Bonnie noticed Marceline was still a little down, and she really didn’t want to upset her any further, so she decided to change the subject. “What band are we listening to right now? I like the song.”

Bonnie hadn’t been paying _any_ attention whatsoever to the song, but it was the only excuse she could think of. Marceline frowned for a second, before responding. “I Hope You Know by Plug In Stereo.”

Now that Bonnie was actually listening to the song, she realised she quite liked it. “Okay, thanks.”

“I like how you’re suddenly asking me about bands. I’m turning you into a groupie.” Marceline chuckled.

Bonnie was happy Marceline seemed to be cheering up. “The only band I’d ever be a groupie of is probably yours, and I haven’t even listened to any of your songs.”

“We suck.”

“I bet you don’t.” Bonnie said. “From what I’ve heard of you and Keila playing together, I assume you’re really good, and I want to listen to you play sometime. Okay?”

“I’ll play for you soon, I promise.”

“Okay.”

“It’ll be a one-off acoustic performance just for you.” Marceline stated. “I’ll try not to suck.”

“I’ll hit you if you say you suck again.” Bonnie threatened, although they both knew she wouldn’t ever do anything like that.

“Whoa, chill. No need to beat me up, Bonnie. Jeez, you’re so violent.” Marceline teased. “You shouldn’t threaten people.”

“And that’s coming from _you_?” Bonnie exclaimed. “You threaten everyone!”

“Only if they talk to me.” Marceline held her hands up in defence. “And it’s not like I’d ever follow through on said threats.”

“That doesn’t make it any better.” Bonnie laughed. “I’m just glad you don’t threaten _me_ anymore.”

Marceline smiled and pulled her in for a hug. “You know I like you.”

“I do.” Bonnie grinned. “And I like you too.”

They got under the covers of Marceline’s bed, and Bonnie suggested they play sleepover games. Typically, Marceline rolled her eyes, but she went along with it and gave a few options for them to choose from.

“Fuck, Marry, Kill; Truth or Dare…uh…we could always get drunk and play Never Have I Ever.”

“I think we’ll stick to the ones that don’t involve alcohol.” Bonnie smiled.

“Truth or Dare is pretty boring with just two people, so I guess we could play Fuck, Marry, Kill.” Marceline said, mostly to herself. “You know the rules?”

“No. As you probably guessed, I wasn’t really invited to any sleepovers back in New York due to my…preferences.” Bonnie said.

“I’m super close to driving to New York and hitting the people you used to be friends with.”

Bonnie chuckled. “Actually, I wouldn’t have a problem if you did, but I’d rather have you here with me.”

“You’re cute.” Marceline smiled. Bonnie blushed and tried to ignore the little butterflies in her stomach, mentally scolding herself. “Anyway, the rules of the game are where you list 3 people and you have to choose which you fuck, kill or marry. It’s pretty simple.”

Bonnie frowned. “I only have one problem.”

“What’s that?” Marceline asked.

“I’m asexual.”

“That’s cool, we’ll just change it to kiss, marry, kill.”

“Wait…you know what asexuality is?” Bonnie was quite shocked by this. Most people usually asked her to explain when she told them that.

“Do I look like an idiot?” Marceline raised an eyebrow. “Of course I know what it is.”

Bonnie smiled; Marceline always made her feel accepted no matter what. She decided to test the limits of Marceline’s acceptance. “Hey, Marceline? I killed a guy today, do you know how to hide a body?”

“You killed someone and didn’t call me to help? _Bonnie_ , that’s so rude.”

Bonnie couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Marceline joined in; Bonnie’s laughter was infectious. Once they’d sobered up, Marceline turned to Bonnie. “You didn’t _actually_ kill anyone, right?”

“Nope.”

“Alright.” Marceline shuffled further under the covers to warm herself up. Bonnie felt her grab her hand from under the covers, and she felt the rough, calloused pads of Marceline’s fingers gently tracing patterns on her skin. “Fuck the game. I’m going to go to sleep. I’m pretty tired.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in the morning.” Bonnie smiled.

“Yeah, see you in the morning.” Bonnie shuffled over to give Marceline a quick hug, which the other girl returned. When Bonnie was over on her side of the bed, Marceline gave her hand one last squeeze before letting go. “Night.”

“Goodnight.”

Bonnie wasn’t sure how long it took her to fall asleep, but she was comforted to be surrounded by Marceline’s scent.

* * *

 

Bonnie was shaken awake by Simon. Marceline wasn’t in the bed next to her as she was last night, and Bonnie could tell by the look on Simon’s face that something was off about him. She just couldn’t tell what, but judging by the tears in his eyes, it couldn’t be good.

Bonnie looked around the room; everything in Marceline’s room was different. It was disorganised, for one thing, and it honestly looked as though someone had gone and jumped on everything and thrown things around.

Simon finally spoke up. “Bonnibel, it’s urgent.”

Bonnie frowned, sitting up. “What’s urgent? What’s happened? Where’s Marceline?”

“Marceline is dead. She committed suicide.”

Bonnie felt as though someone had stabbed her in the chest. She couldn’t think, her body was frozen, and the only thought running through her mind was that Simon was just lying to scare her. This was just a prank. Marceline couldn’t be dead. No. There was no _way_.

The next thing Bonnie knew was that she was screaming her lungs out.

Almost immediately, a pair of strong arms was around her. “Hey, hey! Bonnie! You’re okay. You were just dreaming.”

Bonnie looked up, and her gaze met Marceline’s. Bonnie felt relief wash over her like a tidal wave as she took in her surroundings. She was in Marceline’s room, snuggled under the soft bed sheets. Everything was in its usual place. She couldn’t hold back a smile, and she immediately jumped up and hugged Marceline as tight as she could. “Oh, God! You’re okay!”

“Me?” Marceline’s voice was muffled in Bonnie’s shoulder. “You’re the one that had the nightmare, Bonnie.”

“You were dead.” Bonnie mumbled. “In my nightmare, I mean. I’m just so _relieved_ you’re alright.”

Marceline chuckled. “You had a dream that I was dead and woke up _screaming_? Man, Bonnie.”

“It just felt so real.” Bonnie murmured. “It was horrible.”

Marceline laughed. “Well, you don’t need to worry. I’m not going anywhere any time soon.”

Bonnie nodded, finally letting go of Marceline, who rolled over onto her back and pulled the sheets up to her chin. Bonnie rested her head back on the pillow. “I can’t describe how relieved I am.”

Marceline thought for a moment, before pressing Hambo into Bonnie’s arms. “He helps, I swear.”

Bonnie looked down to the worn plush toy in her arms and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Thanks, Marcy. He smells like you.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“A very good thing, trust me.” Bonnie smiled, before passing Hambo back to Marceline. “Here. You need him more than I do.”

Bonnie saw a warm smile creep its way onto Marceline’s face. “I guess. Are you okay?”

Bonnie nodded. She thought it was sweet that Marceline checked to see if she was okay after the horrible dream. “Yeah. I think so.”

“Okay,” Marceline replied. “Am I good to go back to sleep now? It’s like, 3AM.”

Bonnie nodded. “Yeah. Sorry for waking you up.”

“Hey, don’t apologise.” Marceline looked at her with a stern expression. “It’s fine. You were scared.”

Bonnie sighed. “I just…I feel bad for interrupting your sleep. I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologising.” Marceline groaned as she rolled back over to her side of the bed and turned away from Bonnie.

“Okay.” Bonnie murmured. She bit down on her lip and couldn’t stop what she blurted out next. “Sorry.”

“If you apologise one more time I’ll…stare at you disapprovingly.” Marceline said, her voice muffled from the duvet.

“Intimidating threat there, Marceline.” Bonnie teased, although she was still feeling a little bit upset from her dream.

Marceline merely hummed in response, and Bonnie attempted to get comfortable again, resting her head on the pillow and trying to fall back to sleep. She couldn’t. The dream had shocked her too much for her to be able to get back to sleep.

Bonnie looked over to Marceline, who seemed to be almost asleep again. She wordlessly shuffled over and cuddled up to Marceline, not expecting her to comment. “Uh, what are you doing?”

Bonnibel jumped in surprise and shuffled back to her side of the bed, aware of how red her cheeks probably were. “I…uh…my dream is still freaking me out a little…sorry.”

“What did I tell you about apologising?” Marceline turned over and shot Bonnie a disapproving look.

Bonnie blushed. “Sorry.”

“I’ll hit you if you don’t stop saying sorry.”

“We both know you won’t really do that.”

Marceline shrugged, a serious expression on her face. “I don’t know what to tell you, man. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.” She couldn’t keep the serious look on her face long, and it broke into a smile. “Yeah, you’re right. I won’t. But I’ll…do _something_.”

“Like what?” Bonnie asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe like…hide your book or something.” Marceline suggested.

Bonnie chuckled. “I’m sorry for waking you up again. Go back to sleep.”

“Did you seriously fucking apologise then?” Marceline raised an eyebrow. “Fuck it. I’m going to sleep. Night.”

“Wait.” Bonnie stopped Marceline and held her down so she was laid on her back in the centre of the bed. Then, she cuddled up to her side, burying her head in Marceline’s neck. “Okay, you can sleep now.”

“Um, Bonnie?” Marceline frowned “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Bonnibel felt her stomach drop, but she didn’t tell Marceline that she was upset. Instead, she simply rolled back over to her side of the bed without a word.

“Seriously, man.” Marceline continued. “ _I’m_ little spoon.”

Bonnie frowned in shock and turned around. “Wait, what? You don’t mind me cuddling you?”

“Of course not, dude. You’re all sad and junk from your nightmare.” Marceline said. “But I’m _always_ the little spoon. I don’t care about the situation.”

Bonnie grinned and held out her arms, and Marceline shuffled over to her and allowed Bonnie to hold her. “Thanks, Marcy.”

“It’s fine.” Marceline said. “Now let me sleep, I’m tired.”

Bonnie ran her fingers though Marceline’s soft black hair. “Okay. Goodnight.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright?”

“I’m sure.” Bonnie replied. She wasn’t.

Marceline nodded. “Okay. See you in the morning.”

“Night.”

Bonnie stayed awake long enough for Marceline to fall asleep again. Bonnie just watched Marceline, checking to make sure she was okay. After the terror she’d felt in her dream, she didn’t dare sleep until she was certain Marceline wasn’t going to just die right there.

She held onto Marceline like she would just disappear at any moment, running her fingers through her impossibly soft black hair. She took in Marceline’s comforting scent, and she kept Marceline as close as she possibly could, falling back to sleep with the reassurance that Marceline wasn’t going anywhere and that she was safe.

Bonnie didn’t think she’d been scared by a bad dream and woke up _screaming_ since she was a kid. As she looked down on Marceline who was snuggled up to her, she realised she wouldn’t know what she’d do if Marceline actually did die.

Bonnie planted a subtle kiss on the top of Marceline’s head and then smiled. “I won’t ever let that happen to you. I care about you too much.”

She finally fell asleep comforted by Marceline’s warm body snuggled up next to hers.


	19. nineteen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie is sick and marceline takes care of her.

** Monday 17th March 2014 **

Bonnie woke up in the early hours of the morning and immediately ran to the bathroom, leaning over the toilet and emptying the contents of her stomach. She didn’t know how her parents knew, but they came running in the second after she threw up, her Mom helping her up. Bonnie still felt incredibly sick; her head was spinning, she felt like she was going to puke again and she didn’t think she’d be able to make it back to her bedroom without her Mom’s support.

Before she could process anything else, she collapsed in front of the toilet again and puked.

This went on until 6:30AM, when Bonnie was meant to get up and get herself ready to head out to school; Marceline would be coming to pick her up in two hours. Instead, she was laid in her bed with a plastic bowl for her sick next to her, her complexion paler than ever and even though she was freezing, she was sweating like an alcoholic in church. Bonnie managed to send Marceline a text, although her hands were incredibly shaky, making it hard for her to type.

_**Bonnibel (6:38AM): I won’t be needing a ride to school today.** _

She was surprised when Marceline texted back immediately.

_**Marceline (6:40AM): why not** _

_**Marceline (6:40AM): also thanks for waking me up because I forgot to set an alarm** _

_**Bonnie (6:41AM): No problem, I guess. I’m sick, and my parents aren’t letting me go to school. :(** _

_**Marceline (6:41AM): lucky you** _

_**Bonnibel (6:41AM): What do you mean ‘lucky me’? My attendance will be ruined!** _

_**Marceline (6:42AM): oh my fucking god man you get a day off school and you’re complaining about attendance** _

_**Marceline (6:42AM): you really are queen of the nerds** _

_**Bonnie (6:42AM): Don’t make fun of me, I’m sick! :(** _

_**Marceline (6:42AM): well it better not be something serious because I like you and I don’t want you to go dying on me now** _

Bonnie smiled at the text; she loved how Marceline was concerned.

_**Bonnibel (6:43AM): It’s very likely that I have food poisoning; my parents and I went out for a meal last night and now that I think about it, my food did taste a little funny. I’m sure I’ll be fine.** _

_**Marceline (6:44AM): okay good** _

_**Marceline (6:44AM): crisis over** _

_**Bonnibel (6:45AM): I should be back at school tomorrow, so I’ll see you then. :)** _

_**Marceline (6:45AM): okay** _

Bonnie locked her phone and placed it on her bedside table, snuggling further under her duvet covers. She shivered; nothing was helping her warm up. Her Mom had rung into work and was going to be staying home until lunchtime. Then, Bonnie would be left alone for an hour until her Dad got home. Bonnie really was grateful for her parents staying at home to take care of her; she was comforted that at least they’d always be a constant presence in her life, much like she hoped Marceline and all of her other friends would be.

* * *

 

Bonnibel spent most of her day snuggled under her pink bed sheets watching stupid sitcoms on her TV. She couldn’t be more annoyed; she enjoyed being at school and being productive and learning new things. She _hated_ wasting a day just lying in bed, and she really wished she’d ordered something different at dinner last night – maybe that way she wouldn’t have gotten sick.

Bonnie got out of bed for a little bit on her hour alone and went to go do an experiment, but on her way to get out her lab equipment, she felt sick and had to run to the bathroom to puke again. The rest of the day, she resolved she wouldn’t get out of bed.

It was around 3:45PM when Bonnibel heard her Dad talking to someone downstairs, and then she heard light footsteps coming upstairs. Her bedroom door was pushed open and a figure stepped into view.

“You look like you just came back from the dead.”

Marceline closed Bonnie’s door behind her and took a seat on the edge of Bonnie’s bed. Bonnibel couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious; Marceline always managed to look basically flawless all the time, and Bonnie knew she looked like she just crawled out of a dumpster. “Nice to see you, too.”

“You know I’m just kidding.” Marceline rolled her eyes and pressed a few sheets of paper into Bonnie’s hands. “Here. I got your homework from all your classes today and there’s a letter in there about a History trip to England for a week in June.”

Bonnie couldn’t stop her smile from showing. “You really did all this for me? That’s so sweet, Marcy.”

Marceline just shrugged and looked down to the floor, avoiding Bonnie’s gaze; she really didn’t want Bonnibel to make such a big deal about it. “I don’t know. You were the one complaining about missing school, so I figured you’d want some work to do.”

Bonnie sat up and wrapped her arms around Marceline, cuddling up to her. “Thank you. You’re really great.”

Marceline hugged Bonnie back, although she couldn’t help but notice how warm Bonnie was. That concerned her; she’d always had a bad habit of jumping to the worst case scenario whenever something like this happened to her friends. “You’re burning up, Bonnie. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“It’s cute that you’re worried.” Bonnie chuckled, although inside she was overwhelmed with happiness; it’d been so long since somebody other than her parents had been worried about her. “But I’m sure I’ll be fine. I haven’t thrown up since around 12PM, and I’m feeling a little better.”

Marceline nodded, feeling relieved. “Okay.”

Bonnie laid back down in her bed, and shuffled over, patting the spot next to her. “Sleep with me.”

Marceline frowned, and took the opportunity to tease Bonnie. “You want me to _sleep_ with you? Damn, Bonnie. I mean, I know I’m irresistible and all, but don’t you think that’s moving a little too fast?”

Bonnie blushed, rolling her eyes. “Shut up, you know what I mean. Just lay down.”

Marceline complied, and laid down on her side next to Bonnie. Bonnibel saw Marceline’s eyes flick down to the t-shirt she was wearing. A gentle smile settled itself on Marceline’s face. “I really like seeing you in my clothes.”

“I really like wearing your clothes.” Bonnie played with the hem of the black rock shirt she was wearing, and smiled. She could smell Marceline on it, and that comforted her. “So what did you say about a History trip?”

“Oh, yeah.” Marceline seemingly remembered something and looked through the papers she’d brought Bonnie. Finally, she found the correct one and passed it to Bonnie. “Here.”

Bonnie read over the letter.

_Dear Students,_

_The History Department are planning a trip to England during the final week of school, June 16 th – 20th. The full cost of the trip is $290, which covers travel, accommodation, breakfast and evening meals at the hotel and admissions to planned activities which will be booked in advance. You should also be prepared to bring spending money along with you, as you will need money to cover lunches, admissions to places of interest and other things you may want to purchase along the way. _

_We will depart from the main school parking lot at 11AM on Sunday 15 th June and will be getting a coach to the Minneapolis International Airport, which should take approximately 2 hours. We will be flying out at 1:30PM and should arrive in the UK at around 10PM that night. We will be picked up at the airport by coach which will be our method of transportation throughout the week._

_Hotel rooms are for groups of 3 – 4, and should be organised between yourselves._

_If there are any questions, feel free to ask, and if you are interested in coming on the trip, get a parent/guardian to fill out the permission slip below and hand it in with a deposit of $50 by 31 st March._

Once Bonnie had finished reading, the first thing she did was look up at Marceline and ask her a question. “Are you going?”

“I don’t know.” Marceline said. “Probably not, why?”

“You could share a room with me! We would have so much fun!” Bonnie grinned. She really wanted to go on this trip, and she thought that Marceline would enjoy it too. “Come on, Marcy. _Please_?”

“Uh…I’ll think about it, alright?” Marceline replied. She _did_ want to go, but the thought of sharing a hotel room with people from her class terrified her, especially because of how she needed Hambo to sleep. “I _do_ want to go, though.”

“Then why – wait, no. I get it.” Bonnie said, a soft smile forming on her face. “You don’t want people finding out about Hambo.”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded. That would be her worst nightmare.

“Just share a room with me.” Bonnie suggested. She definitely wouldn’t tell anyone about Hambo; she kept the secret to herself. Besides, she really wanted Marceline to come on the trip with her. “Why miss out on a trip to England for a _week_ just because you’re worried people might find out about Hambo? Think about it, Marceline.”

“I can’t _just_ share with you. It says rooms of 3-4.” Marceline pointed out, nodding down at the letter.

Bonnie sighed, formulating a plan in her mind. She’d decided she was going to help Marceline befriend someone like Lady, and then they would share a room. “We can room with Lady. You don’t mind her and she wouldn’t tell anyone. Please come?”

Marceline sighed. “Alright, fine. I’ll talk to Simon about it.”

Bonnie grinned, cuddling up to Marceline. “Thanks, Marcy. We’ll have fun, I promise.”

“Yeah.” Bonnie saw Marceline smile. “We will. So what have you done all day?”

“I just stayed here and watched TV. It was really boring. I’m so annoyed that I missed school.” Bonnie complained.

“You’re the only teenager on earth who would complain about missing school.” Marceline chuckled. “But if it’s any consolation, school sucked without you.”

Bonnie grinned. That was one of the nicest things Marceline had said to her. “You’re sweet. I wish I could’ve been there to stop you from being bored. In case you didn’t notice, I quite like school.”

“Yeah, didn’t realise.” Marceline rolled her eyes. In her opinion, school was one of the worst possible places to be; she didn’t get why Bonnie liked it so much. “Why do you even _like_ school? It’s boring. I’m never going to need fucking algebra and math in my life.”

“You never know. You might need it.” Bonnie shrugged, although she knew Marceline was probably right. “I like school because I like being productive and learning new things.”

“Nerd.” Marceline teased. “And yeah, I’m _totally_ going to go down to the store and figure out the value of x or the area of a chocolate bar. School should teach us how to like…do grown up things.”

“Grown up things?” Bonnie laughed. “How old are you, five? But I guess I do get what you mean. Most people aren’t going to choose a career path in things like mathematics. Like, the only thing you’re going to take from school in what you want to do is probably English. Music, as well, if you do that.”

Marceline looked up at Bonnie in the middle of chewing one of her fingernails. “Yeah, I do. It’s boring as _fuck_ , though.”

Bonnie was rather surprised by this statement. “I thought it interested you.”

“Yeah, but I already know everything they’re teaching. I don’t even have to show up half of the time.” Marceline said. “I complained to the teacher and she made me take the final early to ‘teach me a lesson’ and I got an A. I just have it as a free period now, but I sometimes turn up to play some music if I get bored.”

Bonnie frowned. “So you’re pretty much skipping class? You can’t do that.”

“Imagine it like this; you know how you’re good at science and stuff? It’s like you taking a science test aimed at five year olds.” Marceline explained.

Bonnie understood. “Okay. Well, hopefully you use the free period to study.”

Marceline laughed, but stopped when she realised Bonnie was being serious. “Uh…yeah. Let’s say that I do.”

“You just sit around listening to music, don’t you?” Bonnie sighed. Sometimes it got on her nerves how little Marceline seemed to care about school.

“I write songs, _actually_.” Marceline corrected, although the sheepish smile told Bonnie her original accusation wasn’t far off. “But sometimes I listen to music and read.”

“Typical.” Bonnie rolled her eyes, and then pulled one hand out of the duvet she was snuggled up in and grabbed hold of Marceline’s. “Your hands are always cold.”

“Yeah, it’s because I’m a vampire, remember?” Marceline joked. She honestly found it hilarious that people would believe something so stupid. “Don’t be species-ist, Bonnie.”

Bonnibel laughed, holding Marceline’s hand between both of hers and rubbing it to warm it up. “Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you and any other vampires who may be listening in.”

Marceline smiled. “You’re such a dork.”

“Right back at you.” Bonnie grinned. “Seriously, though. You’re like, always cold.”

“Maybe because it’s always cold outside.” Marceline shrugged. “And I _did_ just walk here.”

“Fair enough,” Bonnie replied. “Did you come here for any other reason than to give me my homework?”

“Is this you asking me to leave?”

“No!” Bonnie responded, a little too quickly. “I just want to know if you came over for anything else.”

“Well…I figured since you’d been alone all day you might want company.” Marceline said. She definitely _wasn’t_ going to admit that she actually missed Bonnie.

Bonnie’s face broke out into a smile. “Well, I appreciate it. Movie and homemade chicken soup? I think my Mom made enough to feed the entire state.”

Marceline smiled. “Sounds like a solid plan. I’ll go get the soup and you pick a movie.”

Bonnie nodded, and as Marceline stood up to leave the room, she spoke up. “Can you pass me my laptop? We’ll just watch something on there.”

Marceline complied and grabbed Bonnie’s laptop from where it was sat on the desk. She put it on the bed next to Bonnie. “Any other requests or am I good to go?”

“You can go.” Bonnie smiled.

Marceline slipped out of the door, and Bonnie switched on her laptop and waited for it to open to her desktop. She couldn’t help but think about how nice Marceline was being. She remembered back when she was first considering attempting making friends with Marceline, and how she didn’t believe Marshall when he told her Marceline would be the best friend she’d ever have. Now, she understood what he’d been talking about.

Bonnie was glad that Marceline had come over to keep her company; she’d been incredibly bored all day and she really didn’t want to spend the day in bed all by herself.

Bonnie got a movie up on her laptop and put it aside when she heard someone coming up the stairs. Marceline entered the room holding two mugs which were presumably full of Bonnie’s Mom’s homemade chicken soup. Marceline passed one to Bonnie and then sat back on the bed. “I put them in mugs so it’d be easier to drink.” Then, she frowned and looked to Bonnie in confusion. “Eat? Do you drink or eat soup?”

Bonnie laughed. She thought that question was adorable. “Honestly, I have no idea. Probably drink, since it’s a liquid.”

Marceline just shrugged, taking a sip of the soup in her mug. She smiled. “That’s good. Simon always used to make me chicken soup when I got sick as a kid. My Mom did, too.”

Bonnie smiled, although she decided to choose her words carefully, as the sensitive topic of Marceline’s Mom had come up. “Yeah. Where did the idea that it makes you better even come from, anyway?”

Marceline shrugged. “I don’t know, dude. Maybe it actually does.”

“I guess so,” Bonnie replied. “Although it could be a placebo. People _saying_ that it makes you better might make you think it.”

“Please tell me you’re not going to pull out your lab equipment and test the chicken soup.”

Bonnie laughed, although she did think that it might be a good topic for her next experiment. “Don’t worry, I won’t go all mad scientist on you.”

Marceline grinned. “Good. Which movie did you pick?”

Bonnie grabbed her laptop and positioned it on the bed in between her and Marceline. “I decided we should watch the first Harry Potter film, because who _doesn’t_ like Harry Potter?”

“I actually re-read the series a few weeks back.” Marceline absently replied. “Yeah, sure. Let’s watch it. If we have time, we can watch the second one.”

Bonnie nodded, but hesitated to play the film. She looked over at Marceline, who was staring back at her expectantly. Bonnibel smiled sheepishly. “So, I know this sounds dumb, but could you come here?”

Marceline frowned quizzically, but didn’t comment and shuffled closer to Bonnibel. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, just come here.” Bonnie said. “I want a hug.”

Marceline rolled her eyes and shuffled over to Bonnie on the bed, hugging the pink haired girl. “Why didn’t you just ask me that?”

Bonnie reached over Marceline and grabbed her laptop, placing it on her stomach. She grabbed the pillow from the other side of the bed and put it behind her, propping herself up. Then, she pulled Marceline closer to her and sighed in content. “Because now I’ve got you trapped here until the movie finishes.”

She felt Marceline laugh against her. “You could’ve just _asked_ to cuddle me, you know.”

“You would’ve thought I was weird.” Bonnie replied.

“I already think you’re weird.”

“Hey!” Bonnie elbowed Marceline in offence. “You were _supposed_ to comfort me there. Meanie.”

“Damn, Bonnie. I try and be nice to you and I get the fucking elbow of doom to the side. Thanks.” Marceline said, shuffling under the covers next to Bonnie.

Bonnibel laughed. “Okay, first off, ‘nice’? You called me weird! Secondly, ‘elbow of doom’? Really, Marceline?”

“Well, I was trying to make you feel better. You didn’t want me to think you’re weird, but I already do, so no harm done.” Marceline explained. “My point was that if you want something from me, just _ask_ for it. You don’t need to be all sneaky and subtle.”

Bonnie smiled. “Thanks, I guess.”

“No problem. Now shut up, the movie’s on.” Marceline smiled, getting herself comfortable and resting her head on Bonnie’s shoulder.

Bonnie felt comforted with Marceline cuddled up next to her, and spent most of the movie thinking about how long it’d been since she’d done something like this with someone. The last time she’d snuggled and watched movies with someone other than her pillow was back in New York, when she was still friends with – _No, Bonnie_ , she cut her thoughts off, _don’t think about it, you’ll just get upset_. She didn’t want to compare Marceline to _her_ either.

She looked down at the dark haired girl, who was completely engrossed in the movie. Marceline was the complete opposite of what _she_ was. Marceline was the most accepting, understanding people Bonnie had ever met, and she didn’t think she’d ever stop being grateful for that. She knew she could trust Marceline with anything; with her other friends, she wasn’t so sure. “Hey, Marceline?”

“Mhm?”

“I accidentally came out to Keila the other day, could you maybe tell her to keep it to herself?” Bonnie asked.

“Already have,” Marceline said. “She told me she didn’t know you were gay and then I told her not to tell people. She won’t, don’t worry.”

Bonnie smiled. “Okay, good. I guess I just felt a little too comfortable around you guys.”

Marceline shrugged. “Nothing wrong with that, dude. I want you to feel comfortable.”

“You’re the best.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Marceline replied. “Kidding, kidding.”

Bonnie smiled, taking hold of Marceline’s hand and squeezing it reassuringly. “You’re pretty much my closest friend here, you know.”

“I thought Lady was.”

“Nope.” Bonnibel replied. “Well, after you. You know more about me, and I’m much more open about myself with you. I can trust you with pretty much anything.”

Marceline smiled. “Cool. Does she know you’re into girls?”

“Actually, yes. She guessed it. I probably wouldn’t have told her if she hadn’t.” Bonnie said. “It’s actually pretty terrifying admitting it to anyone; I’m always scared they’ll never want to talk to me again.”

“Like the girl back in New York that I want to punch?”

“Yeah.” Bonnie confirmed, desperate to stop from thinking about her. “Like her.”

“What did she even do to you that fucked you up so bad?” Marceline asked, aware that it was a sore topic for Bonnie. “I get that she freaked out at you, but why did it make you so _scared_ to come out to people?”

Bonnie sighed; she was tempted to ‘socks’ the question, but decided that Marceline would find out eventually anyways. “Well, we were _really_ close. She was my only friend; everyone else always thought I was weird. We started at the same high school and immediately hit it off – we had a lot in common. We were both really into science – we would do experiments with each other on the weekend – we both liked a lot of the same TV shows, and other stuff like that.”

“We started getting a lot closer – we were very ‘touchy feely’ I guess. We would snuggle when watching TV shows – platonically – and we held hands or linked arms sometimes. Little things, you know. I was struggling with my sexuality at this point and it’s really hard to explain what that feels like – you know, because you’re straight so you probably haven’t been through it -,”

“I’m not straight.”

Bonnie was _certain_ she’d heard correctly. “You’re not?”

Marceline laughed. She _thought_ Bonnie would’ve caught the hint by now. “No, I’m not. Now continue with your story.”

“But -,”

“We’ll discuss it later.” Marceline said, crossing her arms and shooting Bonnie a stern look. “Story.”

“Fine.” Bonnie replied. “So, I was confused about my sexuality and in sophomore year I finally figured out that I’m gay. Anyways, I started to feel attracted to her and eventually that developed into a crush. Like I said, we cuddled a lot and things like that; it really started to get to me. Over the summer, we spent a lot of time together, and for some reason I got it into my head that she might like me too – we would flirt back and forth, and I didn’t realise she was only doing it jokingly.”

“It was around October last year when I finally told her. I sat her down and I told her that I was gay, and she told me she didn’t agree with that. We got into an argument – we’d _never_ argued before – and sometime during that I blurted out that I liked her.”

“She blew up at me. She called me _awful_ things, and she shoved me away and she told me to never speak to her again. It was okay for her; she had another group of friends that she sometimes hung out with. I had nobody.”

“After that, I threw myself into my studies, and didn’t try to make any more friends. Rumours of my sexuality spread around, and eventually everybody knew about it. When my parents told me we were moving, I wasn’t too happy. I still liked _her_ , and even though she’d completely shut me out, at least I still got to see her. I didn’t want to move because I was leaving behind my home, and I like being familiar with my surroundings. Moving was disorienting and although I hate to admit it, I missed her. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like her like that anymore. I just missed how it was before all of the complications came along. I missed having someone who I just _clicked_ with, you know?”

“Overall, I’m glad I moved here. It helped me move on from her, and now I’m officially crush free.” Bonnie offered Marceline a weak smile. “And I met you and all my other friends.”

“Dude, that fucking sucks.” Marceline pulled Bonnie in for a hug. “Can I _please_ go to New York and hit her? What a fucking bitch. Goddamn.”

Bonnibel relaxed in Marceline’s comforting hold. “I’d much prefer it if you stayed here with me, but the thought is nice.”

Marceline kissed Bonnie on the cheek, and Bonnibel mentally scolded herself for enjoying it. “Okay. I know I’m not good with the feelings thing, but if you ever need to talk I’m here.”

She gave Bonnibel one last squeeze before letting go, and Bonnie smiled. “Thanks, Marcy. So…you’re not straight, huh?”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Duh.”

“So…what are you?”

“I don’t know.” Marceline shrugged. “I just know I’m not straight. Think about it this way – I walk into a store, and there’s nothing specific on my shopping list. You get it?”

“I think.”

“I try not to label myself. I like who I like.” Marceline said. She’d stopped caring about her sexuality a long time ago. "But if people ask, usually I tell them I'm bi."

Bonnie smiled. “Okay. Anybody I should pretend you’re straight around?”

“My Dad, if you ever meet him.” Marceline said. “He’s pretty… _conservative_ with his views, I guess. Basically, he’s an asshole.”

Bonnibel frowned. She’d kind of figured Marceline didn’t have a very good relationship with her Dad. “I take it you guys don’t get on?”

“That’s an understatement,” Marceline admitted. Bonnibel couldn’t help being happy that Marceline was opening up to her, “Last time he visited, he stole every single musical instrument I own and told me I need to start ‘living in the real world’ and that no child of his will do something that isn’t ‘practical’. He knows I’m smart and he pressures me, which just encourages me to be even more of a disappointment.”

“He shouldn’t be like that.” Bonnie said. She felt herself becoming more and more annoyed; she knew that Marceline deserved to have a good family. “Dads are supposed to look out for you and support you and tell you that you’re beautiful and -,”

“Your Dad tells you you’re beautiful? Mine told me I looked dead.” Marceline replied. Bonnibel decided she didn’t like Marceline’s Dad. “Dude, don’t get all torn up about it. He sucks and that’s that. I don’t care about him. I have Simon.”

“I know, but I mean…your Mom’s gone and your Dad isn’t exactly parent of the year and I just want you to be happy.” Bonnie rambled.

Marceline took hold of Bonnie’s hand. “Hey, don’t worry about it. My Mom was _great_ , okay? And I _am_ happy. I’ve got Simon and good friends and music. I don’t need him.”

Bonnie smiled. “Okay…as long as you’re happy, I guess.”

Marceline gave Bonnie’s hand one last squeeze before letting go. “Anyways, I’m going to head home. I have to get back before Simon orders pizzas without me.”

Bonnie couldn’t help but feel a little deflated, but she knew Marceline would have to go at some point. “Yeah, okay. _Hopefully_ I’ll see you tomorrow. I really don’t want to take another day off school.”

“Yeah. Well, you seem to be a bit better. You’re still pretty pale though – you’re almost paler than me.” Marceline said, climbing out of Bonnie’s bed and heading towards the bedroom door. She shot Bonnie a smile. “I’ll see you. Text me if you get bored or whatever.”

Bonnie nodded. “Okay. Bye, Marcy.”

“Later, dude.”

Marceline slipped out of Bonnie’s bedroom and closed the door behind her, leaving Bonnibel by herself once again.


	20. twenty.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie goes to movie day.

** Saturday 22nd March 2014 **

Bonnibel was shaken awake. Really, anything could’ve been happening; she could have been getting kidnapped or a burglary could be occurring. She couldn’t care less – she was _far_ too tired.

Luckily, when she opened her eyes and squinted at the brightness of her bedroom lights, it was only Lady, Fionna and Cake who had disturbed her sleep. Bonnie sat up and rubbed her eyes, pushing her messy pink hair from her line of vision. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re taking you to Marshall’s house for movie day.” Lady smiled. She knew Bonnibel would probably protest and say she had work or some confusing science experiments to conduct, but she was willing to stand her ground until Bonnie gave in. “It’ll be fun, seriously.”

“I really shouldn’t,” Bonnie said. Even in her tired state, she knew that being sociable all day wouldn’t be very enjoyable – at least for her. “You guys go on without me.”

Cake rolled her eyes. “You’re coming. You _always_ ditch us on movie day, so you’re coming. We won’t leave without you.”

Bonnie let out a long sigh; she really _didn’t_ want to do anything other than an experiment on hydrocarbons, which she had been looking forward to conducting since Wednesday. She’d decided to set aside today for it and then _maybe_ socialise tomorrow, but it looked like that plan had gone down the drain. “I guess I could come for a little while.”

“So…you’re coming?” Lady shot her a hopeful look, and Bonnie just sighed. “You might have fun for once, you know. There’s no harm in that.”

“Yes, I’ll come.” Bonnie confirmed. Lady was actually rather surprised by how little convincing they had to do. “But if I don’t enjoy it, I’m coming straight home to start my experiment.”

“Deal,” Fionna said. “But only because you’ll _definitely_ enjoy it.”

Once Bonnie had gotten herself dressed and ready to leave, the five girls piled into Cake’s car and headed towards Marshall’s house. Lady hijacked the stereo and put it on a specific radio station which apparently only played one specific genre of music – auto-tuned, repetitive pop music which somehow always ended up stuck in Bonnie’s head, even though she disliked it. She knew that if Marceline was here, she’d be rolling her eyes in annoyance. “What even _is_ this music?”

“You’ve obviously been living under a rock,” Cake replied from the driver’s seat. Bonnie saw the surprised look on her face; clearly, Cake couldn’t believe Bonnie didn’t know what was. “It’s One Direction.”

“Hopefully the direction they’re going in is off a cliff.” Bonnie muttered. She knew she’d have this stupid song stuck in her head for the rest of the day.

Lady looked at Bonnibel in astonishment; she’d never heard the usually impartial girl say something like that. “Okay, you’ve _definitely_ been spending too much time with Marceline.”

Bonnie thought for a second. Her comment on the music _did_ sound like something Marceline would say. Eventually, the pink haired girl just shrugged. “I guess, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Anyways, what’s the plan for today?”

 

“We’re going to watch some movies and then Marshall said we’re going to play video games.” Lady explained. “It should be fun. Everyone aside from LSP is going to be there and Gumball stayed over with Marshall last night.”

Immediately, a thought sprung to Bonnie’s mind and she began wondering if Marceline would join in with them. She doubted it, but she still held out hope. She just wondered if her friends would let Marceline hang out with them. “Oh. Sounds fun.”

“Yeah, it will be.” Fionna said. “As long as Marshall doesn’t annoy me.”

“Okay, we _all_ know you’re into him.” Lady muttered.

Fionna looked utterly disgusted at the notion. “That is the most _disgusting_ thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t even _like_ him in a friend way.”

Lady just shrugged. “Well, he clearly likes you.”

Bonnie really hoped that wasn’t true, for Gumball’s sake. She knew how much he liked Marshall, and if Marshall liked Fionna he’d be devastated. “I don’t think he does.”

“Thank you, Bubblegum.” Fionna seemed relieved that Bonnie was on her side.

Bonnie made a mental note to ask Marceline if she knew anything and decided she’d keep a closer eye on things, for Gumball’s sake. He was such a sweet boy, and she didn’t want him to get upset over it. “No problem.”

* * *

 

They arrived at Marshall’s pretty quickly, and headed towards the front door. Lady knocked, and the four girls waited until Marshall unlocked the door.

Except he didn’t. Marceline did, still clad in her pyjamas and her hair still not brushed; but she had made the effort to put her nose ring in. Bonnibel was astonished – Marceline _still_ looked like she’d just come straight off the catwalk even though she seemingly hadn’t attempted to make herself appear attractive.

“Oh…hey, Bonnie.” Marceline sent her a warm smile – a gesture Bonnie’s friends were stunned by – which Bonnie returned. Marceline nodded in acknowledgement to Lady, Fionna and Cake; she knew Bonnie wanted her to be friendly to them. “Bonnie’s friends.”

Marceline stepped aside and let Bonnie and her friends in, Lady, Cake and Fionna slipping off their shoes and heading towards the stairs. Marceline closed the front door and then disappeared into the kitchen, presumably to make herself some breakfast. Bonnie watched after her, and sighed. She knew Marceline probably wouldn’t make any other appearances throughout the day.

Although she hated to admit it, they were very alike in that sense; they both preferred to be alone than hang out in huge groups of people. Bonnie liked hanging out with Marceline on the weekend; it was mostly kept to the two of them – although Keila sometimes made an appearance – and Bonnie liked it that way. Rather than seeing all of her friends at once, she enjoyed relaxing with just one or two people. Big groups easily tired her out.

She could hear laughter that sounded a lot like Finn’s upstairs, and she saw Fionna, Lady and Cake headed in that direction. They stopped when they realised Bonnie wasn’t following. “Hey. Aren’t you coming?”

“I’m just going to say hi to Marceline.” Bonnibel said, nodding towards the kitchen.

Lady smiled as her friends continued up the stairs. “Okay. See you upstairs.”

Bonnie nodded and headed towards the kitchen, smiling at Marceline as she spotted her sat on the kitchen counter, sipping out of a mug. “Hi.”

“Bonnie…what’re you doing in here?” Marceline frowned. “Not that I don’t enjoy your company and all, I just figured you’d be upstairs with your friends.”

“I know, but I wanted to see you.” Bonnie smiled. “I thought your band practiced on Saturdays, anyways?”

“Yeah, but Keila got called into work and Marshall is doing god knows what with you guys, so I’m just going to hang out in my pyjamas all day. Maybe write some new music or something.” Marceline said. Admittedly, she didn’t want to be alone, but she _definitely_ wasn’t confessing that to Bonnie. “But I’m probably going to lay in bed and watch Buffy.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, unable to wipe the smile from her face which always seemed to appear around Marceline. “Typically.”

Marceline just shrugged. “Yeah, what did you expect? I’m _totally_ spending the entire day doing homework.”

“If that ever actually happens, there’s radical proof that miracles are real.” Bonnie said. “Either that or you’re possessed by a very studious ghost.”

“It’d probably be the latter,” Marceline chuckled. “Anyways, your friends are expecting you. Get upstairs.”

Bonnie sighed. She _really_ couldn’t be bothered to sit through a bunch of movies she probably wouldn’t like anyways. She just wanted to do her experiments. “Do I have to?”

“I take it they forced you out of the house, then?” Marceline asked. She thought that was a little pushy, but then again, she did it to Keila sometimes. “You should’ve just told them no.”

“I was sleepy and disoriented. They took me by surprise.” Bonnie responded. “I’d rather hang out with you.”

“Literally all we do is watch movies.”

“Yeah, but it’s only the two of us, usually. I like that.” Bonnie explained. She hated jumping into hug explanations about why she disliked big groups of people; it just made her sound antisocial, which she tried her best not to be. She socialised at school, but the weekends were her only chance to get a lot of science work done. It’d always been that way; she liked routine, and didn’t want to interrupt that.

“I get it.” Bonnie was surprised by the answer; she knew Marceline was introverted, but usually everyone asked for an explanation. “Like, I get nervous around big groups of people. Particularly ones I don’t really know.”

“ _You_ get nervous around people? You always seem so confident.”

Marceline laughed. She was the complete opposite of confident the majority of the time. “Confident? I’m sorry, have you met me? I was fucking terrified of you.”

“Really? I was terrified of _you_.” Bonnie shot back. She didn’t recall saying anything that might make Marceline scared of her.

“Well, duh. I act like a cocky bitch so people don’t figure out I’m actually a nervous wreck.” Marceline rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious explanation in the world. “I keep people at arm’s length.”

“Why?”

Marceline shot her a look that said ‘really?’ before replying. “Socks.”

Bonnie sighed, although she figured that would be the answer. She was about to respond, when her friends all shouted something from upstairs and her and Marceline looked up. “I really don’t want to go up there. Can’t I just hide out in your room?”

“Tell you what,” Marceline began, hopping off the counter and placing her mug in the sink, “You hang out with your friends until…1PM, and then I’ll let you in my room and we can hang out. Deal?”

Bonnie looked at the clock. It read 10:19AM. “12PM.”

“2PM.” Marceline shot her a smirk. “The more you try and bargain with me, I’ll raise the time. You sure you want to take that chance?”

Bonnie sighed. “Fine. 1PM.”

“Yup.” Marceline headed towards the door. “See you then. Have fun with the dorks.”

Bonnie frowned, following her out and up the stairs, grabbing onto Marceline’s wrist before she could disappear into her room. “Hey. I thought I was supposed to give you a compulsory hug every time one of us said goodbye.”

Marceline rolled her eyes, but pulled Bonnie in for a hug. Bonnie felt comforted in her hold. “Happy?”

Bonnie nodded into Marceline’s shoulder. “Yeah.”

She felt Marceline letting go, and Bonnie felt a little disheartened. Bonnie shot Marceline a smile as she slowly headed towards Marshall’s room. “1PM?”

“ _Yes_ , we went over this downstairs,” Marceline rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Bonnie. For a smart person, you really don’t catch on very fast.”

“Will you come and get me, though? I feel like my friends won’t let me leave and I can’t exactly tell them I’m going to the bathroom and then never come back.” Bonnie said.

“Fine, I’ll come and get you.” Marceline replied, walking inside her room and putting a hand to the door, getting ready to close it. “Can I _please_ go and watch Buffy now?”

Bonnie smiled. “Yeah. See you soon.”

Marceline grinned, shutting her door – but not before giving Bonnie one last goodbye. “Later, dude.”

Bonnie then turned towards Marshall’s door and took in a deep breath, pushing it open. She was greeted by the sight of Finn, Jake, Fionna and Marshall battling it out on four-player Mario Kart, while her other friends cheered them on. Gumball was cheering on Marshall, Cake was rooting for Fionna, and Lady for Jake. Bonnibel figured she might as well join in and sat down next to Finn, who had his tongue stuck out in concentration and his usual smile was replaced by a frown.

She shot him an encouraging smile – by default, she was cheering him on, as nobody else seemed to be. She saw that he was coming 7th; Marshall was 5th, Fionna was 1st, and Jake was 2nd. Bonnie tried to help by seeing if she could distract any of the other players. “Come on, Finn. You can beat them. Even _I_ beat Marshall.”

Fionna burst out laughing at that – however her concentration on the game didn’t waver – and Marshall just scowled. “I thought that would never come up again.”

“Let’s not forget that Marceline kicks your butt every single Monday when you play against her.” Bonnie added, smirking.

Fionna seemed highly amused by the conversational topic. Marshall was becoming more distracted from the game. “Yeah, but she cheats. She kicks me.”

“There was kicking on both ends last time I witnessed you guys playing video games.” Bonnie said. “You were both attacking each other, and she _still_ won even with your foot in her face.”

Finn smiled, but kept his eyes on the TV screen. “Thanks, Bubblegum. I’ve passed him now.”

Bonnie smiled. “No problem, Finn.”

* * *

 

Bonnie didn’t know why her friends called it ‘movie day’, when for the first hour, they played video games, and then went out for a walk. Bonnibel wished they’d have warned her they’d be going out, as she didn’t bring her coat. So, she went and knocked on Marceline’s door.

“If that’s Bonnie, it’s not 1PM yet.”

“I need to borrow a coat.” Bonnibel half shouted through the door, “I forgot mine.”

Marceline’s bedroom door swung open, and Marceline shot her a look, her eyebrows raised; Bonnie had forgotten her coat way too many times for Marceline not to comment. “You’re an idiot. Come on.”

Bonnie followed Marceline downstairs and through her friends who were all hurriedly pulling their shoes on – Marceline shoved past them with a roll of her eyes. Marceline opened up the under the stairs cupboard and switched the light on, turning to Bonnie. “I have a leather jacket and then some random winter coat that Simon got me one time when I complained about how cold it was. Take your pick.”

“Uh…it’s not that cold out so can I use your leather jacket?” Bonnie asked, “You know, if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure,” Marceline ducked inside the cupboard and pulled her leather jacket off the hook it was residing on. She passed it to Bonnibel, “Here. Have fun on your walk.”

“I’ll try,” Bonnie smiled. She tugged the leather jacket on, Marceline’s familiar scent hitting her. “Thanks for letting me borrow this. I appreciate it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Marceline replied, “You forget your coat so much I’m starting to wonder if you actually _own_ one.”

“I _do_ , but it’s on the back of my bedroom door and I always forget to pick it up on my way out.” Bonnie said. “It’s pink.”

“Of _course_ it is.” Marceline rolled her eyes. “Everything you own is pink. Like, if I looked up the dictionary definition of pink, there’d be a picture of you.”

“I don’t wear _that_ much pink.”

Marceline scanned over Bonnie’s attire – a pink dress and cardigan. “Yeah. _Totally_.”

Bonnie looked down at her clothing and flushed a little, deciding to change the subject before she completely embarrassed herself. She decided to ask Marceline to join them – hopefully, she’d take Bonnie up on the offer. “You could come with us, you know. If you got dressed, that is.”

“I’ll pass.” Marceline said. She was _not_ spending any more time with Bonnibel’s friends than she had to. Most of them were just plain _irritating_. Marceline felt a little guilty at the look of disappointment that flashed through Bonnibel’s eyes. “Besides, I’m busy writing music.”

“You’re actually _not_ watching Buffy?” Bonnie asked in mock shock. “I’m surprised.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Shut up, dork.”

“You shut up, you big jerk.” Bonnie shot back, attempting to hold up a serious expression which eventually dissolved into a smile. “I’ll see you later. Thanks again for letting me borrow your jacket.”

Marceline slipped past Bonnie’s friends and when she was halfway up the stairs, looked down at Bonnie and smiled. “Bye.”

Bonnie watched after her and followed Marceline with her gaze until her view was cut off by Marceline closing her bedroom door. She sighed; she wished Marceline had decided to come, but she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up in the first place – it was highly unlikely that she actually would have.

Lady called for her attention and Bonnie quickly slipped on her pink Converse before following her friends out the front door.

* * *

 

Marshall had shown Bonnie and her friends probably one of Bonnie’s new favourite places in the town. She didn’t think the place had a name, all she knew was that it was beautiful – it was a small woodland area near the park in Marshall’s neighbourhood; there was a shimmering lake in front of where they were all sat on an embankment. The sounds of the gentle breeze blocked out any noises from the roads nearby, and although Bonnie could see the store if she squinted into the distance, she felt completely separated from the rest of civilization. She made a mental note to come here with Marceline one day.

Typically, her friends – being a bunch of overgrown kids – suggested they play hide and seek, and Bonnie actually rather liked the idea. Her childhood was the big city of New York – she never really had a quiet place to play and be a kid.

She never really had the friends to play with, either.

Jake and Marshall offered to ‘seek’, and the two of them stood facing the lake with their eyes presumably shut as Bonnibel, Lady, Fionna, Cake, Gumball and Finn ran off to find a hiding place. Bonnie wasn’t very experienced in the game, and hid behind a tree at first. When she heard Marshall or Jake coming, she changed her location to one of the ones they’d already checked – in the bushes near the lake.

She was found by Lady, who had been uncovered by Marshall. Once she was found, she joined the seekers.

Finn was the last one to be found, hiding way up in a tree above where anybody bothered to look. When Bonnie checked her watch, she frowned in annoyance. 1:26PM; she should be with Marceline.

She ended up roped into three more games of hide and seek.

* * *

 

Marceline harshly strummed at the strings on her acoustic guitar – she just couldn’t find the right chord for the song she was writing. She’d tried what seemed like everything; sevens, major sevens, minor sevens, suspended chords – nothing was fitting.

She gave up. She put her guitar aside and pulled her laptop closer to her, closing the word document that contained the song lyrics; she planned on showing them to Keila next time she came over so they could work on it together. Keila would be able to help her find the right chords, which she’d scribbled down on a sheet of paper in the notebook in front of her.

Marceline opened Netflix up on her computer and went straight to Buffy. Her mouse hovered over the episode she got about halfway through last night – season 4, episode 7. She was re-watching the entire thing for the sixth time; she had nothing better to do today.

She pushed her laptop away and stood up, heading downstairs. She headed for the kitchen and rooted around in the cupboards, eventually coming across a can of Dr Pepper in the fridge. She opened it and took a sip, before looking back into the fridge for something to eat, eventually deciding she wasn’t hungry. She headed back upstairs and placed her can of soda on her bedside table.

Marceline turned back to her laptop and decided against watching Buffy – instead, she opened her iTunes and shuffled one of the most recent bands she’d gotten into; Explosions In The Sky. She _really_ enjoyed their music. It was instrumental and just generally calming. It was especially enjoyable to listen to when reading; it didn’t distract her from the book.

She picked up her reading book – If I Stay – from her bedside table, flicking it open to the page she’d bookmarked. So far, she’d enjoyed it. Particularly all of the music references.

She’d gotten about five minutes of reading done when she heard an annoying noise from downstairs.

After about ten seconds of the noise downstairs, Marceline’s bedroom door burst open and Bonnie walked in, breathing a little heavy from sprinting up the stairs. “Hey! It’s past 2PM, I’m sorry I’m late.”

Marceline looked at the clock on her bedside table in bewilderment. She hadn’t been keeping track of time. “Oh. I didn’t realise, but yeah…I guess you can come and hang out with me now.”

Bonnie smiled, shutting the door and sitting down on Marceline’s bed, still wearing Marceline’s leather jacket. Marceline noted how good Bonnie looked – she liked seeing Bonnie in her clothes. “Good. I’m pretty tired out after all the group hanging out.”

“What movies did you guys watch?”

“None, actually.”

Marceline frowned. Either Bonnie’s friends just didn’t get round to watching any movies, or Marceline was out of touch with the slang nowadays. “Why did they call it movie day, then?”

“I think they intended to watch movies but just didn’t get round to it.” Bonnie replied, her eyes resting on the open notebook next to Marceline’s legs. She frowned – all she could see from her position was scribbles, so she shuffled closer to it. “What’s that?”

Marceline followed Bonnie’s gaze and picked up the notebook, examining the messy page. “Oh, just some music. Nothing interesting.”

Bonnie scanned over the page, reading whatever was legible. “It’s _very_ interesting. How do you know what chords sound good together when you’re writing? Do you play your guitar while writing the music?”

Marceline blinked a little in confusion. She really didn’t get why Bonnie was so sweet; nobody really took much on an interest in stuff like this before. “I have my guitar to play the chords when I write, but I already know what chords work naturally because of the key.”

“What’s that?”

“Are you sure you want me to go into this? We’ll be here for a while.” Marceline said.

Bonnie nodded enthusiastically, shrugging off Marceline’s leather jacket and shuffling back on the bed, getting herself comfortable. “Yep. Answer my question.”

Marceline sighed, flicking to a fresh page in her notebook. “Okay. Basically, a key is a bunch of notes that work together naturally. Like, for example, the key of C.” Marceline wrote a C down on the page. “You work out what the notes in the key are by using a pattern of tones and semitones.”

“What are they?” Bonnie asked. “Tones and semitones?”

“A tone is two notes, a semitone is one.” Marceline said. “To work out they key, you use this pattern – tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone, tone.” She jotted it down on the page. “So a tone up from C is D.”

“That’s just one note.” Bonnie frowned. “Isn’t it?”

“Nope. There’s C# in between them.” Marceline said. “Anyways, you just use the pattern to work out the key.”

Marceline quickly noted down every single note in the key, seemingly without thinking about it at all. Eventually, she had a string of notes written down on the page. C, D, E, F, G, A, B and back to C. Bonnie was amazed by Marceline’s knowledge. “It’s really cool how you can just do that.”

“Been doing it practically my whole life; it’s easy for me.” Marceline shrugged Bonnie’s compliment off. “Basically, what’s written down here is a major key. There’s always a natural minor key, but we won’t go into that. You only really need the major key to figure out the chords.”

“And how do you do that?”

“Well, you’ve got to know which chords are major and which are minor. The 1st, 4th and 6th chords are always major, and the 2nd, 3rd and 5th are minor. The 7th chord is diminished, but we won’t go into that.” Marceline explained, before pointing to the notes written down with her pen. “Every note written here goes into at least one of the chords. The notes in C are C, E and G. You skip a note in the key every time to get the notes in the chords, if you get me. That’s basically it.”

Bonnie smiled. “Thanks for answering my question.”

“No problem, I guess.” Marceline shrugged. “What do you want to do?”

“It’s up to you.” Bonnie smiled. “Your room, your rules.”

Marceline rolled her eyes; Bonnie reminded her of how she used to be like when she was younger. “You’re _literally_ twelve year old me.”

Bonnie laughed. “Does that mean I’m going to grow up to be a badass punk rocker?”

Unfortunately for her, Marceline was taking a sip of her Dr Pepper and nearly snorted it up her nose due to a sudden outburst of laughter which that statement elicited. She coughed through her laughs, and Bonnie patted her on the back.

“Oh my God, Bonnie,” Marceline managed to splutter out. “Badass? Yeah, right.”           

Bonnie chuckled, although she felt bad for making Marceline choke on her drink. “Well, you are pretty cool, so yeah.”

“You’ve been my friend for nearly two months – surely you’ve realised _I’m not cool_.” Marceline coughed a few more times, wiping her mouth with the collar of her t-shirt.

Bonnie couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of Marceline’s toned stomach as Marceline’s shirt rode up, and thought, _if being a singer in a rock band does that to your body, sign me up_. “Well, you’re cooler than me.”

“Not going to argue with that.” Marceline teased, smirking at Bonnie. “Hey, when I met you I figured you’d be popular and like, BFFs with LSP or something. I _like_ you and all your dorkiness.”

Bonnie smiled. Somehow, that helped cheer her up. “Thanks, Marcy. I like you and all of your…punk rocky-ness.”

“Damn fucking straight you do.”

* * *

 

They ended up putting on a Disney movie – Bonnie was honestly surprised by how excessive Marceline’s collection of them was, but she didn’t comment – and they sat back and relaxed with one another. _This_ was how Bonnie liked to hang out.

Neither of them paid much attention to the film – Marceline because she was gently finger-picking chords on her acoustic guitar, and Bonnie because she was too busy listening to Marceline playing. Bonnie became even more invested when Marceline began humming melodies along with the music she was playing, because really, how could one person be so talented?

“How’s the movie?” Marceline asked, looking up at her with a smirk. “Oh, wait. I should probably ask someone who’s actually watching it.”

Bonnie face flushed to match the colour of her hair. “Shut up. You’re distracting.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re playing music.” Bonnie pointed out, gesturing towards the acoustic guitar on Marceline’s lap. “ _Nice_ music, and it’s distracting.”

Marceline shrugged. “My room, my rules. The guitar stays. Sorry, Bonnie.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Play something for me.”

Marceline sighed. She didn’t want to play in front of Bonnie – what if she fucked up or if Bonnibel didn’t think she was any good? “No.”

“Come on!” Bonnie pleaded. “You don’t have to sing, just play something. Anything.”

Marceline couldn’t hold her ground against Bonnie’s puppy dog eyes. Usually, the dark haired girl was _incredibly_ stubborn, but she just couldn’t deny those innocent blue eyes anything. “ _Fine_. Give me a song.”

“Um…do you know any Ed Sheeran? Or Taylor Swift’s slower stuff?” Bonnie asked. “Just play anything nice and relaxing.”

“Uh…” Marceline frowned in thought, and eventually put her fingers to the strings. “I don’t have to sing?”

“Nope.” Bonnie smiled. She didn’t want to make Marceline do anything that might make her uncomfortable. “Just play.”

“Okay.” With that, Marceline began playing a familiar tune on the guitar, plucking and strumming the strings simultaneously.

Bonnie frowned in thought. She recognised the song and knew she’d heard it. When Marceline changed chords, Bonnie exclaimed the title. “Give Me Love! I didn’t know you liked Ed Sheeran.”

Marceline continued playing, but answered. “He’s okay. I just learned this song because I liked the guitar in it. I know ‘Kiss Me’ as well, but that’s because it’s the same chords as ‘A Daydream Away’ by All Time Low.”

“You’re really good at that, Marceline.” Bonnie smiled. “I mean it.”

“Thanks.” Marceline’s fingers left the strings and she placed her pick between her teeth. She moved the guitar from her lap and propped it up against the bed, putting the pick on her bedside table. Then, she turned to Bonnie. “There. No more distractions.”

Bonnie chuckled. “I actually have to watch the movie now.”

“I guess you do.” Marceline replied, sliding off the bed and downing the rest of her Dr Pepper. “Do you want anything to drink?”

Bonnie nodded. “Can I come with you?”

“Sure,” Marceline replied, and opened up her bedroom door, heading towards the stairs. Bonnie followed Marceline downstairs and watched as Marceline placed her empty Dr Pepper can on the side and then switched the kettle on. “Chamomile tea, I presume?”

“You know me well.” Bonnie smiled. “What’re you having?”

“Nothing.” Marceline said, motioning towards the empty Dr Pepper can. “I just had a drink.”

“Why did you offer to make me one, then?” Bonnie frowned. “You know, if you weren’t already going to get something?”

“Because I’m nice,” Marceline replied, “I know, shocker.”

Bonnie chuckled as Marceline sat herself on the counter next to where Bonnie was standing. Bonnibel followed her lead and sat down, smiling. “I already know you’re nice, you idiot.”

Marceline shot Bonnie a warm smile. “Yeah. In this friendship, _you’re_ the mean one.”

“ _Me_? Um, I don’t _think_ so.” Bonnie shot back.

“You literally _just_ called me an idiot. It’s the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard and I do not want to be associated with such _foul language_.” Marceline replied, scooting away from Bonnie on the counter, folding her arms across her chest and looking up at the ceiling with a serious expression on her face.

“Foul language?” Bonnie laughed. “This is coming from _you_ ; the girl who uses the f word at _least_ sixty times a day.”

“I forget that’s a bad word, actually. I’ll say it in front of small children and then realise and then be like ‘oh fuck,’ and then continue to curse until eventually something that’s not a variation of ‘fuck’ comes out.” Marceline said. “It just happens. I _did_ stop swearing once, though.”

“Whoa, _what_? You?” Bonnie tried to act as surprised as possible, smirking.

“Yeah. I started swearing when I got into middle school, and then one day I did it in front of Simon and he told me that my Mom hated people who swore so I stopped.” Marceline explained. “Then it started again because I realised I don’t give two fucks if people have a problem with it. _Including_ my Mom’s ghost if she’s floating around here.”

“Huh,” Bonnie bit on her lip in thought. “If my Mom was dead and I swore, she’d come back and wash my mouth out with soap.”

“I ran into your Mom at the store.” Marceline replied. “It was a few days ago.”

“She didn’t annoy you, did she?” Bonnie asked, as a worse thought crossed her mind. “Oh, she didn’t tell you anything embarrassing at all, right?”

Marceline chuckled. “Nah, she just thanked me for coming over to keep you company for a bit on Monday and then asked me if I wanted to come over for dinner one night.”

Bonnie’s face broke out into a grin. “You should! You could stay over, too! How’s next weekend for you?”

Marceline blinked in confusion; she hadn’t been expecting the sudden outburst. “Uh…fine, I guess. Saturday night is probably best.”

“Good, I’ll let my Mom know.” Bonnie grinned. “You aren’t allergic to anything, are you? My Mom will probably be cooking something. Oh, you aren’t vegetarian or anything, right?”

“I’m allergic to garlic.”

Bonnie found it hard not to laugh. She found everything that fit into LSP’s vampire theory hilarious. “Seriously? Wow.”

“I’m joking, you know.” Marceline shot Bonnie a look. “You’re really gullible. _No_ , I’m not allergic to anything.”

“I knew you were joking,” Bonnie lied. “That’s why I was laughing. Jokes are funny.”

“Why did you ask if I was being serious, then?”

“I was saying ‘seriously?’ to express my contempt at how bad your joke was.” Bonnie teased.

“You thought I was being serious, Bonnie. Unlike you, _I’m_ not gullible as hell.” Marceline jumped off the counter after noticing the kettle had boiled, and grabbed Simon’s box of chamomile teabags out of the cupboard.

“I’m _not_ gullible!” Bonnie exclaimed, exasperated. She hopped off the counter and walked over to Marceline, who was busy making her tea.

“Whatever you say, Bonnie.” Marceline didn’t sound like she believed a word of Bonnie’s protests – which she didn’t.

“Bubblegum!” Both Bonnie and Marceline spun around in confusion; Marceline rolling her eyes when she saw Finn and Jake walking into the kitchen.

Bonnie smiled. “Hey guys. What’re you doing down here?”

“Getting food. We’re watching The Amityville Horror. Want to join us?” Finn asked enthusiastically.

Bonnie cringed. She hated horror films. “I think I’ll stay with Marceline.”

She watched as Finn and Jake’s gazes flicked to Marceline and then they exchanged a look. Marceline noticed none of this, as she was too busy occupying herself with tea-making. “Bonnie, your tea’s done.”

Bonnie smiled, taking the mug of tea from Marceline. “Thanks. Are you sure you’re not going to have one?”

“Nah. I’m not thirsty.” Marceline shrugged, although Bonnie saw her gaze flick over to Finn and Jake, who were raiding the fridge. Marceline eyed them suspiciously, before eventually sighing and heading towards the kitchen door.

Bonnie quickly followed, her mug of tea in her hand. “Bye, guys.”

“Later, Bubblegum.”

* * *

 

“Marceline, stop!” Bonnie exclaimed through a fit of giggles. She squirmed under Marceline’s touch, desperately trying to get away from the dark haired girl.

Unfortunately for Bonnie, Marceline had discovered how ticklish she was, and wouldn’t leave her alone. Marceline smirked, tickling Bonnie’s sides and poking her for a reaction. “Don’t think so, Bonnie. Sorry.”

Bonnie squirmed away from Marceline and rolled off the bed, landing carefully on her feet. Then, she dug her fingers into Marceline’s sides, pouting when she didn’t get even a snicker. “You’re not ticklish? No fair!”

Marceline just shrugged nonchalantly as Bonnie continued trying to tickle her. “Nice try, but whatever you do won’t work.”

Bonnie sighed, collapsing back on the bed and scowling over at Marceline. “How are you _not_ ticklish?”

“I _am_ , but only in one place and there’s no way in _hell_ I’m telling you that.” Marceline said.

Bonnie grabbed Marceline’s phone from where it was sat on her bedside table. “Tell me or I’ll steal your phone.”

“I could always just tickle you and I’d get it back.”

Bonnie shook her head. “Nope. Tell me so I can torture you the way you’ve been torturing me for the past ten minutes.”

“Bribing me with _torture_.” Marceline looked at Bonnie like she’d just said the dumbest thing in the world. “That’s _totally_ going to convince me to give up my secrets. Nice one, Bonnie.”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes and held Marceline’s phone above her head. “Tell me and I’ll give you your phone back.”

Marceline smirked – Bonnie’s arms were held up in the air, giving Marceline the perfect opportunity. She tickled Bonnie’s sides, and the pink haired girl immediately doubled over, effectively dropping Marceline’s phone into her lap. Marceline picked up her phone and waved it in front of Bonnie. “Look at that! I got my phone back.”

Bonnie sighed. “ _And_ you know I’m ticklish. Great.”

“Aw, come on,” Marceline smiled, wrapping her arms around Bonnie in a slightly awkward hug, “If it makes you feel any better, I won’t tickle you unless a) I want to get information out of you, or b) I just want to annoy you.”

Bonnie relaxed in Marceline’s arms and looked up at the taller girl. “Thanks, I guess.”

“No problem.” Marceline smiled, “So what’s the plan for Saturday?”

“You’ll come round to my house whenever you finish band practice and then my Mom will make us dinner and then we’ll have a sleepover,” Bonnie listed, “Which will probably consist of us stuffing our faces with junk food.”

“Sounds like my kind of party.”

“Awesome,” Bonnie smiled. “Any particular food requests? Aside from Twizzlers, of course.”

Marceline chuckled. “Nah, I think I’ll be fine with that.”

“I’ll make sure to pick some up for you when I go to the store next,” Bonnie replied, although a thought came into her mind and she decided to ask Marceline a question, even though Keila had told her she probably shouldn’t bring this topic up. “Marceline, why does your ex-boyfriend hit on me whenever I go to pay for something?”

It had happened to Bonnie a few times now, and it honestly made her rather uncomfortable. She didn’t like guys and it made her feel awkward getting hit on in general. Ash had actually resorted to calling her a bitch when she ignored him the last time she went to the store.

“He hits on you?” Bonnie couldn’t help but notice how angry Marceline seemed by that. “I think I’m going to have to go _hit_ him. I’m sorry, dude. He’s like, king douche.”

Bonnie waved Marceline off. “You don’t need to resort to violence for me. It’s fine. It just makes me feel a little weird. I don’t like it.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just tell him to fuck off and he’ll go away.” Marceline said. “ _Or_ , tell him you’re friends with me and that I haven’t broken any wrists for a while.”

“Wait, what?” Bonnie exclaimed, “Broken wrists?”

Marceline looked like she wanted to hit herself. She let out a long sigh, and couldn’t bring herself to make eye contact with Bonnie. “Yeah. I got mad.”

“Were you still -,”

“Dating him? No. I’d just dumped his sorry ass.” Marceline said, quickly adding, “He provoked me, though.”

“What did he say?” Bonnie questioned.

“Something about my Mom.”

Bonnie could understand why Marceline had gotten angry, but she still didn’t think it justified breaking his wrist. “Okay.”

“You’re scared.” It was more a statement than question.

“I’m not. Trust me.” Bonnie shot Marceline a reassuring smile and cuddled up to her. “See?”

“You don’t think I’m going to lose my temper and like…kill you, or something?”

Bonnie felt her heart break at the surprise in Marceline’s voice. “Of course not. You could never hurt me, and I know that. Just like I’ll never hurt you.”

 _You’re way too good for me_ , Marceline thought, letting out a shaky breath of relief as she looked down at the pink haired girl who was smiling up at her reassuringly, _I just hope you don’t ever figure that out._


	21. twenty-one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie go shopping.

** Saturday 29th March 2014 **

“Bonnie, do we _have_ to?” Marceline groaned as Bonnie excitedly pulled her down the stairs.

“ _Yes_ , we do. All we do is hang out indoors.” Bonnie explained, picking up Marceline’s leather jacket from where it was thrown over the banister. “You’re going to show me the town.”

“I thought your friends already did that.” Marceline pointed out; really, she just didn’t want to go outside – there were people there. “Let’s just stay in your room and play video games, yeah?”

“No,” Bonnie stated firmly, “Besides, you could use the sunlight. You’re not exactly tanned, are you?”

“First of all, it’s _March_. I don’t even tan in July.” Marceline replied. It was true – she always just got sunburned if she tried to get a tan, so she didn’t bother. She’d been pale her whole life. “I just don’t want to go out. Outside is boring.”

“Come _on_. You’ve got to like something about the outdoors.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. Bonnie decided that no matter what Marceline tried to use as an excuse, she was going to be stubborn enough to get Marceline outside.

“I like the part where I come back in.”

“Very funny,” Bonnie said, “We’re going out.”

“But _Bonnie_ ,” Marceline pulled her infamous puppy dog face, dragging out the vowels in Bonnie’s name for as long as she could to emphasise how much she _didn’t_ want to leave the house, “I don’t like outside. Outside doesn’t have pyjamas and beds.”

“Well, we’ll go to a furniture store and you can find a bed in there.”

Marceline sighed in defeat; she knew she wouldn’t win this battle. “Fuck. Fine.”

Bonnie grinned, grabbing her coat and shoes, sitting down on the bottom step of the staircase. Marceline huffed, but followed Bonnie’s lead and tugged her leather jacket on, picking up her shoes and sitting down next to Bonnie on the step. They both laced up their shoes, and then Bonnie grabbed onto Marceline’s arm and pulled her out of the door and towards Marceline’s car. “I’m glad you drove here this time.”

“Now I’m wishing I hadn’t.” Marceline muttered, making her way to the driver’s side and climbing in. She started the car as Bonnie sat down and buckled up her seatbelt. “Where to?”

“Anywhere where there’s stores. I want to browse.” Bonnie said.

“So…the town centre, basically?” Marceline asked, trying not to complain. Most of the people at Marceline and Bonnie’s school tended to hang around by all of the stores, and Marceline really didn’t like seeing anyone from school more than she had to, unless it was Bonnie.

“Yeah.” Bonnie nodded. She could tell Marceline wasn’t very happy with this arrangement, but was grateful that Marceline didn’t argue with her. “We can go to the music store if you want.”

“Okay.” Marceline nodded. “Keila’s working today and she usually gives me discounts. Plus, I need some acoustic strings. The G broke on my Fender and that’s my favourite acoustic. I was pretty sad when it happened because I had to use my old one and the sound wasn’t as good.”

“You can play on my Dad’s guitar later, if you want.” Bonnie offered. “I like hearing you play.”

“Yeah, okay. Your Dad’s guitar is pretty cool.” Marceline said. “His strings are thinner than mine, though. I usually get elevens for acoustic, and I think his are nines or something.”

“You can get different string sizes for guitar?” Bonnie frowned. “I didn’t know that. What do you use for electric?”

“Nines.” Marceline replied. “I used to have them thinner when I was learning, though. Simon told me it’d make my fingers hurt less.”

“Wait, you said you started learning guitar when you were seven.” Bonnie stated. “I thought you still lived with your parents when you were seven.”

“Yeah…I stopped playing after…you know.” Marceline mumbled. “Simon convinced me to start playing again.”

“Ah.” Bonnie nodded in understanding. “Okay. Well, I’m glad you still play; you can serenade me if I ever get sad.”

“I could serenade you right fucking now if I wanted to.” Marceline replied, rolling her eyes. “You don’t need to be sad to get me to do that.”

“Good to know.” Bonnie smiled.

There was a silence in the car – filled only by the light music in the background – until Marceline spoke up again. “Hey, so…will drunk Bonnie ever make an appearance again?”

“Hopefully not.” Bonnibel replied. “I don’t think I can handle hangovers.”

“That sucks. I like drunk Bonnie.” Marceline lightly chuckled at the memory of Bonnibel plucking at the strings on her bass and calling herself a musician.

“Well, I don’t like her.” Bonnibel shot back. She was never getting drunk again – she hated keeping the secret from her parents and she definitely couldn’t get over another hangover.

“Hey, if it wasn’t for drunk Bonnie, we probably wouldn’t be friends.”

Bonnibel raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think that?”

“ _Well_ , that was the night a let myself admit I liked you.” Marceline explained. “If you hadn’t been drunk and I hadn’t have taken you home, I wouldn’t have told you that. I’d have probably just avoided you until the end of time.”

“You do realise if you hadn’t have told me then, I’d still be annoying you?” Bonnie chuckled. “Like, I would be bugging you in History and stuff to get you to be friends with me.”

“I still don’t get why you wanted to be my friend in the first place.” Marceline stated. “I mean, I’m scary.”

“You _think_ you’re scary. You’re not.” Bonnie explained. “You’re _actually_ a cuddly dork who eats too much candy.”

Marceline smiled. “Thanks, Bonnie. And for the record, you can _never_ have too much candy.”

Bonnibel chuckled. “True.”

* * *

 

“We have a bookstore, right?” Bonnie asked as she pulled Marceline through town, honestly not sure where she was going.

“Duh. If we didn’t I’d be pretty fucked.” Marceline rolled, her eyes, pulling her arm from Bonnie’s grip. “Come on, it’s this way.”

Bonnie followed Marceline through what felt like the entire town’s population – it seemed everyone had decided to do their shopping on the same day. She noted how good Marceline was at slipping past people without bumping into them; Bonnie, on the other hand, seemed to knock into every person they passed, and had to apologise every few seconds.

Eventually, Bonnibel reached out and grabbed onto Marceline’s hand, lacing their fingers together. She decided it was okay to do so – she didn’t want to end up lost at all, and Marceline didn’t seem to mind. It’s not like Bonnibel meant it in anything other than a platonic way.

Marceline led her away from all of the crowds and into a small, quiet store on the street corner. Bonnie looked around – although the store was small, there wasn’t a shortage of books to buy. Bonnie could see lots of books she’d heard of and read already, as well as numerous titles she wasn’t familiar with. She smiled; she knew she’d be coming back here a lot.

“Someone looks happy.” Bonnie looked up to see Marceline smirking at her; Bonnie figured she probably looked like a little kid on Christmas morning.

“I like bookstores,” Bonnie shrugged in defence, “They’re great.”

“I’m not going to disagree with you.” Marceline replied, tugging on Bonnie’s hand. “Come on, let’s look around. If you’re going to buy anything, there’s a couch in the crime section that we can read on.”

“How do you know that?” Bonnie asked. She smirked, shooting Marceline a look. “Because you’re a closet nerd, that’s why.”

“Well, I have to go _somewhere_ when my Dad shows up.” Marceline shrugged. “It’s not my fault the owner likes me.”

Bonnie stared at Marceline, who didn’t seem affected by the strained relationship she had with her Dad. Bonnibel couldn’t understand it; she’d always been close with her parents – they were so great, that she just automatically assumed every parent was like that. “You can always come to mine when your Dad comes, you know.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Marceline replied, looking down at Bonnie and shooting her a smile. Bonnie could tell it was fake. “Anyways, any particular genres you want to look at?”

Bonnie pulled her phone out from her pocket, opening her ‘notes’ app and selecting her ‘to read list’. She scrolled through the list that was _much_ too long for her liking, and chose a trilogy of books she’d been meaning to read for a few months. “Where would Lord of the Rings be?”

“Fantasy, probably.” Marceline replied, pulling Bonnie over to the fantasy section and helped the pink haired girl search through.

Eventually, Bonnie found the books and headed over to the counter to pay, while Marceline settled herself down on the couch with a Stephen King book she’d just bought. The owner – a sweet, middle aged woman with a think Southern accent – smiled at her warmly as she gave Bonnie her change. Then, Bonnie headed over to Marceline and sat down, opening up the first book and flicking through to where the story starts.

Bonnie didn’t really focus on her book; she was more focused on Marceline, who was engrossed in her book and wasn’t paying attention to Bonnie. She thought it was adorable how Marceline chewed down on her bottom lip in concentration, her eyebrows knitted together in a frown. Whenever a revelation was made or something exciting happened, Bonnie noticed that Marceline’s red eyes would widen and Bonnie would find herself questioning how someone could possibly be so adorable yet devastatingly attractive simultaneously. She scolded herself for these thoughts, although eventually decided she didn’t mean anything by them and continued to watch as Marceline read her book.

Bonnie stayed watching Marceline read for what felt like hours, until Marceline looked up and Bonnie snapped her gaze back onto her book. She felt Marceline nudge her, and looked up, pretending as though she had been reading the entire time. “Yeah?”

“Can we go to the music store now? I need to buy my strings.” Marceline asked. “We can go and get coffee after, if you want.”

Bonnie nodded. “Yeah, okay. Show me the way.”

Marceline stood up and folded over the corner of the page she was on in her book. Then, she shut it and looked down to Bonnie. “Is it cool if I put this in your bag?”

“Yeah, sure.” Bonnie marked her place in her book and put it in the carrier bag the lady at the checkout had given her, holding it out for Marceline.

Marceline placed her book in the bag and waited as Bonnie stood up, and then the two girls headed out of the bookstore. Bonnie had no clue where she was going and just allowed Marceline to lead her through the crowds, although she did resort to gripping onto Marceline’s hand again. Marceline didn’t comment, which Bonnie was thankful for. “So, how far is the music store?”

“It’s just round there.” Marceline pointed with her free hand to a street corner opposite the two of them.

Bonnie nodded. “Alright. Where are we going to go for coffee?”

“I’ll drive us to Starbucks if you want, but there’s this cool shop a little bit further down from the music store that’s pretty good if you want to go there?” Marceline said. She was hoping that Bonnie would accept the offer – she was planning on paying for the coffees, and she knew that Starbucks was ludicrously expensive.

“That sounds nice. We’ll go there.” Bonnie smiled.

Marceline nodded, pushing open the door to the music store with her free hand and pulling Bonnie inside. She grinned when she looked to the checkout and saw Keila sat looking bored. “Sup, nerd?”

Keila looked up, her face breaking out into a huge grin. “Marmalade! I’m glad you’re here – I’m so bored. Barely anyone has come in today. Bongo stopped by to buy new drumsticks, but that was it.”

“Actually, we’re not going to be here long.” Marceline said as she headed over to the counter, Bonnie following closely behind. “I just need some strings for my acoustic and then we’re going to get coffee.”

“Oh, are you guys on a hot date?” Keila teased, chuckling at how Bonnie’s face flushed pink. “I’m kidding, you know.”

Bonnie nervously smiled. “Yeah, I’d hope you were. Either that, or there’s something Marceline’s not telling me about today.”

“I think you’re forgetting that _you’re_ the one who dragged me outside.” Marceline stated, as she passed Keila a ten dollar bill in exchange for a pack of acoustic strings. “Don’t push the blame onto me.”

Keila smiled. “What have you guys done today?”

“We bought some books and then read for a little while and then came here.” Bonnie said. “I know; we’re very sociable people.”

“Damn, guys. Chill out,” Keila chuckled. “Your hang out sessions clearly aren’t for the faint-hearted.”

Marceline rolled her eyes as Keila passed her the change. “We aren’t any better. All we do is sit and play guitar all night.”

“True.” Keila smiled, moving from behind the counter to give Marceline a hug. “I’ll see you guys some other time. Have fun with your coffee.”

“Have fun working.” Marceline shot back. “I’ll text you later.”

“Bye, Marmalade.” Keila smiled to the two girls as they headed towards the door. “Later, Bonnibel.”

“Bye,” Bonnie shot Keila a warm smile as she exited the shop with Marceline. Bonnie liked Keila and considered the two of them friends – when she first met her, she figured she wouldn’t. Then again, she thought the same thing about Marceline, and she was one of her closest friends now.

* * *

 

When Marceline and Bonnibel entered the coffee shop, they found a table at the back. Marceline told Bonnie to stay put and save the table, and went off to order; a strawberry Frappuccino for Bonnie – she’d come to like them ever since Marceline had bought one for her a few weeks back – and a caramel latte for herself.

Of course, when Marceline came back with the drinks, Bonnie tried to force her money on her – she didn’t want Marceline paying for everything.

“Dude, chill the fuck out,” Marceline rolled her eyes as she sat down and pushed Bonnie’s hand – which was full of money – away from her. “I’m buying. It was barely $2.”

Bonnie pouted. “You _always_ buy things for me. I feel like a bad friend.”

“You’re one of the best friends I’ve ever had, so shut your mouth and drink your coffee.” Marceline quickly responded. She’d decided that because she didn’t win the battle over coming out or staying at Bonnie’s house, she would be as stubborn as she possibly could here.

“You have such a way with words, Marceline,” Bonnie teased after she’d taken a sip of her drink, shooting Marceline a playful smirk. “I especially liked ‘shut your mouth’…yeah, I feel so loved.”

“You know,” Marceline paused to take a bite out of the cookie she’d bought for herself, “You mocking me would be a lot more effective if you didn’t have a coffee moustache.”

Bonnie’s eyes widened and she wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her pink hoodie. “Did I get it?”

Marceline just rolled her eyes and picked up a napkin from the table, leaning across and wiping the corner of Bonnie’s mouth with it, before crumpling it up and sitting back in her chair. “There.”

“Thank you,” Bonnie smiled. “What do you want to do when we get back to mine?”

Marceline just shrugged. “Give me some options.”

Bonnie bit on her lip in thought. “We could watch a few movies or talk or bake cupcakes or -,”

“What was that last one again?” Marceline cut Bonnie off, a look of interest in her crimson eyes.

Bonnie frowned. “Bake cupcakes?”

“Yeah,” Marceline nodded, sipping on her drink. “We’ll do that.”

Bonnie grinned. She couldn’t help it; the look of excitement on Marceline’s face – which Marceline wasn’t doing very well at concealing – was impossible not to smile at. “Awesome.”

* * *

 

“Marceline!” Bonnie exclaimed, wiping the flour from her face.

Marceline looked at her with feigned innocence. “What? I didn’t do anything. You told me to pass you the flour.”

“Yeah, _pass_ me the flour,” Bonnie replied, grabbing a tea towel and wiping her face with it, “ _Not_ flick it in my face.”

“You look like a ghost,” Marceline snickered. “No, screw that. You look like me.”

Bonnie dipped her fingers into the bag of flour and smeared it across Marceline’s cheek. “There, we’re even.”

Marceline scowled at Bonnie as she rubbed the flour from her cheek with the back of her hand, although the pink haired girl could tell she was fighting back a smile. “You’re insufferable.”

Bonnie smiled as she measured out 4 ounces of flour. “You don’t _really_ think that.”

“Sadly, that’s true.” Marceline rolled her eyes as Bonnie passed her the flour that she’d measured out.

“Put that in the bowl and mix it in,” Bonnie said, “I’ll measure out and melt the butter.”

“Sure, whatever the _princess_ desires.” Marceline shot Bonnie a smirk as she poured the flour into the mixing bowl and stirred.

Bonnie frowned, “Don’t call me that.”

Marceline cringed at the little quiver in Bonnie’s voice. “Okay. Sorry.”

Bonnie gulped and looked up, shooting Marceline a reassuring smile. “Don’t apologise. I just don’t like it when you call me that. It makes me think that you hate me again, or something.”

“I never hated you, you dumbass.”

“Yeah, calling me a dumbass is really comforting. Thanks, Marceline.” Bonnibel sarcastically shot back.

“Since when were you a sarcastic bitch? I thought that was my thing.” Marceline replied.

Bonnie shrugged nonchalantly. “Maybe you’re rubbing off on me.”

Marceline’s eyes widened and she said to no-one in particular, “Call in the swat teams, everyone. The apocalypse is here.”

Bonnie chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Shut up. I’m not going to start wearing all black, piercing my face and listening to punk rock, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Phew,” Marceline feigned relief and wiped her brow, “Crisis averted.”

“One day I might turn up dressed like a punk just to see your reaction.” Bonnie mused.

“You do realise your friends would have worse reactions than me and probably never let us hang out again, right?”

“My friends don’t control me. I’ll hang out with whoever I want.” Bonnie replied. “I mean, on my first day they told me not to talk to you; clearly I’m a good listener.”

“Wait, what? _Seriously_?” Marceline laughed a little. “Wow. Your friends are _really_ that scared of me?”

“Apparently so.” Bonnie replied. “If it’s any consolation, I didn’t fall for your little act.”

Marceline smiled. “Yeah. I’m glad you didn’t.”

“That’s one of the sweetest things you’ve ever said to me.” Bonnie grinned. “You’re going soft, Abadeer.”

Marceline shrugged, putting an arm around Bonnie’s shoulders. “Maybe _you’re_ influencing me.”

Bonnie laughed, resting her head on Marceline’s shoulder. She looked up at the paler girl and shot her a soft smile. “Are you saying that’s a bad thing?”

Marceline gave her a gentle squeeze. “Not at all.”

* * *

 

“You’ve eaten four cupcakes.” Marceline stated, looking at Bonnie in disbelief. “How are you still hungry?”

Bonnie just shrugged, wiping frosting from her upper lip. “It’s not my fault that we made the greatest cupcakes in all of creation.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Marceline rolled her eyes at the excitable pink haired girl. “I think you need to relax with the cupcakes and stuff. We’ll be having dinner soon, probably.”

“You need a cupcake.” Bonnie said, a determined look on her face. “You’ve only had half of one and you gave the rest to me.”

“I’m not hungry,” Marceline quickly responded. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine until dinner.”

Bonnie shot Marceline a doubtful look. “You haven’t eaten since you got here.”

“I’m waiting until dinner.” Marceline firmly responded. “Unlike _you_ , I’m not going to spoil my dinner by eating twenty cupcakes.”

Bonnie smiled. “Okay. We’re having chicken, if that’s okay.”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah. That’s fine.”

Bonnie stood up from her place on the couch and stretched. “I’m going to get another cupcake.”

Marceline grabbed onto her wrist before she could walk away, and pulled Bonnie back onto the couch. The pink haired girl landed half in her seat, half on Marceline. “If you get another cupcake, you’ll burst. I don’t want that to happen.”

Bonnie smiled, shuffling off Marceline’s lap and onto her place on the couch. “Alright, I’ll slow it down.”

“Good.” Marceline smiled. “I don’t get how you managed to eat so many. Where the hell did you put them?”

Marceline poked Bonnie in the side, making the pink haired girl giggle and squirm away. “Stop it, I’m ticklish.”

Marceline continued to poke Bonnie, who ended up a flailing mess of limbs in her attempt to get Marceline to stop. She kicked at Marceline’s arms, which didn’t deter the dark haired girl. “I live with Marshall, remember? If I can still beat him at Guitar Hero when he’s kicking me, what makes you think I can’t handle this?”

Bonnie grabbed Marceline’s wrists and held them away from her. She caught her breath, chuckling a little. “Got you.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “You got lucky.”

Bonnie kept a firm grip on Marceline’s wrists. “Maybe you just can’t handle my superior stealth and stamina.”

“Yeah, _that’s_ likely.” Marceline laughed. “You can let go of my arms, you know. I won’t attack you. I swear.”

Bonnie eyed Marceline suspiciously. She let one of Marceline’s arms slip from her grip. “I’ll give you one hand. If you tickle me, I’ll grab it again.”

“Deal.” Marceline smiled.

Something colourful caught Bonnie’s eye – she looked down at the bracelets on Marceline’s arm, and began searching through them with her fingers. She tucked her forefinger underneath one, separating it from the rest. “I like this bracelet.”

Marceline followed Bonnie’s gaze and smiled. “Yeah. Warped Tour 2013. That was a good year.”

Bonnie flipped Marceline’s arm over and started looking through the many bracelets on the other girl’s arm. She pointed to a wristband. “You’ve mentioned this band before.”

“All Time Low?” Marceline asked. On Bonnie’s nod, she continued. “Yeah. They’re my favourite. They played Warped Tour in 2012 and it was hands down the best year.”

Bonnie let Marceline’s arm go and smiled. “Sounds like fun.”

“I’ll take you to a gig some time.” Marceline replied, linking her fingers with Bonnie’s. “But _first_ I’ve got to get you into a band.”

“Planning on transforming me into a groupie, huh?” Bonnie laughed.

“Maybe,” Marceline smiled, “No, I wouldn’t do that to you. Whenever bands I love bring out new music I’m either weirdly happy for a week or a sobbing mess – there’s no in between.”

“A sobbing mess? Is that when you don’t like the music or something?” Bonnie asked.

Marceline shook her head. “No, that’s when the music is so good that I can’t function properly. I basically react to my bands the way your friends would react to…I don’t know, whatever’s popular nowadays.”

“I really want to see you reacting to a new All Time Low song or something.” Bonnie said. “I feel like it’d be funny.”

“There are usually a lot of tears involved. It’s not pretty.” Marceline chuckled, before she paused and looked up at Bonnibel with her puppy dog eyes.

Bonnie narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “What do you want?”

“Can I get in my pyjamas?”

“Seriously?” Bonnie laughed, “It’s barely 6PM.”

“They’re comfortable.” Marceline replied. “I don’t know what you want me to say, man.”

“Okay, you can get in your PJs.”

“One more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Will you get in yours too?” Marceline questioned, “You know, so I don’t look like a weirdo in front of your parents.”

“But you _are_ a weirdo.” Bonnibel teased.

“ _Bonnie,_ ” Marceline pouted at her and shot her an adorable look which reminded Bonnie of a little kid begging for candy. “Please?”

“Fine.”

* * *

 

“I’m really sorry about how weird my parents are,” Bonnie said as her and Marceline headed back into Bonnie’s bedroom after dinner, clad in their pyjamas, “They never shut up.”

“You guys have a lot in common, then.”

Bonnie gave Marceline a gentle smack on the arm. “Jerk.”

Marceline smirked, following Bonnie inside her bedroom and making herself comfortable on Bonnie’s pink bed sheets. “You shouldn’t have given me the opportunity to make that comment.”

Bonnie closed her bedroom door with her foot and sat back on the bed next to Marceline. “True, I did give you the opening. Seriously, though – please tell me my parents weren’t too annoying.”

“They weren’t. It’s fine, man.” Marceline assured.

“Are you sure?” Bonnie pressed. “You looked a little uncomfortable.”

Marceline sighed. “It’s just – no, it’s dumb. Forget it.”

“No!” Bonnie replied, a little too quickly. She couldn’t help herself; she became eager whenever Marceline showed signs of opening up. “Tell me. I won’t judge.”

“I just don’t really know how to act around parents.” Marceline admitted. “I mean, it’s not like I have parents at home. I don’t know how they work or how to react around them.”

Bonnie felt something inside of her break, and she pulled Marceline closer to her and held onto her. “I’m so sorry. I’ll tell them to ease off a little, if you want?”

Marceline’s eyes widened and Bonnie felt her shake her head. “No. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Bonnie asked, letting go of Marceline.

Marceline met her gaze and nodded. “Yeah. And don’t worry, I like your parents.”

Bonnie smiled, taking hold of Marceline’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Yeah. They like you, too. I asked them when I got home the day you met them. They both think you’re some sort of musical prodigy or something. Actually, I agree.”

Marceline blushed, which Bonnie thought was absolutely adorable. “Well, I wouldn’t – uh…I wouldn’t call myself a -,”

“Just shut up and take the compliment, would you?” Bonnie smiled, squeezing Marceline’s hand, before letting go.

“Okay. Thanks.” Marceline quickly replied, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck. “So…what’s the plan now?”

“Movies and c – bed.” Bonnie quickly stopped herself before saying ‘cuddles’. _That_ would’ve been embarrassing.

Clearly, she didn’t stop herself fast enough. “You were going to say something else.”

“No, I wasn’t.” Bonnie replied. She was _not_ admitting what she was originally about to blurt out to Marceline. She’d never live that down.

“Yeah, you were.” Marceline continued. “Come on, Bonnie. Spill.”

Judging by the amused smirk on Marceline’s face, she’d figured it out. Bonnie let out a heavy sigh. “You already know, so why don’t you spare me the embarrassment?”

Marceline laughed. “You want cuddles, don’t you?”

Bonnie sighed. “That might’ve almost slipped out, and I promise I don’t mean anything by it, I just…I enjoyed it, you know? I missed snuggling with someone that wasn’t my Mom.”

Marceline chuckled – she was happy she wasn’t the awkward one for once. “You know, if you want something, all you have to do is ask.”

“What if you get creeped out by me?”

Marceline shot Bonnie a comforting smile. “Dude, that won’t happen. Besides, it’s just cuddling. It’s not like you’re asking me to like…murder someone with you or something.”

Bonnie grinned. “You’re the coolest.”

 _I’m really fucking not,_ Marceline thought. “Thanks, Bonnie.”

Bonnie put on the first DVD she found and snuggled up with Marceline, holding the pale girl close to her. She felt content with Marceline in her arms; she felt comforted.

When her Mom came in at 11:30PM to tell the two girls to shut off the TV, she found them snuggled up in Bonnie’s bed together, Marceline wrapped up in Bonnie’s arms and Bonnibel with her fingers tangled in Marceline’s jet black hair. The two girls were seemingly as close together as they possibly could be, and Bonnie’s Mom couldn’t help but smile at how content the two looked.

She tiptoed across the room and turned off Bonnibel’s TV, shooting one last look at the two girls. She smiled to herself; if Bonnibel was awake, she’d definitely be flushed red and trying to explain what her and Marceline were doing.

She’d also be feeling happier than she’d felt in a long time.


	22. twenty-two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> last day of school before easter break antics.

** Friday 4th April 2014 **

The last day of school before the two week Easter break could only be accurately described by Marceline, who thought it was hectic as fuck. School closed at lunchtime, and typically the teachers whose lessons they were going to miss were parading round the school handing out extra homework just for the hell of it.

Marceline thought that was bullshit. The whole point of having a two week break was to have a fucking _break_ , which should mean _no_ extra homework, which Marceline didn’t plan on doing anyway. Her plans for the break were to put on her sweatpants and see how many TV shows she could finish. She didn’t plan on leaving her bedroom for the next two weeks.

Bonnie clearly _didn’t_ agree with Marceline’s plan, because she’d sent Marceline at least five texts throughout the day, which Marceline hadn’t yet responded to.

**_Bonnie (7:38AM): Meet up with me in the Easter break?_ **

**_Bonnie (7:43AM): We can ignore people and watch TV – I know they’re your two favourite activities. :)_ **

**_Bonnie (9:01AM): Either you’ve lost your phone or you’re ignoring me._ **

**_Bonnie (10:34AM): If you ignore me I’ll just come and find you. The only places you go in school is the music room and Simon’s classroom. It’s not that hard to track you down._ **

**_Bonnie (10:41AM): Meet me by the parking lot when school finishes? Please?_ **

Eventually, as the bell signalling the end of first break rang, Marceline texted back – usually, she had a music lesson, but since she’d already finished the class, she decided to find somewhere to sit and read. She didn’t want Bonnibel to think she was mad at her or anything; she knew Bonnie had bad experience with that in past friendships.

**_Marceline (10:50AM): but I want to go home and sleep_ **

**_Bonnie (10:50AM): Sleep with me! :)_ **

**_Bonnie (10:51AM): I just realised how that must have sounded. Sorry. :)_ **

**_Marceline (10:51AM): damn you always try to seduce me man control yourself_ **

**_Marceline (10:51AM): I know I’m hot but chill dude_ **

**_Bonnie (10:51AM): I just laughed in class and my teacher is glaring at me. Teachers don’t glare at me. You’re a bad influence._ **

**_Marceline (10:52AM): if I’m not mistaken you texted me first_ **

**_Marceline (10:52AM): and yes I’ll meet you in the parking lot_ **

**_Bonnie (10:53AM): By your car?_ **

**_Marceline (10:53AM): no by the president’s limo_ **

**_Marceline (10:53AM): yes by my fucking car where the fuck else would we meet_ **

**_Bonnie (10:54AM): There’s no need to be sarcastic, Marceline._ **

**_Marceline (10:54AM): there’s always a need to be sarcastic_ **

**_Bonnie (10:54AM): I’ll see you at lunch, Marcy. :)_ **

**_Marceline (10:54AM): yeah you will_ **

**_Bonnie (10:55AM): Bye! :)_ **

Somehow, Bonnie had managed to convince Marceline to _not_ go home and take a nap – which recently had become a new after-school routine for her – and Marceline knew she’d probably be roped into watching a few movies with Bonnie or something.

Oddly enough, she didn’t seem to have a problem with that.

* * *

 

Bonnie sighed in content as she locked her phone and slid it in her pocket. She smiled; she enjoyed knowing she had plans with Marceline.

Lady – who was sat next to her in Math – picked up on Bonnie’s good mood. “Okay, either you just found out you won a Nobel Prize _or_ you have a secret date. I’m betting it’s the date.”

“I don’t have a _date_.” Bonnie replied. “I’m just hanging out with Marceline after school for a little while.”

“That sucks!” Lady exclaimed. “I was going to invite you over to mine. Finn, Jake and everyone else are coming over to celebrate two weeks of no school. Even Marshall is going to be there.”

“Well, I asked Marceline first. Sorry.” Bonnibel apologised, although she wasn’t all that sorry. She was happy to be spending quiet time with Marceline, and she knew that if Marshall was going to be present, he’d probably bring alcohol with him.

“Bring her!” Lady quickly responded. She had no clue why she’d said that; she was aware that having Marceline over might make things awkward – especially since LSP was going to be there – but she really wanted Bonnibel to come over. “I don’t mind who you bring.”

“I doubt Marceline will want to hang out with you guys. No offence, but she doesn’t really seem to like anybody aside from you.” Bonnibel pulled her phone out and decided to send Marceline a quick text to see if she was right.

**_Bonnie (11:04AM): Hey, you wouldn’t want to come to my friends’ end of semester celebration, right?_ **

**_Bonnie (11:04AM): And also while we’re on the topic, which of my friends do you actually like?_ **

Once her texts had sent, she slipped her phone back into her pocket. Lady shot Bonnie a surprised frown. “Did you just say that Marceline likes me?”

Bonnie laughed. “Well, I think she does.”

Bonnie saw the small, proud smile on Lady’s face. “I feel like I’ve accomplished the impossible.”

Bonnie chuckled, although didn’t reply as her phone vibrated in her pocket. She sneakily pulled it out after making sure that their teacher was caught up in explaining the quiz that they were about to do up at the front of the room, and read Marceline’s reply.

**_Marceline (11:07AM): honestly I would rather set myself on fire_ **

**_Marceline (11:08AM): and lady’s okay and gumball and then that blond dude who’s like twelve_ **

Bonnie double checked that her teacher was still wrapped up in her explanation before replying.

**_Bonnie (11:09AM): When did you talk to Finn?_ **

**_Marceline (11:09AM): the kid was at my house because him and the other guys that you hang out with were staying over with my brother_ **

**_Marceline (11:09AM): they gave me a fucking headache but then in the morning I was drinking my green tea and then he comes running downstairs and he started talking to me_ **

**_Bonnie (11:10AM): Please tell me you were nice?_ **

**_Marceline (11:11AM): yeah I was nice_ **

**_Marceline (11:11AM): he seemed a little scared at first and I was like ‘dude I’m not going to eat you or whatever chill’ and then he chilled out and we ended up having a civilised conversation about star wars until I went back upstairs and proceeded to sleep for the rest of the day_ **

**_Bonnie (11:13AM): Okay, good :)_ **

**_Bonnie (11:13AM): Anyways I’m going again, bye! See you at your car :)_ **

**_Marceline (11:14AM): bye loser ;)_ **

Bonnie smiled and locked her phone, shoving it into her pocket and turning back to Lady. “Well, it’s been confirmed that Marceline likes you, Gumball and Finn.”

“Well, then she can talk to us when you and her arrive at my house tonight. Yeah?” Lady replied.

“Yeah, that’s not happening. She doesn’t want to.” Bonnie said. She knew Marceline wouldn’t want to. “Marceline is like me. We don’t like big groups of people.”

Lady sighed. “Fine, but you’re coming to see me in the holidays. If you make up any excuse I’ll come over to your house and drag you out to the mall or something.”

“Okay.” Bonnie quickly replied. “No excuses. God, don’t take me to the _mall_. I hate malls.”

“You can’t hate malls.” Lady shot back. “It’s impossible.”

Bonnibel raised a challenging eyebrow. “They’re overcrowded and tiring. Plus, the food is always ridiculously overpriced. Like, the McDonald’s by my house in New York was _much_ cheaper than any of the ones in major shopping places.”

“You are _so_ lucky you got to live in New York. I wish I could go there.” Lady sighed. She’d wanted to go to New York since she’d been a little kid – there were so many places to shop. “Take me one day, yeah?”

Bonnie cringed. Although initially she didn’t want to move, having friends had changed her perspective. She wasn’t too keen on the idea of going back to New York again – too many bad memories. “Uh…yeah. One day.”

“Awesome.” Lady smiled. “Maybe after we graduate next year.”

Bonnie just nodded along; she didn’t like letting people down. “Okay.”

She hated making deals she couldn’t keep.

* * *

 

“You came.” Bonnie pointed out as Marceline approached her.

Marceline shrugged. “Well, I heard there was going to be a cute girl by my car. Can’t pass that up.”

Bonnibel blushed and playfully shoved Marceline. “And _I’m_ the one always trying to be seductive?”

Marceline held her hands up in defence. “Hey, I was just trying to compliment you. Don’t beat me up about it.”

“Well, thank you.” Bonnie smiled. “And you’re rather cute yourself.”

“That’s debatable.” Marceline responded, although at the stern look on Bonnie’s face, she continued. “But thanks.”

Bonnie frowned. “It’s _not_ debatable. If there was a list of non-debatable topics, that would be on it. You’re great.”

“Whatever you say, man.” Marceline replied, although she didn’t know what made Bonnie think that. “Anyway, where am I taking you?”

“Either your place or mine.” Bonnie said. “Either way, we’re hanging out.”

“Well, if we went to mine we’d be alone because Simon and Betty have to stay until 3PM for a staff meeting and Marshall is with your friends.” Marceline explained. “But I don’t mind.”

“We’ll go to yours.” Bonnie concluded, waiting for Marceline to unlock the car so she could get in. “Have you had lunch yet?”

“Not yet. I wasn’t planning on eating at school today.” Marceline replied as she unlocked the car and got into the driver’s seat. She looked over to Bonnie, who had climbed into the car and buckled up her seatbelt. “McDonald’s run?”

Bonnie grinned. “Awesome.”

* * *

 

Marceline pushed open the front door with her foot – her hands were taken up by her and Bonnie’s McDonald’s meals. She quickly headed into the front room and placed them on the coffee table, before heading back to Bonnie who was putting her and Marceline’s schoolbags down by the door.

Bonnie shut the front door, and was about to start talking, but a loud yapping prevented her from doing so. Schwabl came running down the stairs and jumped up at Marceline. The dark haired girl smiled and patted the white poodle on his head. “Hey, buddy.”

She picked him up and Bonnie could see the dog’s tail furiously whipping back and forth, and she smiled. “You know, when I met you, I never thought I’d see you cuddling a dog.”

“He’s my little puppy, of course I’m going to cuddle him.” Marceline smiled, kissing the dog on the top of his head.

Bonnie thought that Marceline was being adorable. “That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Marceline looked up at her and frowned as they made their way into the front room and sat down on the couch. Schwabl rested himself on Marceline’s lap, and the pale girl was casually stroking him as she conversed with Bonnie. “What is?”

“The hardcore punk cuddling a dog.”

Marceline laughed. “Oh my God. I’m _not_ hardcore.”

“Well, you’re the most hardcore person I know.” Bonnie said.

“Aw, that’s sweet.” Marceline smiled. Then, her face turned serious. “You’re delusional.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. “What? You’re all tough and stuff. Doesn’t that make you hardcore?”

Marceline just laughed. “You’re adorable.”

Bonnibel blushed and looked anywhere but Marceline as she leaned forward and grabbed her McDonald’s meal from the bag it was in on the coffee table. She didn’t know why she felt so shy all of a sudden – she never felt like this whenever any of her other friends complimented her. Why should it be any different with Marceline?

Bonnie looked at Marceline out of the corner of her eye, aware that her cheeks were probably as red as Mars. She _did_ think Marceline was attractive, but all of her female friends were pretty and she didn’t get all nervous when Lady or Fionna teased her.

Bonnie felt a sense of dread wash over her. No. She couldn’t…she didn’t li –

 _Bonnibel,_ the pink haired girl stopped herself from finishing that thought, _she’s just a really good friend. You just care about her, that’s all._

“So,” Marceline snapped Bonnie from her thoughts, “Any plans for the holidays?”

Bonnie vigorously shook her head. “Nope. No plans.”

“I take it you’ll be busy building a spaceship or something.” Marceline replied, “If you need any help with that, I’m here. And by help, I pretty much mean if you want it to explode. I’m no good with science. It’s confusing.”

“Once you get to grips with the basics it becomes simpler.” Bonnie responded.

Marceline waited until she’d eaten a bit of her burger before replying. “Dude, I’ve done science at school almost every day since I was like five and I have absolutely _no idea_ what I’m doing. Same with math, actually.”

“I could help you if you’d be willing to study.” Bonnie offered.

“Looks like that’s not going to happen, then.” Marceline responded, smirking. “I think you just forgot who you’re talking to. I don’t willingly study.”

Bonnie frowned. “Why not?”

“It’s boring and I always end up distracted anyways.” Marceline shrugged. “It’s pointless. Fuck school.”

“School isn’t all bad.” Bonnie reasoned. “I mean, if it wasn’t for school, you wouldn’t have met any of your friends.”

Marceline thought for a moment. Bonnie did make a good point. “Yeah. I guess.”

Bonnie smiled, grabbing hold of Marceline’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “School would be boring without you, anyways. You make History fun.”

Marceline grinned. “Thanks, Bonnie. I actually hate school a little less now that you’re around. I’m glad you didn’t stop bugging me when you moved here.”

“I’m glad too.” Bonnie smiled. “If I hadn’t kept annoying you, I would probably be at a party right now. I don’t like parties.”

“Wait, that thing your friends invited you to was a party?” Marceline frowned.

“Yeah.” Bonnie replied.

“Oh,” Marceline shrugged. “The only time I’d ever be able to endure your friends is if I was drunk or something.”

“I think Marshall is taking alcohol with him.” Bonnie said. “How does he even get that stuff?”

“He has a fake ID. He got one to buy cigarettes when he was fifteen.” Marceline explained. “I found out about it around the same time I found out about his smoking.”

Bonnie knew that Marceline didn’t approve of smoking, and she couldn’t help asking what she did next. “How did you react when you found out?”

“I didn’t give two fucks about the fake ID, but we ended up in a huge argument about the smoking. Eventually I stopped caring, but I still steal his cigarettes and dispose of them when I can.” Marceline told her. “I mean, at one point everyone in my band but me smoked. Now only Marshall and Guy do.”

“Keila used to smoke?” Bonnie asked. She didn’t expect that.

“Yeah.” Marceline said. “She hasn’t for about two months now. She’s the best. I tried not to care about her smoking but I worry a lot.”

“About Keila?”

“About everyone I care about, really.” Marceline admitted. “Keila, Simon, Marshall, Bongo, Guy.” Marceline paused, before her gaze flicked up at Bonnie and then quickly averted to her hands, which were fiddling with the hem of the red plaid shirt Marceline was wearing. “You.”

“You worry about me?” Bonnie frowned in confusion, although inwardly she felt rather happy that Marceline cared about her.

“Of course I do.” Marceline replied. “I care about you, dumbass.”

“I care about you too!” Bonnie smiled, leaning over and giving Marceline a huge hug. “You’re the coolest.”

“Nah,” Marceline replied. “That’s you.”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes and smiled. She decided to change the subject; she knew Marceline probably wouldn’t accept her compliments. “Shall we do something?”

“Will that something involve sleeping?”

“No.” Bonnie replied.

Marceline frowned. “No, then. Get out of my house.”

Bonnie shot Marceline a pout and attempted to mimic Marceline’s puppy dog eyes. “ _Marcy_ , please?” Bonnie dragged out each letter in Marceline’s name for as long as she could.

“Whoa, chill,” Marceline held her hands up in defence, “I was just kidding. No need to get all pouty about it. We can do anything.”

“Go and get your Disney movies,” Bonnie decided. “If you’ve got any popcorn, I’ll make that. Although, judging by the amount of food you’ve got left, you won’t need it.”

Bonnie looked over at Marceline’s McDonald’s meal. She’d eaten her burger, but she still had most of her fries left over and the McFlurry Bonnie had insisted on buying her was melting next to her drink. Marceline followed Bonnie’s gaze and shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m full.”

Bonnie raised an eyebrow – she found this a little worrying. From what she knew, Marceline didn’t have breakfast on a morning that often. “Really? So if I was to steal your leftover fries and eat your McFlurry, you’d be fine with it?”

“Well, I was thinking about putting the McFlurry in the freezer for later, but you can have the fries.” Marceline said, leaning over and grabbing them, holding them out to Bonnie. “Here. Take them.”

Bonnibel frowned but took the fries, grabbing a handful and eating them. “Are you sure you don’t want these?”

Marceline nodded as she leaned over to grab the McFlurry. It was Oreo flavoured – Bonnie had insisted on buying Marceline something, since Marceline had paid for both of their meals. “I’m going to put this in the freezer.”

“Okay.” Bonnie replied through a mouthful of fries.

“Do you want a drink while I’m in there?” Marceline asked.

Bonnie reached over and grabbed her Coke, which she’d gotten from McDonald’s. She gently shook it. “Nope, I’ve got enough here.”

“Okay, dude.”

By the time Marceline had gotten back, Bonnie had finished off the fries and had packed all of their empty food containers back into the McDonald’s bag. Marceline just rolled her eyes and grabbed it, walking back into the kitchen and trashing it, before sitting back down next to Bonnie.

“Are you going to get your Disney movies or what?” Bonnie asked.

“Seriously?” Marceline shot her an incredulous look. “I _just_ sat down!”

Bonnie feigned an innocent smile. “Well…I can’t get them. I don’t know where they are.”

“You’ve been here a thousand times. _Yes you do_.” Marceline said.

Bonnie just looked at Marceline expectantly until the dark haired girl finally caved. Marceline made a huge show of sliding off the couch and onto the floor, letting out a loud groan as she stood up and slowly walked out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a box full of Disney DVDs. Marceline dumped the box on Bonnie’s lap and sat back down. “ _There_. Happy?”

Bonnie grinned. “Very.”

“If anybody walked in on us right now, this would look extremely weird,” Marceline commented as she looked up at Bonnibel.

Currently, Marceline was laid across the couch, half on top of Bonnie while the pink haired girl had her arm around her. Bonnie just smiled down at her. “Probably.”

Marceline smiled and snuggled closer to Bonnibel, comforted by the pink haired girl’s soft breathing and her subtle chocolate scent. “I don’t care, though. You’re comfy.”

“Thanks,” Bonnie laughed, “I think that was a compliment, anyways.”

“It was.” Marceline quietly reassured her.

“I’m sorry for always asking to cuddle you, by the way,” Bonnie apologised. She didn’t want Marceline thinking she liked her – Bonnie _definitely_ didn’t – because it would make things weird between them. “If you don’t want to, just tell me.”

“Dude, I like this cuddling arrangement as much as you,” Marceline replied. “It’s nice. Besides, it’s not like you mean it romantically.”

“Exactly.” Bonnie said, although she had to reassure herself, because really, dating Marceline wouldn’t be all that bad.

 _No, Bonnie_.

They could walk around town together, holding hands. Bonnie would boost herself up on her tiptoes and kiss Marceline on her pale cheek.

 _Stop this right now, Bonnibel_.

Bonnie would hold Marceline and lean down and give her kisses and –

 _No, no, no_ , Bonnie snapped herself out of her daydream, _I won’t let myself think about her like that any longer_. If Marceline knew what Bonnie was thinking, Bonnibel was sure she’d make a run for it right now.

Bonnie closed her eyes and bit on her lip. _You don’t like Marceline. Stop thinking like this._

Bonnie let herself take a glimpse at Marceline, who was too busy watching the movie to focus on Bonnibel.

Bonnie exhaled in relief as she examined Marceline. She felt no desire to lean down and kiss her. Bonnie had just had a stupid daydream. She couldn’t help where her mind wandered to. _See, you don’t want to date her. No romantic feelings there whatsoever._

When Marceline shuffled onto her side and flung a protective arm over Bonnie, the pink haired girl had to keep herself together.

 _I will not let myself like her like that,_ Bonnibel firmly told herself, _I won’t ruin everything this time._

She hoped she’d be able to stop herself from liking Marceline. She refused to let herself develop more than friendly feelings for the dark haired girl next to her.

She ruined things with her best friend before. That wasn’t going to happen again.

Not if Bonnie had any say in things, anyway.


	23. twenty-three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some of bonnie's friends find out she's gay. one of them doesn't take it so well.

** Wednesday 9th April 2014 **

Bonnibel had been invited to a group sleepover with Lady, Fionna, Cake and LSP at Lady’s house, and to be quite honest, she was incredibly nervous. She’d grown used to having small sleepovers with Marceline, but she didn’t think that she’d be doing the same sort of things she did with Marceline with Lady and the others.

For one, there definitely wouldn’t be snuggles.

Bonnie didn’t really know what to expect of the night ahead. She’d never been to a sleepover like this before, unless she counted the one they had at Marshall’s for Lady’s birthday. Bonnie smiled when she thought back to that night – even then, she snuck off from her friends to hang out with Marceline, and they weren’t even friends at that point.

She wondered if her friends would gossip – LSP was there, so Bonnie suspected they would – and she wondered what she’d do if they brought Marceline up. Bonnie had never been one for confrontation. Usually, when someone said something she didn’t like, Bonnie just kept quiet and glowered in the background; she didn’t like causing conflict. Bonnie decided that if LSP said something about Marceline that annoyed her, she would defend her friend. After all, Marceline was probably the best friend she had, and Bonnie wasn’t too close to LSP. She could live without her.

Bonnie walked up to Lady’s doorstep and knocked. She was almost immediately grabbed and pulled inside by Lady and Fionna, who were both grinning at her like hyenas.

“Sorry,” Lady said, “We had to pull you inside in case you decided you wanted to go home and do your science.”

Bonnie laughed, although inwardly she was wishing she _could_ do a science experiment right now. She had to admit, knowing she had absolutely no way of predicting the night’s events made her rather nervous. She hated uncertainty. That was why she liked science; she liked being in the know. “Don’t worry. I won’t be ditching you tonight. I swear.”

Fionna smiled at her. “Good. We’re just finishing up watching a movie if you want to come upstairs. Cake and LSP are in there already.”

The three girls headed upstairs once Bonnibel took her shoes off, and they entered Lady’s bedroom to see LSP and Cake sat on the floor in front of the TV, both of them teary-eyed at some soppy romance movie.

Bonnie wasn’t going to lie; she did have a soft spot for romantic comedies, and _sometimes_ she cried at a fair few – if Marceline ever found out she’d never live that down – but she never got in the state LSP and Cake were in. The two girls were virtually sobbing, while LSP claimed, “It’s just like me and Brad!”

Bonnie had to refrain from rolling her eyes – nothing ever worked out like it did in the movies – but she still let out a little scoff which managed to go undetected. Bonnie took a seat next to Lady on the bed, and she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She unlocked it and automatically smiled when she saw who it was.

**_Marceline (4:34PM): yo_ **

**_Bonnie (4:34PM): Hello! How are you?_ **

**_Marceline (4:36PM): I just woke up and I’m bored_ **

**_Bonnie (4:37PM): You just woke up? What time did you stay up until last night?_ **

**_Marceline (4:37PM): um well you see I might have lost track of time and watched a full season of ahs before I realised it was seven am_ **

**_Bonnie (4:38PM): You’re literally nocturnal. No wonder LSP thinks you’re a vampire._ **

**_Marceline (4:39PM): shut up before I bite you_ **

**_Bonnie (4:40PM): You wouldn’t bite me, you like me too much. :)_ **

Bonnie smiled and locked her phone, just as Lady peered over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of her texts. “What are you and Marceline talking about, huh?”

Lady looked like she knew something Bonnie didn’t, and the pink haired girl felt a little discouraged. “Nothing. What were you thinking?”

“I bet she was getting Bubblegum to let her in so she can suck our blood.” LSP spoke up from the front of the room, where she was attempting to fix her makeup after all of the crying she’d been doing at the movie.

Bonnie just rolled her eyes and was about to reply, but her phone vibrated again and she decided to talk to Marceline instead.

**_Marceline (4:46PM): how’s the sleepover from hell going_ **

For a minute, Bonnie was rather happy that Marceline had remembered her plans and cared enough to ask how she was. Bonnie had always wanted a friend like that. Marceline was just so sweet.

**_Bonnie (4:47PM): It could be better. I wish you were here._ **

Bonnie was unsure if that last part was a little too far. She didn’t want Marceline to think she liked her in any way other than platonically.

Because she didn’t.

She _didn’t_ like Marceline.

Bonnie didn’t like how she kept having to reassure herself, but she knew the instant joy she seemed to feel whenever Marceline sent her a message and the little swarm of butterflies in her stomach at the other girl’s touch wasn’t good. She _refused_ to ruin things again, and reassuring herself that she didn’t like Marceline like that was the only way to ensure that.

**_Marceline (4:48PM): that’s so mean why would you wish torture on me_ **

**_Marceline (4:48PM): I’m hurt :(_ **

**_Bonnie (4:49PM): My friends aren’t that bad, you know. Don’t be a grump. ;)_ **

**_Marceline (4:51PM): your friends make me uncomfortable_ **

**_Bonnie (4:52PM): They’re a little overwhelming, I’ll give you that. They mean well though. I think you’d actually get on with some of them if you tried to._ **

**_Bonnie (4:53PM): Not that I’m saying you have to try, you don’t. It’s up to you and everything._ **

**_Marceline (4:53PM): I know :)_ **

**_Marceline (4:54PM): okay I’ll let you get back to your friends_ **

Bonnie wanted to tell Marceline not to leave, but she decided she’d actually be sociable for the night.

**_Bonnie (4:54PM): Okay. Bye, Marcy. :)_ **

**_Marceline (4:54PM): if you need me at all, text me because all I’ll be doing is watching tv_ **

**_Bonnie (4:55PM): Okay, thanks. I’ll see you some time this week, yeah?_ **

**_Marceline (4:55PM): you bet :)_ **

Bonnie instantly regretted what she sent next.

**_Bonnie (4:55PM): Love you :)_ **

Bonnie didn’t know what compelled her to send that. She might as well have just told Marceline that she was a murderer or something; she knew the dark haired girl would be freaked out by what Bonnie had sent.

Bonnie was terrified to look at Marceline’s response, but she pulled herself together and unlocked her phone, looking down at the text.

**_Marceline (4:56PM): love you too_ **

Bonnie immediately felt relief surge through her. Marceline didn’t freak out at her.

That put her in a good mood for the rest of the night.

* * *

 

Once Bonnie’s friends had gotten bored of the romance movies, everybody got changed and sat down in a circle, as instructed by LSP. “We’re going to play sleepover games.”

Bonnie frowned. She’d never played any sleepover games before, and she didn’t really know what they entailed. She just hoped she’d get through this without revealing anything she liked to keep to herself.

“Truth or Dare.” Cake immediately replied. “It’s the best.”

The rest of the girls agreed. Bonnie kept silent; she didn’t like the sound of doing horrible dares or revealing any personal information.

“Lady, you go first.” Fionna said. “It’s your house.”

Lady looked around the circle and smirked. “LSP, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Why did you and Brad break up?”

Everyone collectively ‘oohed’; apparently LSP’s breakup with Brad – which Bonnie hadn’t even known had occurred – was very scandalous information.

“Well…he tried to do stuff with me and I was grossed out and we had an argument and he said he was too _mature_ for me.” LSP rambled on. “What does that even mean, you guys?”

Cake comforted LSP for a few moments, before she turned around and scanned the group for who she was going to subject to a dare or a truth. “Fionna.”

Bonnie exhaled in relief. She’d been hoping nobody would choose her. She was more of a spectator for games like this.

Apparently, her friends didn’t agree with that – after Bonnie had successfully not been chosen at all, LSP broke her usual streak of asking Cake and smirked at Bonnibel. “Bubblegum, truth or dare.”

The idea of spilling any secrets to LSP mortified Bonnie – their whole school would know in a matter of minutes – so Bonnie settled on dare. “Dare, I guess.”

LSP grinned. “Give me your phone and let me prank call someone.”

Bonnibel was wary – first of all, she knew by _someone,_ LSP probably meant Marceline and secondly, Bonnie didn’t particularly trust the other girl. Bonnie let out a deep sigh and handed over her phone. “My parents are off limits.”

LSP didn’t seem fazed by this. “I wasn’t going to call your parents.”

“You’re going to call Marceline, aren’t you?” Bonnie replied in monotone. “Don’t annoy her. She’s probably busy.”

Bonnie knew for a fact that Marceline wasn’t busy, but she really didn’t want to annoy her.

“I didn’t think of that,” LSP said, although by her tone Bonnibel could tell she had.

She saw LSP tapping about on Bonnie’s phone, and then she called someone and put it on speaker. Marceline picked up on the second ring.

 _“Bonnie, whatever you want please make it quick. I’m in the middle of a Buffy episode_.” Marceline replied.

LSP put on a pompous, almost British accent, which was apparently supposed to sound like Bonnie. “I hate you. Never talk to me again, and by me I mean me, Bubblegum – I mean, Bonnibel.”

 _“I know it’s not Bonnie. I’m not an idiot.”_ Bonnie was pretty relieved to hear that, although she didn’t think LSP’s voice sounded anything like her own and she knew only an idiot would fall for that. _“I’m going to assume you stole Bonnie’s phone.”_

Bonnibel reached over and grabbed her phone from LSP’s grasp, which was countered with an annoyed glare from the other girl. “Marcy?”

 _“Hi, Bonnie.”_ Marceline replied. _“I take it they stole your phone, yeah?”_

“It was a dare. I got told to give them my phone so they could call whoever they like.” Bonnie responded. “Sorry to annoy you.”

 _“You don’t annoy me_ ,” Bonnie noticed the emphasis on ‘you’, _“Your friends, on the other hand…”_

“Don’t be mean.” Bonnie chided. “I recall you saying you liked some of them.”

 _“Maybe I’m just a good liar,”_ Marceline said _, “Lady’s cool, though.”­_

Bonnie looked over to see Lady with a proud grin on her face. “You think I’m cool?”

 _“Fuck, am I on speaker?”_ Marceline asked.

Bonnie chuckled. Weren’t prank calls always put on speaker? “Yeah, you moron.”

 _“I’m hanging up on you now. Bye.”_ Marceline quickly answered. _“And don’t call me a moron_.”

With that, she was gone.

* * *

 

It was a while before Bonnie was chosen again in the game. She was picked by LSP for a second time, and instead of opting for another dare and have another failed attempt at LSP attempting to annoy Marceline, she chose truth – a decision she later regretted.

LSP smirked at her as if she was about to make Bonnie reveal her deepest, darkest secrets. “Who was your last boyfriend?”

Bonnie wanted to laugh. Lady actually _did_ laugh. Bonnie couldn’t believe she’d been worried – she should’ve known LSP would ask a dumb question like this; the blonde was always trying to get gossip on other people’s love lives. “Uh, I’ve never had a boyfriend before.”

“You’ve _never_ had a boyfriend? That’s so weird! We need to set you up with someone.” LSP exclaimed, before she proceeded to scroll through her Facebook friend list and find boys who she thought Bonnie would like.

Lady was giggling to herself in the corner, and Bonnie was just trying to end this conversational topic as quickly as she possibly could. Whenever something like this was mentioned, Bonnie always found a way to change the subject before it spiralled into something else. As LSP persisted, Bonnie grew increasingly nervous.

“What about him?” LSP held up her phone to Bonnibel and showed her a picture of some guy who was probably one of her many ex-boyfriends.

For the fifth or sixth time, Bonnibel answered, “He’s not really my type.”

LSP sighed. “Who _is_ your type? You’re like, impossible.”

 _Girls are usually my type_ , Bonnie thought, _I especially like dark hair and girls who can play instruments. But not Marceline. Nope._

Bonnibel didn’t really know how to talk her way out of this one, and she was aware of how clammy her hands had become and she could feel her face heating up.“Uh…well, you see…I judge on personality rather than looks.”

“Bubblegum, are you gay?”

The question made her feel as though someone had just taken a gun and shot her.

Bonnie froze and her gaze snapped towards Fionna, who was looking at her with an inquisitive expression. Bonnibel was struggling to find words and couldn’t think of a decent excuse. “I – what…I don’t – what are you talking about? Of course I’m not – I just…”

Bonnie couldn’t get anything out. She knew she should tell them, but she just _couldn’t_. Especially not with LSP in the room.

Lady put an arm around Bonnibel and smiled. “It’s okay. You can tell them, they won’t judge you.”

Bonnie felt comforted by Lady and was lulled into a sense of false security. She gulped and directed her gaze to her feet, refusing to look any of her friends in the eye. Then, she made the stupidest decision she could. “I…I’m gay. Fine. I – I like girls.”

Fionna just nodded. “Okay, that’s cool.”

Bonnie looked up in surprise. “You don’t care?”

“Of course we don’t.” Cake said, shooting Bonnie a genuine smile. Although Bonnie wasn’t really close with Cake, she did feel comforted by the gesture. “You do realise Gumball is gay too, right? He’s out and nobody has a problem with him.”

Bonnie’s face broke out into a grin, until her gaze reached LSP, who was looking at her in disgust. Bonnie blinked in confusion – Lady had said they’d be fine with it. “Uh…are you okay?”

“No.” LSP quickly responded. “That’s disgusting.”

Bonnie tensed. “What?”

Lady, Fionna and Cake were as surprised as Bonnie at LSP’s reaction. “You were fine when Gumball came out to you.”

“I don’t like lesbians.” LSP stated, glaring at Bonnie in a way that reminded her of – no. _Don’t, Bonnie,_ she told herself, _think about Marceline. Marceline’s smile. Marceline playing music. Marceline talking. Marceline_. LSP continued shooting Bonnie a horrible look. “I don’t mind Gumball because he won’t come onto me or anything. _She_ might.”

Bonnie hated how LSP was reminding her of New York. She wanted to send back a snarky comment about how she wasn’t attracted to every girl she saw – specifically LSP – but she couldn’t think straight. She was crying, she knew that. Thinking about Marceline wasn’t helping; she wasn’t hearing LSP ranting – she could hear _her_ shouting abuse at her and telling her to get out.

Bonnie ran. She ran out of Lady’s room and down the stairs, pulling her phone out of her pocket and calling somebody. She _thought_ she’d called her Mom, but when she heard a familiar comforting voice down the line, she was even more relieved.

 _“Bonnie, if this is another prank I will make you watch every episode of Buffy as punishment for interrupting me,”_ Then, Marceline heard the soft sobs coming from Bonnie’s side of the phone, and stopped, _“Are you crying? What happened?”_

“I came out – LSP and I…reminded me of New York – can’t take it and I just…she’s going to tell everyone -,” Was all Marceline got through the sobs.

 _“I’m coming to get you right now, okay.”_ Marceline said. _“I’ll come and get you and take you home, alright?”_

Bonnie shook her head, before she realised that Marceline couldn’t see her. “Don’t want to be alone.”

 _“Okay, I’ll take you to my place.”_ Marceline promised, _“I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay? Just talk to Lady or someone in the meantime, yeah?”_

Bonnie simply whimpered in response. “Okay.”

 _“I’m going to put you on speaker so I can keep talking to you while I drive, okay?”_ Marceline said.

“Yeah.” Bonnie murmured, wiping the tears which just wouldn’t stop falling from her eyes. “Tell me about your day.”

 _“My day? Well, I slept through most of it.”_ Marceline said. That elicited a watery laugh from Bonnibel. _“But I watched a lot of TV and made cupcakes with Simon. That was fun. Betty came over after and literally the first thing she saw when she walked into the house was me covered in flour. It was really awkward.”_

 _“After that I played violin for a bit and then played a few video games. I found my old Playstation 2 and spent a few hours playing The Simpsons Hit and Run. It was my favourite game as a kid. It’s literally GTA but with The Simpsons.”_ Marceline chuckled. _“It’s great._ ”

Bonnie’s attention was torn away from Marceline when Lady knelt down next to her and pulled her in for a hug. “Are you okay? God, I should’ve told them to drop it. I’m such an idiot.”

“It’s okay,” Bonnie mumbled, before gesturing towards her phone, “Marceline is on the phone.”

Lady picked up the phone and spoke. “Marceline, it’s Lady.”

Bonnie couldn’t hear Marceline’s side of the conversation, but Lady eventually hung up – to Bonnie’s dismay – and sat down next to Bonnibel, passing her phone back. “She said she’s nearly here and she’s going to take you back to hers and you can stay there for the night.”

Bonnie nodded but didn’t look up. She was still crying. “I want her to be here now.”

“She’s coming as quick as she can.” Lady assured. “You don’t want her to get pulled over for speeding, do you?”

Bonnie shook her head.

Lady smiled. “Thought so. She’s really good to you. I feel bad for judging her before.”

Bonnie looked up in a quizzical manner. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I thought she was just some lazy punk who picks fights and spends all of their money on drugs, but I don’t think she’s like that at all now.” Lady explained, noticing how the change in topic seemed to be cheering Bonnie up. “She seems really nice and she obviously cares about you a lot.”

Bonnie let a small, watery smile creep its way onto her face. “She does.”

* * *

 

Lady sat with Bonnie in the hallway downstairs for ten minutes, just talking to her and trying to keep her mind off things. When there was a knock on the door, Lady jumped up and Bonnie watched after her. Lady opened the door and Marceline stepped inside. Bonnie beamed at the sight of her.

“Where is she?” Marceline asked. Bonnie felt a soaring sensation in her stomach – Marceline was worried about her.

Lady pointed to Bonnie, who was sat a few feet away, concealed by the staircase. “She’s over there.”

Marceline jogged over and pulled Bonnie in for a tight hug. Bonnie almost immediately felt comforted. “How’re you feeling?”

Bonnie gazed into Marceline’s gorgeous eyes and weakly smiled. “Better than I was when I called you.”

“Can you tell me what happened?” Marceline asked, sitting down next to Bonnie and taking the pink haired girl’s hand in her own.

Bonnie went through everything that happened with Marceline, watching as the dark haired girl became significantly angrier as Bonnie kept going. Bonnie knew it wasn’t good when Marceline got mad, and tried to gloss the story over with, “But it’s okay. I’m not mad or anything, I’m alright.”

Marceline stood up and looked over to Lady. “Can I go and get her stuff for her?”

“Yeah, I’ll show you where her bag is.” Lady nodded towards the stairs, and Bonnie quickly stood up and followed, gripping onto Marceline’s hand.

Marceline gave Bonnie’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I guess.” Bonnie responded. “I’m just scared. She’ll tell everyone.”

“She won’t.” Marceline quickly replied. “Don’t worry about that.”

As they entered Lady’s bedroom, LSP looked over from where she was stood and scoffed. “Oh, great. You invited _two_ freaks.”

Marceline shot her a glare which would have terrified anyone. “I don’t care what you say about me, but if you hurt her or tell anyone she’s gay, I won’t hesitate to break your fucking neck.”

LSP’s face paled and she nodded, looking away from them. Lady passed Marceline Bonnibel’s bag, and then Marceline put an arm around Bonnie and steered her out of the room. Bonnie looked up at Marceline in amazement. “What was _that_?”

“Acting.” Marceline smiled and gave Bonnie a gentle squeeze as she walked her downstairs and towards the front door.

Lady quickly ran down the stairs and gave Bonnie a hug. “I’m really sorry about everything.”

“It’s fine.” Bonnie waved a hand in dismissal, before looking up at Marceline. “I’m going to go and get in the car. It’s really cold out here on the doorstep.”

Marceline passed her the keys and Bonnie headed out of the open front door after saying a quick goodbye to Lady. Marceline was about to follow Bonnibel when Lady grabbed onto her arm and stopped her. “I just wanted to thank you. For coming to get her, I mean. And I want to apologise for misjudging you. Do you think we could be friends, maybe?”

Marceline frowned. “Sure, dude.”

Lady seemed surprised that it was that simple. “Okay…and you wouldn’t _really_ break LSP’s neck, right?”

Marceline laughed. “I wish I could, but no. I’m too weak for that – don’t go telling everyone I’m all talk, though.”

“I won’t,” Lady smiled. “Thanks again for looking after her.”

“No worries, man.” Marceline said as she headed out the door. “Later.”

“Bye.”

* * *

 

“If there was a friend of the year award, it’d go to you.” Bonnie said as she sat down on Marceline’s bed. She felt much better after leaving and decided she didn’t care what LSP thought; as long as she didn’t tell anyone, she was happy.

“I wouldn’t go as far to say that, but thanks, Bonnie.” Marceline replied, flopping down on the bed and smiling up at her. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah. I can see why you don’t like her, now.” Bonnie chuckled, laying back so she was next to Marceline. “I’m just glad I have you.”

“Back at you, loser.” Marceline smiled, leaning over and pressing her lips to Bonnie’s cheek. Bonnie was aware of her cheeks flushing red and she hated the butterflies which swarmed in her stomach. “You’re the best. Don’t you forget it.”

After a comfortable silence, Bonnie spoke up. “Promise me something?”

“What?”

“Just promise me that no secrets I tell you will ever effect our friendship.” Bonnie murmured. She hated how easily people left after finding things out.

“I thought that was an unspoken rule in general, but okay. I promise.” Marceline said. She shot Bonnibel a comforting smile, and then wrapped her pinky around Bonnie’s. “Pinky swear. The most sacred of all promises.”

“Did you just quote me?”

Marceline laughed. “Maybe.”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes, but couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. “Cute. Can we just relax so I can take my mind off things?”

Marceline nodded. “Of course. Anything you want.”

“Can we go for a walk?” Bonnie asked.

Marceline frowned, and looked Bonnie up and down. “You’re in your pyjamas.”

“I guess I’ll have to steal more of your clothes, then.” Bonnie responded.

Marceline shot her a smirk and pulled on the sleeve of the t-shirt Bonnie was wearing. “In case you forgot, I gave you the shirt you’re wearing.”

Bonnie looked down to the black rock t-shirt and smiled. She could smell Marceline on it from where she was sat. “I didn’t forget. Maybe I just want to add to my collection.”

“You have a _collection_?” Marceline shot her an incredulous look, which easily dissolved into a smile within seconds. “Have you been sneaking in and stealing all my shirts? As far as I remember, I’ve only given you that.”

“Yeah, but I temporarily borrowed some jeans, I borrowed your sweatpants twice _and_ your leather jacket.” Bonnie explained.

“I recall. It was a bitch to get all of the Bonnie germs out.”

“Hey!” Bonnie exclaimed in mock offence, lightly shoving Marceline away from her. “You’re such a jerk.”

Marceline pouted and shot Bonnie a hurt look. “ _You’re_ such a bully.”

“I am _not_.” Bonnie replied. “Let’s not forget that _you_ threatened to break my jaw.”

“Did I?” Marceline looked genuinely confused in her attempt to recall the memory, and Bonnie had to stop herself from calling her adorable. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Bonnie assured, “All pre-friendship threats are forgiven.”

“So if I threatened to hit you right now -,”

“I would laugh at you because you’re a little weakling.” Bonnie cut in, a teasing smirk on her face.

Marceline opened her mouth to object, but eventually just shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right. Anyways, where do you want to go on this walk you’re suggesting?”

“The lake place where your brother took me and my friends?” Bonnie asked. “And don’t worry, I’ll wear my own clothes.”

Marceline smiled, nodding towards her closet doors where Bonnie’s bag was set down. “Your bag is over there. I doubt you have a coat in there, because you always forget it, so you can borrow a hoodie if you want.”

Bonnie grinned. “Thanks, Marcy.”

“No worries, dude.” Marceline replied. “Now hurry up and get ready. It’s already dark out.”

* * *

 

They set off from Marceline’s house at around half nine, with Marceline taking her skateboard instead of walking and Bonnibel following Marceline. Although the pink haired girl knew the general direction of where they were headed, she didn’t quite remember the route they’d taken when she’d gone out with Marshall and everyone.

When they were in the middle of a seemingly deserted street, Marceline hopped off her skateboard and looked at Bonnie. “Get on.”

Bonnibel stared at the skateboard apprehensively. “No way. Remember what happened last time? I nearly hurt myself!”

“I wouldn’t let you hurt yourself.” Marceline assured. “Come on, it’ll be fun. I’ll teach you how to skate a little bit.”

Bonnie put one foot on the skateboard and looked to Marceline. “Hold my hand?”

“Yeah, sure.” Marceline grabbed hold of Bonnie’s hand as the pink haired girl shakily made her way onto the skateboard.

Bonnie nostalgically smiled at Marceline – the skateboard brought Bonnie up to Marceline’s height. “The last time you made me get on a skateboard you mocked me for asking to hold your hand and now you do it without question.”

“That’s because I like you.” Marceline said, as she started to pull Bonnie along on the skateboard. “Well, I liked you then, but -,”

“You did _not_ like me then.” Bonnie cut in. “There is _no_ way.”

Marceline raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? I liked you, Bonnie.”

“You didn’t! You still called me princess and swore at me and were still mean to me.” Bonnie responded.

“I was mean to you so you wouldn’t know I liked you.”

“That makes _no_ sense.”

“You make no sense.” Marceline shot back.

“Oh, I suppose that was supposed to be an insult, was it?” Bonnie teased, smirking.

“You’re an insult.” Marceline quickly replied, before she realised what she’d just said didn’t make sense and added something else. “To humanity.”

“Okay, they’re just getting worse.” Bonnie laughed. “Why were you mean when you liked me?”

“Socks.”

Bonnie pouted and shot Marceline her puppy dog eyes. “Please tell me?”

“Fine.” Marceline let out a groan in annoyance. “I was mean to you so you’d go away so I wouldn’t have to talk to you so I’d stop liking you.”

Bonnie frowned. “Why did you want to stop liking me?”

“Okay, this is getting _way_ too deep.” Marceline said. “I’ll tell you if you promise to not ask why.”

“Deal.”

“I didn’t want to like you because it’d make it easy for you to hurt me.”

Bonnie stared at Marceline for a second. To make someone _that_ wary of letting people in, something horrible had to have happened to them. The thought of someone hurting Marceline killed Bonnie, and she hopped off the skateboard and pulled Marceline in for a hug. “I’d _never_ hurt you.”

She felt Marceline smile into the sweater Bonnie had borrowed from her – which just so happened to be the cat sweater Bonnie found adorable. “I know.”

Marceline then jumped back onto her skateboard, grabbing Bonnie’s hand and pulling her on.

Bonnibel frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Walking is taking too long.” Marceline said, as she kicked off from the ground and sent the two of them down the street. “And I’m lazy.”

Bonnie smiled. “Alright.”

Marceline frowned a little; she’d suspected Bonnie to be uncomfortable on the skateboard. “You aren’t scared you’re going to fall off and die?”

Bonnie shook her head and said three words which made Marceline happier than she’d felt in a long time. “I trust you.”

* * *

 

Bonnie laid down on the grass by the moonlit lake, pulling Marceline down with her and looking up at the starry night sky. Bonnie kept hold of Marceline’s cold hand as she stared up at the stars. “You know, as a kid I used to think that the stars were fairies looking down on the Earth.”

Marceline let out a light chuckle. “Cute. My Mom used to tell me that it was people who’d died and gone to heaven looking down on the people they loved.”

“Yeah, my Dad told me that.” Bonnie smiled. “Your Mom sounds like she was really amazing.”

She heard Marceline inhale sharply. “Yeah. She was.”

Bonnie gave Marceline’s hand a gentle squeeze and shot the dark haired girl a reassuring smile. “What did she do? Like, her job?”

“She was a teacher. Kindergarten.” Marceline smiled. “Actually, I had her when I was in kindergarten. She always used to let me sit in the staff room with her at lunch because I had no friends.”

“What about Keila?” Bonnie asked.

“I hadn’t met her yet. I didn’t meet her until November.” Marceline said. “The 26th, actually.”

Bonnie smiled. “My birthday.”

Marceline looked at her in surprise. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. I _met_ one of my best friends on the same day my other best friend celebrated her sixth birthday.” Marceline mused, before her face broke out in a grin. “Ha, I’m older than you.”

“By like, 3 weeks. Shut up.” Bonnie couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she latched onto something else Marceline had said. “Best friend?”

She could’ve sworn Marceline was blushing. “Well…I mean, if you want -,”

Bonnibel leaned over and wrapped her arms around Marceline in a very awkward attempt at a hug, as both of them were laying down on the grass. “Of course I want to be your best friend, you idiot. I’ve considered you my best friend for a few weeks now.”

“Glad we’ve got that cleared up.” Marceline muttered, shoving Bonnie off her. “You’re crushing me.”

Bonnie rolled over on the grass and shot Marceline a smile. “Sorry. Tell me more about your Mom.”

“Well…until I met Keila she was my best friend.” Marceline said. “She was always there for me when I needed her and would let me sneak into the staff room for a drink if I was upset. She was awesome.”

Bonnie grinned. “I wish my parents let me get away with stuff like that. I bet your Mom would’ve been cool with you getting your nose pierced and -,”

“Oh, no. She’d have thrown a fit.” Marceline laughed. “The whole point of doing it – aside from the fact I wanted it done, of course – was to piss off my Dad.”

“Oh. Maybe she was kind of like my parents,” Bonnie said. “Probably a little more relaxed, though. My parents treat me like a five year old, sometimes. They’re so protective.”

“What do you mean?” Marceline asked, turning over to face Bonnibel.

“Well,” Bonnie started, “My Mom always questions me when I come in about where I’ve been, what we did, why this and why that. It gets really annoying. My Dad acts as if every girl I hang out with is my next girlfriend and always tells me if he thinks they’re ‘girlfriend material’ when I bring them home. I think it’s his way of trying to be supportive but really it’s just a little bit irritating.”

Marceline bit on her lip for a second, before looking over to Bonnie and chuckling a little. “Okay, so…this is probably something I shouldn’t ask, but did he do that with me?”

Bonnie sighed and reluctantly answered. “Yeah, he said you were girlfriend material.”

Bonnie could tell Marceline was happy with that answer; Marceline couldn’t stop herself from smiling – Bonnie could see the faint dimples in Marceline’s cheeks as she tried to compose herself. “Rad. That means he likes me, then.”

“Of course my Dad likes you. He finally has someone to talk about music with.” Bonnie replied. “My Mom thought you were cool, too.”

“What is with your family and thinking I’m cool?” Marceline laughed. “I’m _not_.”

“Like I told you before, you’re in a band which gives you auto-coolness.” Bonnie said. “If this was New York and I’d known you since kindergarten, we _definitely_ wouldn’t talk. You’d have thought I was a nerd.”

“I already think you’re a nerd.” Marceline replied. “Hence why I call you one all the time.”

“Okay, ‘hence’? Did we just step into a Shakespeare play?” Bonnie teased. “What happened to ‘f this and f that and whoa dude that’s f-ing rad’?”

“A+ acting, Bonnie. You win an Oscar for portraying me in a movie about my life.” Marceline sarcastically responded. “You _do_ realise that I don’t swear _that_ much, right?”

“You swear like your life depends on it.” Bonnie shot back. “You even told me that the f word is your favourite word.”

“It is.” Marceline replied. “You can use it whenever you like as a verb, adjective or noun. It’s great. I don’t swear as much as my brother, though.”

Bonnie smiled a little. “You two are really alike. You can tell you’re twins.”

“We’re really _not_ alike.” Marceline argued, “For one thing, I don’t smoke and fuck everything that moves.”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes. “You have the same music taste, you _both_ play instruments -,”

“I was first. He copied me.”

“That argument sounded like it was made by a five year old,” Bonnie shot back. “As I was _saying_ , you both give off that ‘too cool’ vibe, you’re both in a band, you both swear, you both get drunk at parties. I bet you can even do that creepy thing those twins do in The Shining.”

“No, we can’t.” Marceline quickly replied. “That whole ‘twin telepathy’ thing? Not real. Sorry to disappoint. Either that or we can’t do it because Marshall’s brain is the size of a pea.”

“Don’t be mean to your brother. If he hadn’t have flirted with me on my first day, I wouldn’t have found out that you exist and then we probably wouldn’t be friends.” Bonnie replied. Although she didn’t admit it, she actually found the ‘twin telepathy’ myth interesting and was glad Marceline had told her that it wasn’t real.

Marceline frowned. “What do you mean you wouldn’t have found out I exist?”

“Well, when Marshall flirted with me, I was in Simon’s classroom and he came in and said that’d you were going to be late into school and I tried to ignore him but I heard the mention of ‘sister’ and became interested -,”

“I bet you got a little homosexual twinkle in your eyes and looked like you’d just found the cure to all diseases or something.” Marceline cut in, laughing.

“Homosexual twinkle?” Bonnie chuckled. “Actually, you’re not far off.”

“Oh my God.” Marceline said through her laughter. “Do I want to know?”

“I’m telling you either way,” Bonnie smiled, although she knew she was probably going to regret this. “So, I saw Marshall and I figured he’s a kind of guy girls are usually attracted to, right? I mean, you like guys, so -,”

“Dude, he’s my _brother_.” Marceline looked horrified at the thought, “And he’s disgusting. He _never_ fucking cleans anything and he’s pretty relaxed with personal hygiene.”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes and continued. “Well, whatever. I figured he’d be the type of guy girls were attracted to, and then I heard sister and I may have become a little bit interested.”

Marceline was laughing even harder now. “Well, I’m sorry to have disappointed you.”

“You didn’t.” Bonnie replied. She could feel her cheeks heating up. “When I first met you I thought you were attractive.”

Marceline burst out laughing. “Dude, seriously? No fucking _way_ , man.”

“Well, you were all cool and punk rock and mysterious and I’ve always had a thing for dark hair.” Bonnie admitted.

“Dude. That’s insane.” Marceline responded after she’d sobered up from laughing. “You’re insane.”

“I call you attractive and you call me insane? Thanks, Marceline.” Bonnie sarcastically responded, although she couldn’t help but agree with Marceline a little bit. Bonnie must be insane if she was feeling attracted to her best friend.

It wasn’t Bonnie’s fault that Marceline was so smart and funny and not to mention _gorgeous_. But she _didn’t_ like Marceline.

“I have to admit, I did think you were kind of cute.” Marceline quietly replied, “I was like ‘damn she’s cute’, and then I realised that you were arriving in the seat next to me and I was like ‘fuck oh god what the fuck do I do help’, because in case you haven’t noticed I don’t really know how to talk to people.”

Bonnie smirked. “You thought I was cute?”

“Yeah. Then I thought you were a pretentious asshole.” Marceline said, but at Bonnie’s look of mock offence she elaborated, “Now, we’re back to cute.”

“See, I went from thinking you were an attractive stranger to a scary demon from the gates of hell to thinking you’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” _And I’m not going to ruin that with my delusional thoughts that Marceline would ever date me_ , Bonnie thought, _Not that I want her to date me. Because I don’t._

“Excuse me? Scary demon from the gates of hell?” Marceline said in mock offense, looking at Bonnie in disbelief, “ _Clearly_ I would be Satan. I wouldn’t be a fucking gate-watcher. I have _class_. If anything, I would be the queen of hell.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Bonnie chuckled.

“Damn straight,” Marceline smirked, “And you love it.”

* * *

 

Bonnie changed back into her pyjamas when they got back to Marceline’s house, joining Marceline under the covers of her bed once she’d finished getting ready. Bonnie automatically pulled Marceline towards her.

Marceline shot Bonnie a smirk. “Someone’s cuddly today.”

“Shut up, I had a bad experience earlier.” Bonnie murmured. “Cuddling makes me feel better.”

Marceline laughed. “I’m your Hambo.”

“I guess you are,” Bonnie said, “Speaking of which, where is he?”

Marceline pulled Hambo up from under the covers. “Here.”

Bonnie smiled. “It’s cute that you still sleep with him. I never had a teddy bear that I slept with. All I had was my childhood chemistry set.”

“Dude, that sucks. I’ll get you one and then you can join the club of losers who still need their teddy bear to get a good night’s sleep. I’m the only member at the moment.” Marceline said.

Bonnie laughed. “Go to sleep, Marcy.”

“Okay.” Marceline smiled and shut her eyes, shuffling a little closer to Bonnie. “Night, dude.”

“Goodnight.” Bonnie replied.

As Bonnie lay there, feeling content and loved, she couldn’t help but feel a small twinge of worry deep down that she may like Marceline more than platonically no matter how much she reassured herself.

She hoped she was wrong.


	24. twenty-four.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline tells bonnie everything.

** Monday 14th April 2014 **

The first thing that Bonnibel could register when she woke up was that her phone was ringing. Groggily, she rolled over and grabbed it, accepting the call even though she didn’t look to see who was calling her – usually, a move which ended up getting her into social situations with her friends. “Hello?”

_“Bonnie?”_

Bonnibel breathed an internal sigh of relief when she realised it was Marceline calling her. “Marceline? What’s up?”

 _“I’m really sorry for calling so late and waking you up but can I maybe come over to your place?”_ Marceline sounded as though something terrible had happened, and Bonnie was worried almost immediately.

“Of course!” Bonnibel exclaimed, “You sound upset, what happened?”

 _“It’s no big deal.”_ Marceline brushed her off, _“I’ll be round as quick as I can be.”_

She hung up, and Bonnie pulled the phone away from her ear, squinting at the screen which appeared extra bright in the darkness of her bedroom. It was 12:04AM. What could have happened to Marceline to make her so upset at this time of night?

Bonnie hoped she’d get an answer out of Marceline when the older girl arrived, but she knew how closed off Marceline could be.

She couldn’t help it if she worried about Marceline. Friends worried about one another. Friends cared about each other. She was Marceline’s _friend_ , nothing more.

Not that she wanted to be anything more.

Bonnie sat up in bed and switched the lamp on her bedside table on. She knew she’d have to be quiet getting out of bed to let Marceline in – her parents would throw a fit if they knew she was up past midnight, even if it was the Easter holidays.

Bonnie switched to the front camera on her phone and frowned at her appearance. Her pink hair was knotted and tangled, and her makeup-less face revealed a zit she’d been hiding for the past week. Her blue eyes were bloodshot and she looked like she’d just come back from the dead. She couldn’t see Marceline like this.

She jumped up and searched around her room for her hairbrush, finding it under a pile of papers full of scientific research next to Science’s cage. However, the second her fingers came in contact with the object, her phone vibrated from her bed and she walked back over, seeing a text from Marceline.

**_Marceline (12:09AM): I’m outside._ **

Bonnibel headed downstairs – catching sight of her appearance again in the mirror and sighing in annoyance – and grabbed the key to unlock the front door, opening it to reveal a very distressed – albeit still _gorgeous ­_ – Marceline standing on the front porch.

Bonnie saw that Marceline’s eyes were red – well, redder than usual – a clear sign that she’d been crying. Marceline still tried to act as if everything was fine and shot Bonnie a weak smile as she stepped inside. “Hi.”

Bonnie sent a comforting smile Marceline’s way. “Is everything okay?”

Marceline nodded as she kicked her shoes off. “Fine.”

Bonnie knew this wasn’t the case, but she didn’t want to scare Marceline off. “Okay. Do you want to go upstairs?”

“Yeah.” Marceline replied, following Bonnie as the pink haired girl headed up the stairs.

Bonnie felt Marceline’s cold hand grip onto her own, and felt a swarm of butterflies awaken in her stomach. She cursed to herself – she hated how easily she became wound up over little things Marceline did.

Why did she have to fall for her best friend again?

 _Fall for? No,_ Bonnie reassured herself, _you don’t like Marceline._

Bonnibel led Marceline into her room, and the other girl sat down on her bed after setting a black electric guitar – which she’d been carrying since she’d arrived – down against Bonnie’s bedroom wall.

Bonnie sat down next to Marceline and shot her a comforting smile. “Are you going to get changed?”

Marceline just nodded in response and didn’t look up at Bonnie.

Bonnie smiled reassuringly. “Do you want to get changed in here or in the bathroom?”

Marceline responded by unbuttoning her skinny jeans and pulling them off to reveal her pale, toned legs.

Bonnie gulped and tried to compose herself. “In here then, I guess. I’ll just…”

She gestured towards her pillow, and turned around and laid face down until she felt the bed sink under Marceline’s weight. “Am I okay to turn around?”

“Yeah.”

Bonnie sat up and immediately pulled a pyjama clad Marceline into her arms. She comfortingly stroked Marceline’s incredibly soft hair – inwardly wondering how Marceline managed to make her hair so soft all the time – and rubbed comforting circles on Marceline’s back.

Marceline rested her chin on Bonnie’s shoulder. “I’m guessing you want an explanation.”

Bonnie pulled back from the hug and shot Marceline a gentle smile. “You don’t have to explain, but it would help. Honestly, I just want you to be happy.”

Marceline stared at her in amazement for a second, because how could Bonnie possibly be so sweet and caring? “I…you’re great. You deserve a reason for all this.”

Bonnie took hold of Marceline’s hand and laid back in her bed, pulling Marceline down with her. She put the blankets over the two of them, and pulled Marceline closer to her. “There. You need cuddles if you’re upset.”

Marceline let out a weak laugh. “Yeah. I guess. Usually I just snuggle with Hambo.”

Then, Marceline shot up in a realisation and Bonnie was immediately by her side. “What is it?”

“I forgot Hambo!” Marceline exclaimed, slapping a hand to her face. “I can’t go back home and get him but if I don’t I’ll have a bad dream and I can’t -,”

“Surely the dreams aren’t that bad?” Bonnie was trying to help, but she couldn’t do much without knowing what Marceline’s bad dreams were usually about. “I mean, they’re just dreams.”

“The thing I get nightmares about…it – it actually happened, alright? I don’t just wake up and feel better. Usually, I wake up and cry my eyes out because I’m forced to fucking relive my Mom’s – I mean…I just – I can’t do it, okay?” Marceline said. “I can’t.”

Bonnie hated how weak and upset Marceline sounded, and headed towards her closet, pulling out a plastic bag and passing it to Marceline. “Here.”

Marceline frowned. “What’s this?”

“It’s a present.” Bonnie explained, “I _did_ buy it for you in return for the coffees and pretty much just everything else you did for me, and I was going to give you it on Easter, but I think you deserve it now.”

Marceline bit on her lip in confusion, but opened up the plastic bag and pulled out its contents. She looked at the gift with wide eyes. “It’s a teddy bear.”

Bonnie smiled. She’d bought a little brown teddy bear when it had caught her eye in the store. “I know it’s not much and I know it could never mean as much to you as Hambo does, but I -,”

“Don’t,” Marceline stopped her and pulled her in for a hug, “It’s perfect.”

Bonnie felt relieved that Marceline had liked it. “Good. What’re you going to name her?”

Marceline pulled away from the hug – but not after kissing Bonnie’s cheek and making the pink haired girl blush scarlet – and laughed. “I think I’m going to call her Socks.”

Bonnie laughed too, resting her head on Marceline’s shoulder. “You’re naming a teddy bear after our safe word?”

“Yeah,” Marceline said, “Because I feel safe with you.”

Bonnie blushed hard and pulled Marceline in for a hug. “I love you so much. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t,” Marceline said. “I love you too, nerd. Thanks for this. It’s cheered me up a lot.”

Bonnie smiled, laying back down and pulling Marceline with her. “No problem. What made you so upset in the first place?”

“My Dad came for a surprise visit.” Marceline replied. Bonnie noted how Marceline tensed up and locked her jaw. “You can imagine how that went down. He’s staying for a few days and I needed to get out of there.”

Bonnie frowned. “What happened?”

“Well, he found out that Marshall smokes, and you know what he said? ‘Boys will be boys’. Literally.” Marceline let out a bitter laugh. “If _I_ smoked he’d kill me and dance on my fucking grave.”

“That’s it?” Bonnie hoped it was.

“That’s not even the start.” Marceline let out a long sigh. “He found out that I got a B in Math and lectured me for like an hour about how I need to ‘apply myself’ and stop being so lazy. Marshall is failing nearly everything and he just laughs it off! He acts like my fucking brother is a god or something and then gets on me for every single fucking thing. I can’t _stand_ it.”

“Why don’t you tell him how you feel?” Bonnie asked.

“I tried to. How do you think I ended up like this?” Marceline said. “Basically, I told him that I was sick of him getting at me for not being perfect and not wanting to be a lawyer or something in business or whatever. He literally yelled at me for an hour when he found out I took music and art instead of business and law.”

“He shouldn’t be like that. I want to give your Dad a stern talking to.” Bonnie stated.

“Is that Bonnie talk for beating up my Dad? Go ahead,” Marceline replied, “But yeah, I ended up in a huge argument with him and in a nutshell, he told me that ever since my Mom died I’d never been ‘right in the head’ and no amount of therapy can fix me. I told him to go fuck himself and left.”

“That’s…I can’t believe your Dad said that to you.” Bonnie murmured in disbelief. She found it hard to imagine parents who weren’t as supportive as hers.

“Believe me, it’s not the worse he’s ever said. Besides, it’s not like he’s wrong.” Marceline shrugged.

“He’s _completely_ wrong. You don’t need therapy. You’re not screwed up.” Bonnie firmly replied. “So don’t believe him when he says things like that, because you’re perfect to me.”

Marceline flung a protective arm over Bonnie and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Thank you. You’re too amazing for your own good, you know.”

Bonnie glanced down as Marceline shuffled closer to her. “I just don’t get why you believe your Dad when he says things you’re clearly not.”

“I…it’s complicated.” Marceline admitted. “It’s just…he _isn’t_ wrong. I’m on fucking _medication_ for panic disorder. I _am_ fucked up.”

“You’re _not_ screwed up, and if you say it one more time I’ll give _you_ a stern talking to.” Bonnie threatened. “Mental illnesses are nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a chemical imbalance in the brain. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you as a person. You’ve had it for a while, I take it?”

Marceline nodded. “Since my Mom died.”

“What happened to her?” Bonnie gently asked, taking Marceline’s hand in her own.

Marceline let out a harsh laugh. “Oh, I really don’t think you want to know.”

“You can trust me, you know.”

Marceline looked her up and down, as if contemplating whether or not that was true. After what felt like a lifetime for Bonnie, she finally let out a deep sigh. “Fine. You really want to know?”

Bonnie nodded. “Yeah.”

“Is that everything you want to know about?” Marceline was hoping Bonnie would say yes. “Just my Mom?”

“Well, if you’re offering, I’d like to know everything.” Bonnie said, “Why you and your Dad don’t get on, why you’re so closed off…stuff like that.”

Marceline let out a long sigh. “Someone’s asking for a lot.”

Bonnie pouted. “Please?”

“Want my life story while we’re at it?” Marceline sarcastically replied.

Bonnie knew she was stalling, and just shrugged. “Sure, why not? I did say everything.”

“Uh…that was sarcasm, but whatever,” She deeply inhaled and exhaled. “Fine. You fucking asked for it.”

Bonnie nodded. “Please begin.”

Marceline rolled her eyes at Bonnie. “Okay…well, you know that I was born on Halloween in England in 1996. I lived there until I was four, when my Dad told us that we needed to move here because of his work. Originally, I’ll admit I hated it. I mean, I know I was four, but I did actually have a few friends back in England that my Mom used to make me hang out with, and I missed them for a while. Eventually, I got over it.”

“I started school and in all honesty, I hated that too. Still do, as a matter of fact.” Bonnie allowed herself a small laugh at Marceline’s attempt at a joke. “Anyway, at first I was kind of a loner. I was really bad at making friends – I was always super quiet and stuff – and my Mom took me out one day and bought me Hambo. He was my only friend – and I know that’s super lame and stuff, but then I met Keila – you know that story – and I had her and eventually Marshall stopped being a little dickhead and started hanging out with us. I guess once I had Keila I was happier but I still didn’t really like school.”

“Most of the time I was top of the class because I was a pretentious little nerd, and I have to admit that a lot of people hated me for it. Even Keila told me to shut the fuck up a few times.” Marceline said. “As I said before, I was really bad at making friends. Anyways, fast forward to 2nd grade. I guess I was pretty happy with everything. I mean, I had a good family and good friends, and when you’re a kid that’s enough, really. I realised my passion for music at a really young age. When I was 7, I’d been playing violin for two years – my Mom taught me – and I’d just started playing guitar.”

“May 27th, 2004. I came home from school, and my Mom was acting strange. Marshall didn’t really seem to notice, but I realised almost straight away that she looked almost…guilty. Anyways, we got home and everything seemed normal, but when it got to bedtime, Mom insisted on tucking me in and telling me a bedtime story, something she hadn’t done since I was like, 5. She told me she loved me and turned out the lights. I couldn’t sleep, and usually when I had trouble sleeping, I’d get in with my Mom. So, that’s what I did.”

“I got out of bed and walked into my Mom’s room – I figured she’d be in there because at this point it was getting pretty late – I found her dead body. She killed herself. Overdose.” Bonnie felt a pang of hurt in her chest as she looked up and saw Marceline fighting back tears. “That’s when I had my first panic attack and a little while after that at the doctor’s I was diagnosed with panic disorder.”

“Anyway, everything pretty much started to suck after that.” Marceline began. Bonnie’s heart broke at the small crack in Marceline’s voice, and she shuffled up and wrapped her arms around the older girl. Marceline felt comforted in Bonnie’s hold. “I mean, I kept getting super bad panic attacks because of what happened, I basically never stopped crying, and my Dad wasn’t much for comfort. He’d never really been close to me or anything, and he just threw himself into work after Mom died. He used his work as a coping method, but ended up ignoring me and Marshall. One day, he told us to pack our stuff and get in the car, and he brought us here and just left.”

“You know that he comes and visits sometimes – Marshall talks to him like nothing happened. I can’t even look at him. Believe it or not, but when he’s not being an asshole he actually tries, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive him for just leaving when we were still fucked up over Mom’s death.” Marceline explained. Bonnie took hold of Marceline’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Simon helped make things better. He was almost like the Dad my real Dad wasn’t. He was there for me when I needed him most.”

“Eventually, elementary school was over and I went to middle school, which can easily be described by one word; awkward.” Marceline continued. Bonnie allowed herself a smile as she pulled Marceline closer to her. “After my Mom died, I was never really happy that often. I was still getting over it in middle school, and I was a whole lot quieter than I already was. Your friends weren’t much help.”

At Bonnie’s look of confusion, Marceline elaborated. “Apart from Lady, your female friends – particularly LSP – used to shove me around. That’s why I like it that they’re scared of me; they leave me alone.”

“LSP isn’t my friend.” Bonnie quietly replied.

Marceline nodded. “I know. She doesn’t like you for being gay. Like I told you a while ago, I have _no_ idea why she hates me, but when I came out about being – well, even though I don’t like to label myself – bi she gave me a hard time about it and spread rumours that Keila and I were together.”

“Seriously?” Bonnie asked. “I can’t believe how immature she is.”

“Yeah,” Marceline replied, “Anyways, when I started high school, I got worse. Because my Dad knew I was smart, he started pressuring me into getting really good grades. I couldn’t handle that. The pressure from him along with starting a new school and still being pretty fucked up in general ends up getting to you one way or another.”

“Anyways, this was around the time when I started dating Ash. He was everything my Dad was against, and he seemed nice enough at first. That façade didn’t last long. He was…well, abusive. Not physically – I would’ve kicked the crap out of him sooner than I did – emotionally. We would fight, he would guilt me into doing things for him, he would insult me…it was hard, to put it lightly. We were constantly at each other’s throats. We brought out the worst in one another. It was toxic.” Bonnie held Marceline as close as she could, giving her a reassuring squeeze and stroking through her hair. “With that, along with all of the added pressure from my Dad…I snapped. I stopped _caring_. My grades dropped, I almost never turned up to class, I shut myself off from anyone who cared. Simon took me to a doctor, and I was diagnosed with depression.”

Bonnie felt her stomach drop, and she clung onto Marceline tighter. She couldn’t bear the thought of Marceline having to go through that.

“Eventually, I found a coping mechanism. I started going out. Parties, mostly. I would get so drunk that I wouldn’t be thinking about how much I just wanted to…just end it all, you know? Whether it be running away or taking after my Mom.” Marceline finally looked Bonnie in the eye, and Bonnie could see the tears threatening to fall. “I wouldn’t. Ever. I just want you to know that. I mean…I know first-hand what it does to people who care about you and I couldn’t do that to anyone. Not you, or Keila, or Simon. _Anyone_.”

Bonnie’s voice was merely a whisper when she replied. “I know.”

“Anyway…eventually, my Dad stopped caring. He figured I was just a disappointment. And I mean, I was. I _am_.”

Bonnie interrupted. “You’re not -,”

“Bonnie.” Marceline cut her off. “I am. To him, at least.”

Bonnie pulled Marceline in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. “You’re not to me.”

“Thanks.” Marceline murmured. “Anyways…the break-up with Ash wasn’t…it didn’t end on good terms. One night we were going to…you know…and then I realised I didn’t want to, and he got mad and tried to guilt me into it. I refused. We had an argument which went how they usually did – he would shout insults at me until I gave in. Except this time, I didn’t. That was when he hit me. I hit him back and broke up with him.”

“He didn’t leave me alone. He came over to me at school, we argued in the hallway and he told me to go kill myself like my ‘slut of a mother’. I may or may not have broken his wrist.”

“That’s understandable.” Bonnie replied, running her hand through Marceline’s hair.

“After that, I learned to keep myself closed off. I wouldn’t let anyone in; they couldn’t hurt me and fuck me up even more if I didn’t let them.” Marceline explained. “And _then_ , you came along. At first, I really wanted to hate you. I thought that you were some pretentious, cheerleader type and I really can’t stand people like that. Then, you decided it’d be fun to harass me almost _every_ day. You were…annoyingly persistent.”

Bonnie tried to lighten the mood by acting as if she was offended. “Meanie.”

She felt Marceline’s chest rumble with a light laughter. “You know I love you.”

“Yeah,” Bonnie smiled. “I love you too.”

“I tried my best to keep you at arm’s length, but it didn’t work.” Marceline elaborated. “Along the way, I learned that you were honestly one of the nicest people ever, and eventually I just thought fuck it. If I’m going to get hurt, it’d be worth it. And it has been.”

Bonnie hugged her tighter. “I _really_ love you. You’re my best friend, you know. Not Lady or anyone else. Just you.” _Also, I may or may not like you slightly more than I should._

Marceline sat up and hugged Bonnie back. “I know. I love you too.”

In all honesty, Marceline felt better after admitting everything to Bonnibel. She wasn’t hiding anything any longer, and she knew Bonnie hadn’t judged her at all.

They sat in a comfortable silence – the two of them just dwelling on things that had been said, when a worry struck Bonnie and she spoke up. “Marceline? You’re not still…like…depressed or anything, right?”

She felt Marceline chuckle against her. “It’s cute you’re worried. And yeah…I’m better. I mean, I have bad days, but I’m okay.”

“You’ve never hurt yourself or anything because of it, right?” Bonnie persisted, looking down at Marceline’s bracelet clad wrist.

Marceline shook her head. “No. I never did that.”

Bonnie smiled. “Okay. Just making sure. And if you ever need anything -,”

“I can text you.” Marceline finished. “I know, dude. You tell me a lot.”

Bonnie took hold of Marceline’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Just promise me you will.”

Marceline squeezed Bonnie’s hand in reassurance, before dropping it. “I will.”

A few minutes later, Bonnie heard her phone vibrate from her bedside table. She unlocked it and automatically grinned at the message.

**_Marceline (12:43AM): I need something................snuggles_ **

Bonnie looked up from her phone to see Marceline shooting her a mischievous smirk. She nonchalantly shrugged. “You said to text if I needed anything.”


	25. twenty-five.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie and marceline hang out on Easter.

** Sunday 20th April 2014 **

Marceline knelt down on the grass. It was wet with dew, soaking the knees of the skinny jeans she was wearing. Marceline exhaled – her hands shook as she put each individual flower from the bunch she was holding by the stone. She admired them; carnations – they’d always been _her_ favourite. Marceline made sure every single flower was perfect – everything needed to be perfect for her Mom.

She evened out the sides – she couldn’t stand it when her brother only put flowers on one side of the grave. Not that he ever came up here that often.

Once she had finished arranging the flowers, her unsteady hands came to a stop and rested on her thighs as she stared at the grave. She took in a shaky breath and allowed herself a small, watery smile. “Happy Birthday, Mom.”

Marceline sighed, running a hand through her black hair. “I…I haven’t been up here for a while, and I’m sorry. Things have been kind of crazy. Dad’s still an asshole, in case you were wondering.”

Marceline allowed herself a shaky laugh, and sniffled. “I made a new friend. I know, _me_. Shocker. Her name is Bonnie. Well, Bonnibel, but I call her Bonnie. She’s amazing. She actually _listens_ to me and thinks I’m good at playing music and she’s so smart and I – I think you would’ve liked her. She’s understanding, like you were. Even though she wants to be a doctor, I think she’d be a good teacher – she’s so caring and she doesn’t patronise people and I think she’s awesome.”

“I miss you so much. Every time Dad comes to visit I feel so fuck – I mean, so horrible when I wish it’d been him. I know I shouldn’t think things like that and I try not to, really. As much as he hates me, I do love him. I mean, he’s my Dad, right?” Marceline let out a bitter laugh and wiped a few stray tears from her eyes. “I just feel like I wouldn’t be so screwed up if you were here. You never pushed me too hard or pressured me or yelled at me for getting a B and then excused Marshall for every little thing just because he’s a boy. You were my best friend. Even before Keila.”

“I...I want you back, Mom.” Marceline murmured. She was now rubbing at her eyes almost violently in an effort to stop the tears. “I want to hang out with you on Sundays like we used to and I want to play music with you and I want to be able to actually get you a real present for your birthday and not just put flowers on your goddamn grave and I want you to meet Bonnie so _badly_.”

“I hope you can hear me, wherever you are.” Marceline’s body was softly shaking with sobs, and she’d given up on trying to hold them back. “I love you, Mom. Happy Birthday. I’ll come back and talk soon. I promise.”

Marceline unsteadily rose to her feet, and looked down at her Mom’s grave once more. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie and then forced herself to walk away, sitting down in the driver’s seat of her car and breaking down into tears.

* * *

 

Marceline headed towards the freezers in the store, planning on buying some Ben & Jerry’s to make her feel better. But, the universe didn’t seem to agree, and Marceline just so happened to run into the one person who could make her feel _much_ better than ice-cream could.

Bonnie.

Marceline automatically noticed Bonnie as she was looking through the candy aisle. Marceline smiled to herself – Bonnie was wearing the shirt Marceline had given her along with a pair of pink sweatpants, and had clearly not brushed her hair yet. Marceline thought she looked adorable.

The dark haired girl headed over to Bonnie, who seemed torn between a caramel bar and a regular chocolate bar. Marceline smirked, wrapping her arms around Bonnie’s waist and putting on a fake British accent. “Well, hello. Aren’t you cute?”

Bonnibel jumped away, and a look of relief crossed her face. “I thought you were some random attacker! Couldn’t you just say hello?”

Marceline just shrugged. “I was being original.”

Bonnie noticed how Marceline looked like she’d been crying, but decided it’d be better if she didn’t bring anything up. “What are you doing here?”

Marceline noticed how Bonnibel began trying to detangle her hair with her fingers and smiled. “Just stopping by to get some ice cream. You?”

“I needed to refuel after doing an experiment.” Bonnie explained. “Chocolate usually helps.”

“You wore _that_ to do an experiment?” Marceline raised an eyebrow.

Bonnie seemed to notice that she was wearing Marceline’s shirt and blushed. “Oh…yeah. And my lab coat.”

“You have a lab coat.” Marceline repeated, rolling her eyes. “Of _course_.”

“What did you expect?” Bonnibel shrugged. “Anyways, what are your plans for today?”

“I’m going to go home and sleep, probably.” Marceline replied. “You?”

“Well…I was just going to go home and read my book – you know, since I finished my experiment – but would you maybe want to come and hang out? We could watch a movie or something.” Bonnie offered.

Marceline thought for a moment. Hanging out with Bonnie was bound to be much more fun than just sitting around the house all day. “Sure.”

Bonnie’s smile almost looked relieved. “Awesome. Just let me pay for this and we can head back to mine. Did you drive here?”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded. “I can get us back to your place.”

Bonnie took hold of Marceline’s hand and decided she’d buy the caramel chocolate bar. As they headed towards the cash register, Bonnie paused. “You didn’t want to buy anything, did you?”

Although Marceline was a little hungry – she hadn’t eaten since her breakfast of Oreos and chocolate milk – she shook her head. “Nah, I’m good. Let’s go.”

“Okay,” Bonnie smiled, tugging her towards the cash registers.

Marceline froze when she saw who was behind the counter. Ash. “Fucking hell. No. Not _that_ asshole.”

Bonnibel immediately understood. “Hey, don’t worry. I’ll be right there to talk you down if he says anything to you. I promise.”

“Can’t I just wait outside?” Marceline pleaded. She really didn’t want to deal with Ash. Not today. “Please?”

“You can’t hide from him forever.” Bonnibel replied. “Face your fears.”

“I’m _not_ afraid of him,” Marceline snapped, her expression softening at the hurt look on Bonnie’s face. “And if you want me to face my fears, can’t you just make me touch a spider or something?”

“It’ll be fine, Marceline. I swear,” Bonnie assured.

Marceline sighed, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to convince Bonnibel to let her wait outside. Bonnie pulled her along until finally, they were in front of Ash. Marceline wanted to punch the smug grin off his face.

“Well, look who’s here,” He smirked, “Are you buying a present for your Mom?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Marceline snapped. Bonnibel gulped as Marceline’s grip on her hand became tighter.

Ash scanned Bonnie’s chocolate bar. “Sorry, I forgot she killed herself. Hopefully you’ll follow in her footsteps.”

“I don’t know about me but I fucking hope you do.” Marceline glared at him as Bonnie passed her money over. “There’s this new drink you should try. It’s called bleach.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“You know, I always wondered why you were such a dick,” Marceline replied, “Then I realised you need to compensate with your personality because your _actual_ dick is microscopic.”

With that, she stalked off, leaving Bonnibel to quickly snatch her change from Ash and take her chocolate bar before running after Marceline.

She found Marceline kicking the wall at the front of the store as hard as she possibly could and saying as many different variations of the word ‘fuck’ she could think of. Bonnibel quickly pulled Marceline into a hug. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry. Next time you can wait outside.”

“Or I could go in there and kill him and there wouldn’t be a next time.”

“You wouldn’t do that.” Bonnibel said, “And you know it.”

“Oh, yeah? Try me.” Marceline leaned back against the wall and sighed. “It’s just…I’m already fucked up enough today.”

“Is that why you were crying?” Bonnie asked. She knew this was probably moving onto a more sensitive topic for Marceline, so Bonnie decided to tread carefully.

Marceline nodded. Bonnie was surprised Marceline didn’t question how she knew. “Yeah. It…it’s my Mom’s birthday and I went up to put flowers on her grave and I’m just…not at my best, I guess.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Well, we’ll go back to my place and watch a few movies and I’ll do my best to cheer you up.”

“You’re unbelievably awesome.” Marceline murmured, looking up at Bonnibel and shooting her a weak smile. “Sure. Let’s go.”

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you made me do that,” Marceline said, staring down at Bonnie who was arranging the pillows in their newly constructed blanket fort in Bonnie’s lounge, “I haven’t built a blanket fort since I was like five.”

“Then this was a much needed activity,” Bonnie replied, placing a pillow next to her and patting it. “Come on. Sit. And bring the last blanket, we can sit under it and warm ourselves up.”

“I hope your parents are cool with us dismantling your living room to make a fort.” Marceline said as she unfolded the last blanket and sat down next to Bonnie, draping it over the two of them.

It was true – Bonnie had decided the only way to make the perfect fort was to move one of the couches to a certain angle so the blankets would be at a good height. Or at least, that’s what Marceline _thought_ Bonnie said. Most of the time Bonnibel had been using long words Marceline usually avoided as she associated them with things like Physics and Math. Marceline had just gone along with whatever Bonnibel had said.

“They were cool with it when I was a kid, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t be cool with it now.” Bonnie offered. “Besides, it’s not like we won’t put everything back the way it was.”

“Okay, but if they get pissed I’m blaming you.” Marceline replied. “I don’t want your weird fort plans to affect my credibility with your parents.”

Bonnie just shrugged as she grabbed the TV remote and unpaused Star Wars Episode I; The Phantom Menace. Marceline had insisted they stop off at her place on their way back from the store so she could pick up her DVDs of the recent Star Wars trilogy and was forcing Bonnie to watch, not that the pink haired girl was complaining – she liked spending time with Marceline.

It was embarrassing, really. Bonnie had been so nervous asking Marceline to come over – she’d never been like that before – and was sure Marceline could probably tell she was freaking out on the inside. Bonnie didn’t understand it; she’d never gotten nervous asking Marceline to hang out before.

“They won’t get annoyed. They actually relax when you’re around.” Bonnie replied, “I don’t really know why.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m so mysterious and aloof.”

“You are _so_ annoying.” Bonnibel replied, gently elbowing Marceline in the ribs. “Jerk.”

Marceline held her hands up in defence. “You were the one who said I was aloof and mysterious. It’s not my fault I found that hilariously funny.”

“You could at least stop bringing it up,” Bonnibel blushed – she hated how her embarrassment was so clear, “It’s embarrassing.”

Marceline grabbed hold of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Bonnie blushed even harder and felt her stomach flip, inwardly scolding herself. “It’s _funny_. Lighten up, Bonnie. You can make fun of me all you want.”

“Really?” Bonnie looked up, an eyebrow raised in temptation.

“Of course, nerd.” Marceline rolled her eyes and looked at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “That’s what friends do.”

“Well…” Bonnie bit on her lip in thought, before looking to Marceline with a smirk. “You’re so weak an ant could beat you in a fist fight.”

“Okay, _that_ was uncalled for,” Marceline began, although by the amused smile on her face, Bonnie could tell she wasn’t at all offended, “I am _much_ stronger than an ant. I’m stronger than you.”

Bonnie shot her a knowing, doubtful look. “Remember that time you couldn’t get the cap off your Coke bottle?”

“I loosened that up for you.” Marceline shot back. “Anyways, who needs strength when you have a good music taste?”

“I like good music!” Bonnie defended.

“Literally all you listen to is Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.” Marceline replied, “Dude, broaden your taste.”

Bonnie sat thinking up a good response, looking up at Marceline and shooting her the best faux-annoyed look she could muster. “At least _I_ -,”

“Whoa, whoa! Shush!” Marceline pointed at the TV screen with an adorable look of genuine excitement on her face – the look which always made Bonnie feel little butterflies swarm in her stomach. “Do you not think that Darth Maul’s lightsaber is the _coolest_ _thing ever_? I mean, it’s fucking double sided! I want one.”

Bonnie smiled, chuckling. “I know you always deny it when I call you cute, but you _are_ cute. Especially when you come out with things like that.”

Marceline frowned and crinkled her nose in disgust. “I’m _not_ cute. I’m punk.”

Bonnie smiled even wider, unsure how somebody could be so cute and yet so devastatingly beautiful at the same time. It was like Marceline was two different people; one flirtatious and so frustratingly attractive that made Bonnie feel things she knew she shouldn’t, and the other an adorable, Disney loving dork who Bonnie just wanted to cuddle and kiss and – _no, Bonnie. Too far._ “Whatever you say, Marceline.”

Marceline laid down, resting her head on Bonnibel’s shoulder and keeping her gaze on the TV. Bonnie gulped, feeling her cheeks heat up.

She knew she couldn’t let herself develop feelings for Marceline – even though it seemed like she already had. It would ruin everything, and she couldn’t lose her best friend. Not again. It wasn’t Bonnie’s fault that Marceline was so funny and charming and smart and gorgeous. Why did she have to ruin everything?

She wanted to keep Marceline as a friend – Bonnie cared way too much to lose her. She really _did_ want to keep everything the way it was, but she also wanted _so much more_. She wanted to be able to call Marceline her girlfriend. She wanted to hold Marceline’s hand and have it mean something. She wanted to be able to lean down and kiss Marceline and show everyone she was hers.

She hated herself every second for these _stupid_ thoughts. She could _never_ have any of the things she wanted. She had to keep her stupid crush a secret. Bonnie had finally admitted to herself that she had a _crush_ on her best friend.

She was _such_ an idiot.

“You want me to make you some tea?”

Bonnibel jolted out of a daydream and frowned. “Sure. I mean, it’s my house, I should be the tea maker -,”

“Shut up,” Marceline cut in, “Chamomile, am I right?”

Bonnie blushed, nodding. “Yeah.”

“Okay. Be right back.”

Bonnie sat and watched a few more minutes of the movie, before becoming restless and heading into the kitchen to see if Marceline had found everything, only to see her picking up the cups to head back into the lounge.

Bonnie frowned. “I thought you didn’t like chamomile tea. Why did you make yourself one?”

“I noticed you had some green tea and I couldn’t resist.” Marceline shrugged, passing Bonnibel her chamomile tea which Marceline had put in her favourite pink mug.

Bonnie smiled. “Thanks. Let’s finish the movie.”

They headed back to their blanket fort and Bonnibel set their drinks down on the coffee table. As they got comfortable, Bonnie spoke up. “You know, you should hang out with Finn. He likes Star Wars.”

“Hanging out with your friends is the dictionary definition of torture.” Marceline replied. “Besides, they don’t like me.”

“That’s ridiculous. Of course -,”

“They look at me like I’m about to pull out a shotgun and kill them all.” Marceline deadpanned, before she pushed a few stray hairs from her eyes and let out a long sigh. “I just don’t see why I should try with them. They don’t like me and I don’t particularly like them.”

“Well…you’re friends with Lady and you’ve talked to Finn and Gumball,” Bonnibel tried to be an optimist about the situation. “Besides, you kind of _have_ to like Gumball if he and your brother ever end up dating.”

Marceline just shrugged. “I barely know them. Plus, that big guy is always there and he scares me a little.”

“ _You’re_ scared of _Jake_?” Bonnie laughed. “He’s scared of you too, you know. You can bond over your mutual terror.”

“You’re delusional if you think I’m suddenly going to hang around with you and your band of nerds.” Marceline replied. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

Bonnie burst out laughing. “What reputation? You _have_ no reputation.”

“Shut up.” Marceline muttered. “You’re so annoying.”

“You say that, but I know you don’t mean it.” Bonnibel replied. “You love me too much.”

“I can love you and think you’re annoying.” Marceline shot back. “Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“You’re such a jerk.”

“And _you’re_ such a nerd.”

“Says the girl who wants a lightsaber.” Bonnie shot back.

“Actually, I _have_ a lightsaber. I _want_ a double sided lightsaber.” Marceline replied. “Get it right.”

When Marceline went silent, Bonnibel laughed. “You just realised how nerdy that sentence sounded, didn’t you?”

“…Yeah.”

* * *

 

“That is _totally_ unrealistic.” Marceline exclaimed with a frown as the couple in the romantic comedy Bonnie had picked out ran into each other on the streets for the fifth time. “There are _seven billion_ people on this planet. You wouldn’t run into the same attractive stranger five fucking times, _especially_ in a huge ass city like New York. This is why I hate romance movies.”

Bonnie scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because Star Wars is _so_ realistic.”

“Star Wars is set in a _galaxy far far away_ ,” Marceline said, “This bullshit is set in the real world. Beat _that_.”

“This is still more realistic.” Bonnibel muttered.

“Actually,” Both Bonnibel and Marceline spun around to see Bonnie’s Dad making his way into the room, placing a bag of shopping on the coffee table – the only part of the living room Bonnie hadn’t moved to make their fort, “Marceline’s right. This is stupid because it’s set in the real world and that wouldn’t happen. Star Wars is a sci-fi movie. If it was realistic it’d be boring.”

Marceline nodded. “Thank you. Suck on that, Bonnie.”

“You’re such a jerk.” Bonnibel said, shoving Marceline away from her. “Get off me.”

Marceline just raised an eyebrow and jabbed her fingers into Bonnie’s sides, making the pink haired girl squeal in laughter. “Every time you call me a jerk I’ll tickle you.”

“That’s unfair.” Bonnibel stated, grabbing hold of Marceline’s wrists so the dark haired girl couldn’t tickle her. “If you do that, you have to tell me where you’re ticklish.”

“No fucking _way_.” Marceline crossed her arms and shook her head. “Because you’ll use that against me later. I just know it.”

“I wouldn’t. I’m not like that.” Bonnie lied, smirking.

“You are _such_ a liar.” Marceline deadpanned, shaking her head. Bonnie could tell Marceline was having trouble hiding her smile.

Bonnie’s Mom walked into the living room and frowned. “Why does the living room look like a campsite?”

“Ask your rebellious daughter, Lynn.” Marceline replied.

Bonnie just shrugged. “I decided to build a blanket fort so Marceline and I could watch movies in style and comfort.”

“As long as you put it back the way it was, it’s fine.” Lynn replied. “Marceline, are you staying for dinner?”

“Uh -,”

“Yeah, she is.” Bonnibel interrupted.

Bonnie’s Mom rolled her eyes and headed out of the room – Bonnie’s Dad following – leaving Marceline and Bonnibel to their movie. “You know, we’re back at school on Tuesday.”

“I was aware.” Bonnibel said, “Why are you bringing this up? You _hate_ school. With a passion.”

“As much as that’s true, I was just thinking that we could hang out.” Marceline replied. “You know…at school. If you want.”

Bonnie grinned. “Really? I’d love to. Where shall I meet you at lunch?”

“Geez, someone’s organised.” Marceline commented. “Simon’s room, probably. I’ll text you.”

“Okay.” Bonnibel smiled. “So…learned any new instruments lately?”

“Well…I bought a mini-harp. I’m going to learn that and then I might learn something else to stop myself from getting bored.” Marceline just shrugged. “Nothing big.”

“Teach me piano.” Bonnie said, looking up. “It seems interesting and there’s no holding down strings required.”

“Okay.” Marceline replied. “It’s kind of hard, but you’re smart. You’ll figure it out.”

“Speaking of being smart,” Bonnie began, “Did you do the History homework? That worksheet?”

Marceline raised an eyebrow and smirked. “What do you think?”

“Of course you didn’t do it,” Bonnie said, “Forgive me for asking.”

“Actually, I did.” Marceline retorted, “Sort of. Keila helped and did most of it for me. She does History and Music down at the community college.”

“Oh, okay.” Bonnie was surprised that Marceline had even bothered to pick up a pen at all during the Easter break. “Did Simon get you an Easter egg?”

“Yeah. He got me one and then Betty got me another in secret.” Marceline told her. “Surprisingly, my Dad got me one, too. How many did you get?”

“Well, one from my parents, one from my Aunt who still lives in New York, and the other from my Grandparents in Ohio.” Bonnie said. “We match.”

“I would say we’re twins but I already have one of those.”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes. “Clever. Happy Easter, by the way.”

“You too, nerd.” Marceline gently nudged Bonnie in the side with her elbow.

Bonnibel slung an arm around Marceline’s shoulder and pulled her close. Marceline rested her head on Bonnie’s shoulder and sighed in content. This was probably the happiest she’d ever been on her Mom’s birthday.

And it was all down to Bonnie.


	26. twenty-six.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie runs into an old enemy at a party.

** Friday 25th April 2014 **

As the bell rang signalling the end of Bonnibel’s last lesson for the day, she sighed. She’d enjoyed being back at school, and was looking forward to completing her homework when she arrived home and then moving onto an experiment about sub-atomic particles. Her weekend was to be spent studying anything else that took her interest.

Or so she thought.

Bonnie closed her History book and picked up her pink backpack from where she’d left it on the floor. She piled her notebook and folder on top of the bulky textbook and began packing them into her bag, aware that most of her classmates had run out the door the second the bell rang, desperate to get to some party that was probably on that night. It was a Friday, after all.

She heard a scoff from next to her. “You know, you’re the only person in this entire school that packs up _after_ the bell.”

Bonnie looked up at Marceline, who was leaning back on her chair and smirking at Bonnie in amusement. “If you knocked five minutes off of every single lesson which everyone spends packing away, it’d add up. Since September you’ve probably already lost a few hours of class.”

Marceline grinned and began picking at her bitten-down fingernails, leaning further back on her chair. “The less school the better. I bet you’re going to be spending the weekend studying.”

“I am, actually.” Bonnibel replied, reaching out and pulling Marceline’s chair so it was back on all four of its legs. “Don’t sit on your chair like that. You’ll fall and hurt yourself.”

“ _Actually_ , you’re not. We’re hanging out,” Marceline stated, standing up and grabbing her backpack from the table, “And don’t tell me what to do. Punk listens to nobody, motherfucker.”

“You’re adorable.” Bonnie teased, smirking. She stood up and followed Marceline towards the classroom door, “And when was this sudden hang-out session organised?”

“It was organised by me, somewhere in the middle of class between the daydream about the many cats I will have as a grown-up and the one about the flying horse.” Marceline replied. Bonnibel shot her a stern look and was about to chide Marceline for not listening in class, and the dark haired girl quickly held her hands up in defence. “Hey, it’s not my fault History is boring. I tried to pay attention but my mind ended up wandering.”

Bonnie pulled open the classroom door and held it so Marceline could walk through before her. “You need to know the information for the final. It’s important that you get good grades.”

Marshall – who had been waiting for them – headed over and smirked. “Are you getting _another_ lecture about grades? Damn, Marce. You’d think what Dad tells you would sink in.”

“Which one of us has Cs and below in all of their classes?” Marceline raised an eyebrow and smirked as Marshall’s face reddened. “And _Dad_ is an insufferable sexist prick. I wouldn’t listen to him if he told me to go and get as many new guitars as I liked.”

Bonnibel decided to move the conversation off of this topic – she knew it’d make Marceline uncomfortable. “So, what day do you insist on hanging out with me?”

Marceline seemed grateful Bonnie had changed the subject, which she was. She shot Bonnibel a gentle smile and shrugged. “You’re saying that like it’s a burden to see me. Fine. I won’t come over. Have fun being lonely.”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes and smiled. “Of _course_ it’s not a burden to see you. Are you going to pick a day or just keep being so melodramatic?”

“Sunday.” Marceline replied, “Come round on Sunday.”

“Okay.” Bonnie said. Inwardly, she was grinning in excitement. Even though she loved doing her experiments, she loved hanging out with Marceline even more. “What plans do you have for the night?”

“I’m going to get in my pyjamas, make some popcorn and hang out with Simon.” Marceline replied. “I know – wild night for me. I take it you have some weird-ass experiment to conduct?”

“It’s not _weird_. It’s an _interesting_ experiment on the properties of sub-atomic particles.” Bonnibel said, following Marceline and her brother down the hallway towards the main exit of the school. The crowds of students had begun thinning out – most kids had already set off home or had walked to the bus stop.

Bonnibel wasn’t offended by Marceline calling her science ‘weird’ – she knew her science experiments weren’t exactly a normal activity for kids her age, but she was used to the teasing by now.

Marceline paused before pushing the doors open. She didn’t understand Bonnibel’s science talk. “What the _fuck_ is a sub-atomic particle?”

“It’s a particle that’s smaller than an atom. You know, protons, neutrons and electrons.” Bonnie explained, walking past Marceline as they headed towards the parking lot. “They add up on the atom’s shells to balance it out. For example, a hydrogen atom only has one shell and one electron.”

Marshall frowned at her. “Didn’t you teach me that last time we studied together?”

“Probably. It _is_ on our syllabus, after all.” Bonnie pointedly looked at Marceline. “So we should _all_ know it.”

Marceline shrugged. “Well, you can just teach me everything the day before the final. Sound good?”

“No, that _doesn’t_ sound good. You really should care about your education, Marceline. It’s not good that you just don’t care. I know you’re getting As now, but it’s the final that counts.” Marceline and Marshall exchanged an eye roll, and Bonnibel glared at them both as she got in the passenger seat of Marceline’s car. “I’m serious! Education is important, whether you guys like it or not.”

“You’re such a nerd,” Marceline teased as she started the car up. “You need to chill. I _know_ school is important, ‘kay? No need for the fucking lecture.”

“If you know school is important, why don’t you study?” Bonnie retorted.

“Because it’s boring.” Marshall said, looking up from his phone. Bonnie caught a glimpse of who he was texting and felt a little smile work its way onto her face – Gumball. “I have better things to do.”

Marceline just shrugged as she pulled out of the parking lot and drove away from school. “You won’t believe me, but I _do_ study. Just not until May. I mean, there’s no point in getting myself all stressed out over finals in January when they’re not until June.”

Bonnibel sighed. “You wouldn’t be stressed out if you started studying in January because you’d already know everything.”

“ _Please,_ ” Marceline scoffed. “You study every day, and I bet you’re always stressed out around exam period.”

“Well, they’re exams. Of course I’m going to be stressed.” Bonnie said. “My grades are important to me.”

“Sure, they’re important to you, but they don’t define your worth.” Marceline replied. She hated the idea that grades were the one of the only things that determine how good a college you got to go to or how high-paid a job you get. She thought it was bullshit. “I mean, Marshall failed music last quarter and that doesn’t mean he can’t play guitar well.”

Marshall frowned. “Hey, don’t tell her that!”

“I literally just said you were good at playing guitar. Take the fucking compliment and shut up, asshole.” Marceline shot back.

“You’re such a fucking bitch.” Marshall muttered. “I can’t believe Bonnibel puts up with you.”

“And _I_ can’t believe she puts up with you and your lack of brain cells. You’re such a fucking moron.” Marceline said. “Besides, Bonnie likes me more.”

“She liked _me_ first and she likes me more than you.” Marshall stated. “I was her first friend here, so suck on _that_.”

Marceline scoffed. “Shut up. Bonnie’s my best friend.”

Bonnibel laughed at the arguing twins. She couldn’t believe they went from insulting one another using language Bonnie would get her mouth washed out for to fighting over her like five year olds.

Even though Bonnie knew that she liked the twins differently, she spoke up to break up the argument. “Guys, calm down. I like you both the same.” _If you mean having a crush on one of you and liking the other as a friend means ‘the same_ ’.

Marceline frowned and leaned closer to Bonnie, whispering, “You like me more, right?”

“Of course, you dork. You’re my best friend.” Bonnibel smiled. _I just like you a little more than I should_.

“Good.” Marceline smirked, directing her gaze to the road.

As they pulled up outside Bonnibel’s house, the pink haired girl was surprised to see Lady sat on the doorstep, with Jake’s car pulled into her driveway. Bonnie frowned as she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door, watching as Lady ran over with Jake following closely behind.

Lady stopped her before she got out of Marceline’s car. “Jake is throwing a party tonight. You’re coming. Okay?”

Bonnibel frowned. Her friends knew she didn’t like parties. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea. I was kind of hoping for a chilled out evening doing my experiment.”

“Come _on_ , Bubblegum!” Jake said, although she could see him shooting Marceline a wary look. “It’ll be fun, we promise.”

Marshall grinned. “I’m in. I’ll get some alcohol on my way there, yeah?”

“Yeah, man.” Jake nodded. “It starts at 6PM, my place.”

“Be there. I don’t want one of my best friends turning into a social recluse.” Lady said as she shot Bonnibel a stern look. Then, she noticed Marceline and smiled. “Hi Marceline. You can come too, if you want.”

Marceline shook her head. “Nah, dude. Thanks for the offer, though.”

Bonnibel was disappointed Marceline didn’t decide to come, but she put on a smile nonetheless. “If I get a little overwhelmed by the party, can I call you?”

“Sure.” Marceline replied, shooting her a warm smile. “I’ll be on standby all night. Have fun with your friends.”

Bonnibel smiled, leaning over and pulling Marceline in for a hug. “You’re the best. I’ll see you later.”

“Later, nerd.” Marceline smiled as Bonnie pulled away and jumped out of the car, watching until the pink haired girl had made it inside safely. Then, Marceline smiled to herself and pulled away from Bonnie’s house, ignoring her brother who was complaining about how she didn’t give him time to jump out and get in the front seat.

Inside her house, Bonnibel was ignoring Lady’s rambling about what to wear at the party and staring out of the window and thinking about how whenever Marceline’s face lit up, everything else just seemed a little bit brighter, too.

* * *

 

Bonnie knew she’d regret going to the party. Her head hurt because of the dull lighting and the high volume of the repetitive pop music everyone seemed to know the words to. Lady and Jake had promised her that there wouldn’t be too many people, but it seemed that word had gotten out, and there were even some people there who Bonnie didn’t recognise from school.

Her friends had pulled her into a few games of ‘Never Have I Ever’, and once Cake had announced they were playing Spin the Bottle, Bonnibel had quickly excused herself to the bathroom and never returned. She’d looked in on them, and saw LSP sat in the circle holding hands with Brad, so Bonnie decided it’d be best not to rejoin them – she didn’t want LSP to cause a scene.

Bonnie had decided that she’d had enough social time for one night and since she’d left her friends’ game, she’d been trying to find a quiet spot so she could call Marceline. Assuming that upstairs would be quieter, she quickly made her way up and away from the headache-inducing noise of the party, walking towards Jake’s room. However, as her fingers touched the cold door handle, she could hear some… _questionable_ noises from inside and hurried inside the guest room, which was thankfully empty.

The room was rather spacious – the bed was made to an impeccable standard even Bonnibel couldn’t compete with, and it was dimly lit by a little lamp on the bedside table. It had a comforting, homey smell which made Bonnie feel relaxed as sat herself down on the cool sheets. She pulled out her phone and scrolled down her contacts list, eventually landing on Marceline’s name. She was about to press the ‘call’ button, when she heard something which made her insides grow cold.

“Hello, Bonnibel.” She looked up to see Ricardio, his beady eyes trained on her with a devilish smirk on his face. “Long time, no see.”

Bonnie gulped. The last time she’d run into this guy alone, she’d ended up pinned against a locker against her will. “Uh…hi.”

“How are you?” He pushed himself from the door frame and walked over, sitting down next to her so close that their thighs were touching.

Bonnibel shuffled away from him. “I’m fine, thank you. Actually, I came up here for some alone time, if you don’t mind -,”

“Surely you want some company,” Ricardio interrupted her, “I mean, it’s a party. You have to be with other people at a party.”

Bonnie _wanted_ to launch into the dictionary definition of the word ‘alone’, but she simply shrugged, trying to look as casual as possible. “Well, I came up here to have a little break. Everyone else is downstairs.”

He shot her that intimidating smirk again. “Would you like me to go and get you a drink?”

Bonnie jumped at the chance to get him to go away. “Yes, please.”

He nodded and strode out of the room. “I’ll be right back.”

Bonnie hurriedly unlocked her phone and dialled Marceline’s number. She held it to her ear, impatiently listening to it ringing, until eventually Marceline picked up. _“Yo, Bonnie. Bored of the party, then?”_

“Yeah. I’m upstairs in the guest room and was about to call you but then Ricardio arrived and he wouldn’t leave me alone and I just got him to leave because he asked me if I wanted a drink and I just need you to come as quickly as you can so I can get out of here,” Bonnie rambled, “I know that’s a lot of information to process but just…hurry, okay?”

 _“Sure, man. I’ll see you in a few.”_ Marceline said. _“Hold that Ricardio dude off if he comes back, yeah? I’ll be as quick as I can, I swear._ ”

“Okay. Thanks, Marcy. I’ll see you in a bit.” Bonnie smiled.

 _“Bye, nerd.”_ Marceline hung up, and Bonnie tucked her phone into her pocket. Now that she’d phoned Marceline, she could head back downstairs and blend in with the crowds to hide from Ricardio.

She made her way towards the door, and as she pulled it open, she sighed. Ricardio had just finished making his way up the stairs with two bottles of beer in hand. He forced one into Bonnibel’s hands and almost pushed her back into the guest room by placing his free hand on the small of her back and guiding her forwards.

He sat her down on the bed and perched himself as close as he could to her. She frowned, shuffling away. She really wanted to teach him a lesson in respecting personal space. “So…”

Ricardio smirked. Bonnie assumed it was intended to be attractive, but in reality it just made him look like one of those cartoon supervillains, and she had to admit it intimidated her – he actually seemed quite sinister. “Will you go on a date with me tomorrow, Bonnibel?”

“No.” Bonnibel hoped she sounded firm. “I don’t date and I don’t like you like that. I already told you. I figured getting punched in the teeth by Marceline would put the message in your head.”

“Everyone knows you’re not actually friends with her.” Ricardio scoffed. “Nobody is. If you were really friends with her, you’d hang out with her at school and she’d probably be here right now. You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying.” Bonnibel snapped. Her fists clenched – if Marceline didn’t show up to punch him, Bonnie would do it herself. “She’s on her way here now and she’ll probably do more than just hit you if you don’t leave me alone. I’m not interested.”

Ricardio held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, fine. Let’s just have a drink as _friends_.”

He held up his beer bottle and Bonnie sighed, picking up hers. He tapped his bottle against hers, and Bonnie winced at the high pitched ping as they came together. Bonnibel looked down at the beer, and Ricardio stared at her expectantly as he drank; she _really_ didn’t want to drink any alcohol. Sighing, she politely took a gulp and then immediately put her beer down straight after, cringing at the strong, bitter taste. She didn’t plan on finishing that and didn’t know what she’d liked so much that time she’d ended up drunk.

She caught a small smirk cross Ricardio’s face which made her a little uneasy, but she brushed it off. She sat back on the bed and sighed, smoothing out the wrinkles in the sheets from where she’d been sat. “Why are you so interested in me, anyway?”

“Because you’re hot.”

Bonnibel spluttered. She’d never found herself anything more than average. “I’m…I’m not, and that’s not a good enough reason to keep asking someone out. You -,”

Bonnie paused. She’d begun to feel a little dizzy and she could feel a tingling sensation in her toes. Ricardio raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

“I…” Bonnie stood up, her legs stiffer than usual. The room spun, and she staggered, toppling back onto the bed – she felt like she’d just gotten off a spinning ride at a fun fair and she was finding it harder and harder to gather her thoughts. “What’s happening? What did you do?”

“Nothing.” Ricardio replied. Bonnibel didn’t believe him as her legs began tingling and she felt herself lose feeling in her toes. “Just lay down and relax for a minute.”

Bonnibel didn’t have anything resembling a better plan so she shuffled back on the bed – however all of her limbs seemed much heavier and she found it a difficult task as the pins and needles were now working their way up her legs. She was terrified; she didn’t know what was happening to her and she was alone with some guy she didn’t exactly trust.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to go home and sit in her familiar bedroom and be away from Ricardio and this party and everyone. She wanted Marceline to comfort her and make everything better.

Ricardio slowly started moving towards her. Bonnibel couldn’t move away. “What are you doing?”

With that devilish smirk, his fingers made their way to her shirt. Bonnibel felt a cold sense of dread wash over her like someone had just thrown her into a bathtub full of ice. She couldn’t hit him hard enough to push him off her and it took her what felt like everything she had to lift her arms up. Bonnie was crying as she felt him unbutton her pink shirt. She felt the tears running down her cheeks, smudging her makeup, and her body was shaking with sobs. This _couldn’t_ be happening.

Ricardio smiled coldly as he moved Bonnibel’s pink hair from her face, and the stench of alcohol nearly choked her as he spoke. “Just showing you what you’re missing out on.”

“Get the fuck off of her.”

Bonnibel felt nothing but relief. She was crying, but through the blur of her tears, she could see the outline of Marceline grabbing Ricardio by the back of his shirt and pulling him away from her. “You’re not really friends with her.”

Marceline ignored the statement. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing!” He quickly exclaimed.

Bonnie used every ounce of strength she had and struggled to stand up, almost toppling over again. The room was still spinning and she had to hold onto the bed to keep steady. Marceline noticed. “You spiked her drink, didn’t you?”

“I…yes.”

Bonnie wanted to hit him, but she could barely stand up. She was incredibly happy when Marceline hit him for her and kicked him in the crotch. “That’s for fucking with my best friend. Stay away from her.”

Bonnibel nearly fell over as she attempted to stagger to the door. She didn’t want to be in this room any longer. Marceline grabbed hold of her and held her up, carrying her away from Ricardio, who was on the floor groaning in pain. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Bonnibel quickly replied as they made their way into the hallway. She knew she was still crying and she really didn’t want Marceline to see her like this, but she was so grateful that Marceline had come. “I’m so scared, Marceline. What did he give me?”

“I don’t know, Bonnie. The important thing is getting you out of here.” Marceline said. Bonnie flinched back as Marceline’s gentle, calloused fingers went to the buttons on her pink shirt. Marceline shot her a reassuring smile as she did the buttons up. “Hey. It’s just me, Bonnie. You’re okay. He didn’t do anything.”

Bonnibel shot Marceline a weak smile. “Thank you.”

Marceline held onto Bonnibel and half walked, half carried her down the stairs and out of the front door. Bonnie was dizzy and her legs felt numb – so much that she kept almost falling and knocking Marceline over.

“Okay, this isn’t working.” Marceline said. “Do you want a piggyback?”

“You’d – you’d do that for me?” Bonnie asked, falling against a random car which was parked outside Jake’s house.

“Yep.” Marceline nodded and leaned down enough for Bonnibel to climb on her back. “Do you think you can keep yourself steady enough to get on?”

“I don’t know.”

“Just try.”

Bonnie did as Marceline said and almost fell on top of her. However, in a sudden burst of strength, Marceline pulled Bonnie up onto her back and started walking down the street.

“I’m not too heavy, am I?” Bonnibel whispered in Marceline’s ear.

“You’re fine. Besides, I don’t need to carry you too far,” Marceline said. “Just to my car. Then we can get you home.”

“Please don’t take me home. My parents will kill me for being at a party.” Bonnie begged. “I’m not supposed to go to them, you see. They’ll never let me out of the house again.”

Marceline let out a conflicted sigh. “Bonnie, they’re smarter than me and they’ll be able to figure out how long you’re going to be like this for.”

“I can’t go to them, Marceline. I _can’t_.” Bonnie whimpered. “They’ll _kill_ me.”

“Your parents won’t kill you, Bonnie. They love you,” Marceline assured, “Besides, even if they tried I’d fight them off. I just…we need to know what he gave you, okay?”

Bonnie wanted to argue with Marceline, but logic won out. “Fine. You’re just lucky that my Mom is a doctor. Otherwise I would take the wheel of your car and drive us to the hospital myself.”

“I did _not_ know that your Mom’s a doctor.” Marceline replied. “You never told me that. I was just saying we go to your parents because it’s quicker than a hospital.”

Bonnie shrugged. “I thought I’d mentioned it before, but I guess not. Can we _not_ talk about the stupid situation I’ve gotten myself into and talk about something else?”

“You didn’t do anything.” Marceline firmly replied. “None of this is your fault, you know.”

“It is.” Bonnibel argued. “I should’ve never drunk anything he gave me. I was _such_ an idiot.”

“Shut up.” Marceline snapped as she helped Bonnie off of her and leant her against her car. Marceline dug around in her pockets for the keys, unlocking the door. “Stop calling yourself an idiot. It could’ve happened to anybody. You’re not at fault, okay?”

Bonnie sighed. As much as she didn’t want to believe Marceline, she didn’t want to argue with her. Marceline _had_ just saved her. “Fine. Can we talk about something else?”

“Sure,” Marceline replied, “What do you want to talk about?”

“You. Tell me something happy.” Bonnie said as Marceline helped her into the passenger seat of the car. “Something happy from your childhood.”

Marceline buckled up Bonnibel’s seatbelt and then closed the door, climbing into the driver’s side and starting up the car. “Something happy from my childhood? Uh…” Marceline paused in thought as she pulled away from the sidewalk, and Bonnibel hoped it was because there were too many happy things to choose from. “When I first met Simon is pretty happy, I guess.”

“Okay, tell the story.” Bonnibel smiled.

“Well, when my Dad dropped us off there I was still pretty shaken up, and typically I started crying and like hugging Hambo and stuff and he’d just finished talking to my brother and he came over and he comforted me and told me that he was going to look out for me and stuff. Then he gave me candy.” Marceline said. “And I was sold.”

Bonnibel grinned. “That’s cute. I think if I’d have moved here before high school we would’ve been instant friends.”

“Probably not _instant_ ,” Marceline said, “But it would’ve been faster than how we made friends. I was always super quiet so if someone talked to me I got scared and ran away. Plus, you would’ve been out of my league.”

Bonnibel found that hard to believe. Marceline was so attractive that she was out of everyone’s league. “I doubt that. You’re really pretty.”

Bonnie was surprised when Marceline’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “Thanks, nerd. You are too, which is why you would’ve been out of my league.”

“Are you saying you don’t think you were as pretty back then?”

“It was _middle school_ , Bonnie.” Marceline said as if it was obvious. “Nobody is pretty in middle school. Except for you, probably.”

“Middle school? No _way_ ,” Bonnibel replied, although she couldn’t help but blush at Marceline’s compliment. “I was still blonde, I wore my glasses every day even though I only need them to read and I had braces.”

“You weren’t alone in the glasses club – even though I actually need them because I’m short-sighted as _fuck_ – and I never used to do anything with my hair, _and_ I had acne. Like _really_ bad acne. Ugh,” Marceline shuddered at the memory. “Terrifying. Plus, I was on the wider side, if you know what I mean.”

“So…you weren’t conventionally attractive, but that doesn’t mean you were _un_ attractive. You’re sweet, and at the end of the day it’s personality that matters.” Bonnie smiled. “Besides, you play guitar, so you were already at least a 6.”

Marceline laughed. “Really? Wow. 6. Thanks, Bonnie.”

“I’m not saying you’re a 6 _now_ ,” Bonnie quickly added, “You’re like, an 11/10 now.”

“Nah, that’s you.” Bonnibel blushed. _Why_ did Marceline have to say things like that? Did she _want_ Bonnie to have a crush on her? “Like, the first thought that went through my mind when I met you was ‘damn she’s cute’. The second was ‘wait what the fuck why is she coming over here?’.”

Bonnibel laughed. Marceline always seemed to be able to cheer her up no matter what. “Aren’t you glad I sat next to you, though?”

“Extremely glad.” Marceline replied as she pulled her car up in front of Bonnie’s house. She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, walking around to Bonnie and opening the door. Bonnibel had already managed to undo her seatbelt, and she steadied herself on Marceline as she got out of the car.

Marceline kicked the door shut and locked her car, assisting Bonnibel towards the front door. “Have you got a key?”

“It should be unlocked.” Bonnibel replied. She was worried – her Mom would kill her for going to a party.

Marceline tried the door, and luckily, it was unlocked. As per usual, Bonnibel’s Mom came out of the lounge to see how Bonnie’s night had gone, frowning when she saw Bonnie being supported by Marceline.

“Hi, Mom.” Bonnie replied. “This isn’t as bad as it looks.”

Thankfully, Marceline stepped in. “Someone spiked her drink.”

“ _What_? Do you know what with?” Lynn asked. She helped Bonnibel into the living room and laid her down on the sofa.

“No. We were hoping you could help figure that out.” Marceline said.

Lynn knelt down next to Bonnibel and smiled gently. “Bonnibel? How do you feel?”

“Numb. It’s hard to move. I couldn’t think properly at first but in that aspect I’m much better. I’m still a little dizzy.” Bonnie said. Sighing, she knew it’d be helpful to tell her Mom it was in alcohol. “It was put in beer but I only had a mouthful to be polite.”

“It’s lucky that you did only have a little,” Bonnie was grateful her Mom didn’t comment on the alcohol, but judging by the stern look in her Mom’s eye, it was likely to come up later, “Mixing drugs with alcohol makes them ten times more dangerous.”

“What do you think it is?” Marceline asked.

Lynn stood up. “Judging by the symptoms, I’d say something like ketamine. We can’t know for sure, but it’s most likely. The effects should wear off in a few hours since she only had a little bit, which is fortunate as high doses can cause hallucinations.”

Bonnibel’s eyes widened. “Hallucinations? I don’t want to have hallucinations.”

Marceline kneeled down next to her. “Don’t worry, Bonnie. Your Mom said only high doses. You didn’t have a high dose. You’ll be okay.”

“Will you stay over tonight?” Bonnie quickly asked. “You know, just in case. We can hang out tomorrow instead of Sunday.”

Marceline knew she had band practise the next day, but nodded. “Okay. I just have to go and get my stuff.”

Bonnibel nodded. “Okay. I love you.”

“Love you too.” Marceline replied. “I’ll be back soon.”

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you went to a party and didn’t say anything, Bonnibel.” Lynn said as she laid Bonnie down on her bed. “And you drank alcohol.”

“I had a _mouthful_ ,” Bonnibel corrected, “I wouldn’t have had anything more. I knew you’d act like this.”

“Bonnibel, if Marceline hadn’t have been there, god knows what would’ve happened to you!” Her Mom exclaimed. “You should’ve told me.”

“You wouldn’t have let me go,” Bonnie replied. Truthfully, she didn’t really want to go in the first place, but her friends wouldn’t have shut up about it if she hadn’t made an appearance. “You don’t need to worry – I’m never going to another party again. No _way_.”

“I never thought I’d have to do this,” Lynn sighed, “You’re grounded for two weeks. I’ll let you have Marceline over tonight but you can’t see any of your friends until you’re not grounded and _no science experiments_. You can study for school but you can’t do any experiments of your own interest.”

“Mom! You can’t do that,” Bonnie argued. “I’ve been planning an experiment all week!”

“You’ll just have to wait until you’re not grounded anymore.” Lynn replied. “That’s final.”

“I can’t believe you’re grounding me for getting a drink spiked.” Bonnie muttered.

“I’m not. I’m grounding you for lying to me about where you were going.” Lynn quickly retorted. “You told me you were going to Lady’s for a girl’s night, but instead you went to a party.”

Bonnie sighed. She couldn’t exactly argue with that. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m just grateful Marceline was responsible enough to bring you home. I hope you thanked her.”

Before Bonnibel could reply, there was a knock on the bedroom door and it pushed open to reveal a very uncomfortable looking Marceline. “Is this a bad time?”

Lynn headed towards the door. “No. I was just leaving.”

Marceline watched as Lynn went downstairs, before she slipped into Bonnie’s room and closed the door. She walked over to Bonnibel’s bed and laid down next to Bonnie, shooting her a comforting smile. Bonnie couldn’t help but feel a little better. “Hey. Are you feeling any better?”

Bonnibel pushed herself closer to Marceline – it took a lot of effort, but she got there. “A little.”

“You’re upset because your Mom is mad at you, aren’t you?” Marceline raised an eyebrow.

Bonnibel shrugged. She let out a long sigh and nodded. “Honestly? Yeah. It’s just, she’s never grounded me before.”

“ _You_ got grounded?” Marceline laughed. “Wow. There’s a once in a lifetime event.”

“Shut up.” Bonnie muttered. “I bet _you’ve_ been grounded loads of times.”

“I think you’re forgetting that I don’t leave the house. Grounding me doesn’t exactly have an effect.” Marceline joked, before she noticed the upset frown on Bonnibel’s face. “Bonnie, getting grounded once isn’t the end of the world. Chill.”

“I guess you’re right.” Bonnie murmured. She rested her head on Marceline’s shoulder and sighed. “I know you’re usually the little spoon, but – just for tonight – could I -,”

“You don’t even need to ask, dork.” Marceline responded, putting an arm around Bonnie. “C’mere.”

“Thanks, Marcy. You’re the best,” Bonnibel murmured, “I bet you think I’m really stupid for getting my drink spiked, don’t you?”

“I think you’re the smartest person on the planet.” Marceline replied, giving Bonnie a gentle squeeze. “Getting your drink drugged by some fuckboy doesn’t change my opinion. It could’ve happened to anyone.”

Bonnie frowned. “Has it ever happened to you?”

“No,” Marceline replied. “I accidentally ate a pot brownie once, though.”

Bonnibel laughed, looking up at Marceline in amusement. “Story, please.”

“Alright,” Marceline’s chest rumbled with laughter at the memory, “Well, I was fourteen and it was the second party I’d ever been to, and Keila had gone somewhere so I was just strolling around when some guy offered me a brownie and because I’m a dumbass I took it. Needless to say, that didn’t end well. I ended up stoned and Keila had to take me home and explain what happened to Simon.”

“How did he take it?” Bonnie couldn’t imagine Simon being relaxed about things like that.

“He freaked out and said I wasn’t allowed to any parties ever again,” Marceline replied, “He forgot about that pretty quickly but he gets a little wary when I go to them, even though I’ve assured him I’m never going to take brownies from strangers again.”

Bonnibel giggled. “That cheered me up. Thanks.”

“I do a lot of stupid things, so if you ever need a pick me up there are plenty more stories where that came from.” Marceline smiled. “Like the time I rode my bike into a streetlight and cracked my head open.”

“You were okay, right?” Bonnie looked up, concerned.

“No, I died.” Marceline sarcastically responded. “ _Yeah_ , I was fine. I had to go to the hospital and got stitches but after that I was okay.”

“Good.” Bonnie smiled. “I don’t like thinking about you hurt.”

“Right back at you.” Marceline said.

“You cheered me up a lot, you know.” Bonnibel replied. “How do you do that? You’re really great at it.”

“Well, usually I just say stupid things and hope for the best.” Marceline stated. At Bonnie’s eye roll, she laughed, but continued, “No, I try to keep the person’s mind off whatever is making them sad and then they usually feel better.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Bonnie smiled. “Thanks, though. For everything.”

“It’s no big deal, dude. You’re my friend,” Marceline said, “If people fuck with my friends, they’ve got to deal with a very angry me.”

“I’m _so_ glad I talked to you.” Bonnie murmured. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Bonnie.”

As Bonnie laid there, all snuggled up and safe next to Marceline, she couldn’t help but think about how lucky she was to have a friend as wonderful as Marceline.

She just hoped her stupid crush wouldn’t get in the way of that.


	27. twenty-seven.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie studies a little too much and marceline gives finn some advice.

** Wednesday 7th May 2014 **

Bonnibel sat up and rubbed her eyes, determined to stay focused on the revision notes she’d been making. She hadn’t slept since she woke up on Wednesday morning – school had been hard to get through and she was sure Marceline and her other friends had noticed something was off – but she needed to study. She knew she had an English Language trial exam the next day and was determined to get at _least_ an A grade. If she aced it, maybe her Mom would let her off of being grounded.

Her Dad had come in to tell her to go to bed, but Bonnie hadn’t listened. Since then, he’d been checking up on her in regular intervals, and she was sure she’d heard him talking on the phone and mention her name.

Of course, she just shrugged everything off and went back to studying.

She had just finished drawing up notes on passive constructions and their effects when there was a light knock on her bedroom door and she shot up, alert. She looked to the clock – 9:45PM. It had to be her Dad checking up again.

She was correct – her Dad stuck his head around the door and smiled comfortingly. “Bonnibel, I know you haven’t slept for over 30 hours. Even though you’re grounded, I thought I’d make an exception for the sake of your mental health. Because I can’t talk you into going to sleep, I called a friend of yours.”

Marceline stepped into view then, awkwardly waving at Bonnie. “Hey. You know, you looked kind of tired at school but I didn’t think that you hadn’t slept at all.”

Bonnie shook her head and turned back to her notes. She picked up her pink highlighter and turned to a sheet of information Betty had given them in class. Marceline noted how shaky Bonnie’s hands were. “I’m fine. You can go home.”

Peter looked at Marceline and smiled, before ducking out of the room. “Good luck.”

Marceline watched after him, unsure of how she was going to pry Bonnie away from her textbooks and worksheets. She stepped over a pile of stacked up papers which were written in German – Marceline assumed Bonnie had just finished with those – and walked over to Bonnibel, placing a gentle hand on the other girl’s shoulder. “Hey, Bonnie. I think it’s time for you to stop studying and get some sleep.”

“I can’t,” Bonnie replied. Marceline noticed how she seemed sort of dazed and quietly wondered if Bonnie had been turned into a zombie since she’d dropped her off at home after school, “We have an English trial exam tomorrow, Marceline. I _have_ to get an A.”

Marceline reached over and shut the textbook Bonnie was hunched over. “Okay, that’s enough. You can’t do a test when you haven’t slept for nearly two days. You want to get a good grade? Get a good night’s sleep.”

“I _can’t_ ,” Bonnibel repeated, looking up at Marceline, her blue eyes frantic and wide. “I still haven’t covered sentence structures and the effects of syntax. I’ll _fail_ if I don’t cover grammar.”

“You won’t fail, you moron.” Marceline quickly grabbed the blank sheet of paper Bonnie picked up and placed it out of the shorter girl’s reach, “You’re the smartest person I know. If you fail, I’m fucked.”

“Five more minutes?” Bonnie helplessly asked, “Please, Marcy?”

“Don’t ‘Marcy’ me. You’re going to bed.” Marceline shot back, helping Bonnie up from the desk chair she was sat in and walking her over to her bed. She sat the pink girl down and moved over to Bonnie’s chest of drawers, finding the one filled with pyjamas. Marceline pulled out a pair of silky pink pyjama bottoms and a matching shirt, forcing them into Bonnie’s arms. “Get changed. I’ll go wait outside.”

Bonnie shot her a look of disbelief. “I can’t wear this. Where’s your shirt?”

Marceline was stunned for a moment, until she realised Bonnibel meant the old shirt she’d given her. “Oh! I don’t know. Where did you last have it?”

Bonnibel shuffled on the spot, using the back of one hand to rub her eyes as she stifled a yawn. She turned to the pillows on her bed and picked them up, frowning when the shirt wasn’t there. “But…it should be there. Why isn’t it there?”

Bonnie looked at Marceline as though she would have the answers, and Marceline bit on her lip in thought before she got an idea. “Stay there. I’m going to ask your Mom.”

Bonnie nodded, watching as Marceline left the room. She then looked at the pyjamas in her arms, throwing the shirt down in disgust. She took off the pink sundress she was wearing and pulled on the pyjama bottoms, sitting back on her bed and waiting for Marceline to return.

“She said it’s in the – _whoa_. Put a shirt on, man!” Marceline exclaimed as she came back into Bonnie’s room, distracted by the sight of Bonnibel in nothing but her pink bra and pyjama bottoms.

“Do you have your shirt?” Bonnibel asked.

Marceline seemed rather shocked by how unembarrassed Bonnie was, but she figured it was just the sleep deprivation. She knew Bonnibel would be incredibly embarrassed after she’d had a little sleep. “Your Mom told me it’s in the wash. Sorry, Bonnie. You’re going to have to make do without it.”

Bonnibel’s eyes widened as though the thought was positively terrifying. “No! I need it. It makes me feel better and helps me sleep.”

Marceline stared at her for a second, before she discarded the black hoodie she was wearing to reveal her ‘no smoking’ t-shirt. She pulled the grey shirt off and handed it to Bonnie, aware of the pink blush on Bonnibel’s cheeks, before quickly pulling her hoodie back on. “There. Wear that for the night.”

Bonnie smiled and pulled the shirt on, and Marceline tried not to laugh as Bonnibel hid her face in the neck of the shirt and deeply inhaled. “Smells like you. I like it.”

“Okay,” Marceline smiled a little, pulling back the pink sheets of Bonnie’s bed, “Time to get into bed.”

Bonnie got into bed without complaint, and stared up at Marceline with tired yet innocent blue eyes. She smiled, shuffling onto her side. “Will you stay for a bit? Oh, I know! You can play me something on my Dad’s guitar.”

Marceline smiled, “Sure. I’ll be right back, yeah?”

Marceline slipped out of the room and into Peter’s office. “Hey. I got her into bed but she wants me to play her something on guitar. Is it cool if I…?”

She gestured to his guitar, and he smiled, nodding. “Of course. Thanks for getting her to stop studying. You did it in record time, too.”

Marceline laughed as she picked up his guitar and headed for the door. “No problem.”

Marceline walked across the hallway to Bonnibel’s room, gently nudging the door open and walking inside, closing the door behind her. She turned to the bed to see Bonnie fast asleep; the only music that ended up coming from the room was the sound of Bonnie’s light snores as she dreamed.

* * *

 

** Thursday 8th May 2014 **

Bonnibel rolled over in her bed as she was woken by the obnoxious beep of her alarm. She stuck her arm out of the warmth of her bed, tapping on her phone screen without opening her eyes – it took her a few tries to make the phone shut up.

She squinted, sitting up and looking around her bedroom. Her curtains hadn’t been drawn, and there was a single strip of sunlight casted on her revision notes which were where she’d left them on her desk after Marceline had put her to bed.

 _Marceline_! Bonnie suddenly remembered that her Dad had called Marceline over when Bonnie wouldn’t go to bed. Bonnie looked down at the grey ‘no smoking’ t-shirt she was wearing, and pulled the collar up to her nose, sniffing it. She could smell Marceline’s intoxicating scent, and it was much stronger than what was left on the other shirt Marceline had given her. She smiled; she really appreciated everything Marceline had done for her.

Bonnie shuffled out of bed and picked up her phone from her bedside table – she wasn’t expecting any notifications, but she grinned when she had a text from Marceline which she must have sent last night.

**_Marceline (10:32PM): hope you got a good night’s sleep, nerd_ **

Bonnie tried to bite back her smile, but she ended up grinning like an idiot with a bright pink hue to her cheeks. She loved waking up to nice texts – it meant a lot to her.

Bonnibel unplugged her phone from its charger and headed over to her desk. She began stacking up all of her papers from last night, sometimes having to stop to decipher the handwriting on some of them. She laughed – she really _did_ need Marceline to come over and make her go to bed. She decided to send a text back to Marceline and pulled her phone out, typing with one hand as she kept sorting through her papers.

**_Bonnie (7:06AM): Yeah, I did. Thanks for coming round. I’ll get this shirt back to you as soon as I can, promise._ **

Bonnie threw her phone back onto her bed and separated her revision notes into two piles – one which consisted of notes that were legible and were actually worth using, and the other a pile of incoherent nonsense. Then, she found her English Language folder from her schoolbag and tucked the notes inside so she’d be able to use them to revise from at lunch and break.

Once she’d finished packing away her school stuff for the day, she headed into the bathroom to shower, feeling confident that her day would go well.

* * *

 

Bonnie flipped the switch on her hairdryer and cut the gust of warm air off. She wrapped the cord around the handle and packed it back away in her desk drawer, before walking back over and sitting on her bed, grabbing her phone from her bedside table to see a reply from Marceline.

**_Marceline (7:36AM): no problem, dude :)_ **

Bonnie quickly typed out a message in reply.

**_Bonnie (7:45AM): Are you picking me up at normal time?_ **

Before Bonnie could put her phone down to brush her hair, Marceline texted back.

**_Marceline (7:46AM): yeah so be ready because if you’re not out in five minutes I’ll leave_ **

**_Bonnie (7:46AM): That little bluff might work on your brother, but I know you wouldn’t do that. ;)_ **

**_Marceline (7:47AM): in the words of vampire willow_ **

**_Marceline (7:47AM): bored now_ **

**_Bonnie (7:48AM): It’s not even 8AM and you’ve already made a Buffy reference? Wow._ **

**_Marceline (7:49AM): how the fuck did you know that was a buffy reference_ **

**_Bonnie (7:49AM): You told me there’s a character called Willow and you said vampire so I just guessed. :)_ **

**_Marceline (7:50AM): well okay then I guess you do pay attention when I talk that’s good_ **

**_Marceline (7:50AM): anyways I have to go, I’ll see you when I get to yours_ **

**_Bonnie (7:51AM): Okay. Bye, Marcy. :)_ **

* * *

 

“Hey, Bubblegum.” Bonnie spun around to see Lady jogging towards her through the crowds of students heading out of class.

Bonnie frowned, but she stopped walking and waited for Lady to catch up. “Hey. What’s up?”

“I wanted to say sorry for getting you in trouble with your parents,” Lady said, “You know, with the party?”

Bonnibel waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Marceline made me feel better about it.”

Bonnie was sure she saw Lady smirk in amusement, before her face turned neutral. “Yeah, about that…are you guys dating?”

Bonnie was aware she was blushing like a schoolgirl and looked down at her fingers, picking at her pink nail varnish. “Of course we’re not. She’s just my friend. That’s all.”

Lady frowned and Bonnie could tell she didn’t believe her. “You’re just friends? Then why did you blush when I asked you?”

“We’re _not_ together.” Bonnie quickly interrupted. “She wouldn’t like me like that. She’s too good for me.”

“But you like her?” Lady questioned.

 _How does she know?_ Bonnie thought, _oh god, nobody is supposed to find out. What if Marceline knows?_ “No.”

“Really?” Lady didn’t look like she believed that at all. At the fearful look on Bonnie’s face, Lady shot the pink haired girl a soft smile. “Relax. I won’t tell. You can trust me.”

Bonnie was sceptical – she knew Lady would be understanding, but what if it got out and Marceline ended up getting told?

Bonnibel looked around and grabbed onto Lady’s arm, pulling her into an empty classroom. She sat down on one of the desks and let out a long sigh. “You want the truth?”

Lady smiled. She was grateful Bonnie was opening up. “Please.”

“I like her.” Bonnibel admitted. It felt incredibly weird saying it out loud; Bonnie still didn’t really want to admit it to herself. “I know, I’m an idiot.”

“Whoa,” Lady murmured, looking up to Bonnie with the same sympathetic gaze she’d shown her when LSP had found out about Bonnie’s sexuality. “You’re not an idiot. It’s okay that you like her.”

“I’m trying not to, though.” Bonnie offered. She knew that her efforts were useless – she couldn’t bear to distance herself from Marceline and she couldn’t think of any other ways to stop her stupid feelings before they got out of control.

Lady laughed. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

Bonnie let out a long sigh. “I wish it was.”

“If you ever need to talk…I’m here.” Lady smiled. “Promise.”

Bonnie shot her a weak smile. She knew Lady was trying to help, but talking wouldn’t do any good. It’d probably end up with her gushing over Marceline’s jawline or something. “Thanks.”

Lady seemed to sense that Bonnie wasn’t feeling very happy with herself, so she helped the pink haired girl up and walked her towards the door. “So, we’re doing this movie thing -,”

“I’m grounded.” Bonnibel interrupted. “Remember?”

Lady rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but you won’t be grounded when we do the movie thing. Your Mom said two weeks, right? It’s two weeks since the party this Saturday, so you’re free next weekend.”

“What are you guys planning?” Bonnie asked. For once, she was considering going – it would be nice to get out after being grounded.

“Well, at first it started out as a date for me and Jake but then Finn asked if he could come along, which ended up with everyone else joining in.” Lady explained. “Gumball is bringing Marshall. You can bring Marceline, if you like. It _is_ sort of a couple thing. Don’t tell Marshall, though.”

“A couple thing?” Bonnie repeated, “And you want me to bring Marceline?”

Lady shrugged. “I’m just helping my friend out.”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. “Who is everyone else bringing?”

“Well, Gumball invited Marshall, but he doesn’t know about the couple thing and Gumball is saying it’s just as friends,” Lady replied, “Obviously me and Jake are going together, Fionna and Cake aren’t bringing anyone and Finn said he had someone in mind, whatever that means. And you and Marceline, if you bring her.”

“I’ll talk to her, okay?” Bonnie said, “But even if I can convince her to come, it won’t be a date.”

Lady smirked like she knew something Bonnie didn’t. “ _Sure_ it won’t.”

* * *

 

Marceline was sat at a secluded table hidden in the back of the library, reading over her History textbook and making notes on one of the topics they needed to know for the final. She sighed – she hated studying, and would much rather be in the music room playing on the piano. This was probably the first time she’d ever wanted lunchtime to be over quickly; at least in her next class, she had Bonnie to talk to.

She heard a light cough from in front of her, and frowned. Bonnibel was busy at a lunchtime study session for English and nobody else at school talked to Marceline.

She looked up, and she met the nervous blue gaze of Finn. She put the cap on her pen and stared at him expectantly. Obviously, the kid wanted something; he wouldn’t be there if he didn’t. “Yes?”

“You’re – um…close friends with Bubblegum, right?” Marceline noticed how timid he seemed straight away. She knew this was weird; she’d noticed he was one of the most outgoing in Bonnie’s little band of nerds.

For a second, Marceline had no idea who he was talking about, but then she remembered that was their nickname for Bonnibel. “You mean Bonnie?”

“Yeah.” Finn nodded, pointing to the chair opposite Marceline on the table. “Can I sit down?”

“Sure,” Marceline replied, watching as Finn sat and began playing with the hem of his blue shirt. “Why are you asking me about Bonnie?”

He gulped. “Well…I was wondering if you knew what she’d like to do in – well, in like a – a date situation, you know? I mean, girls talk about that, right?”

She wanted to launch into a rant about how he shouldn’t assume all girls talked about was dates and boys, but she saw the scared look in his eye and she knew he probably meant well. “You like her?”

“Yeah,” He replied. “I asked her out before, and she said no, and I think it might’ve been because of what I asked her to do. Do you think you could help me?”

Marceline wanted to laugh, but even with her horrible social skills, she knew that would be insensitive. Finn had come to her for help, and Bonnie wanted her to make friends. She might as well try. “Look, Bonnie doesn’t really go out on dates with guys. There’s nothing I can do about that.”

“But, what if I told you my idea?” He persisted. “I think it’s something she might like.”

Marceline sighed – she knew nothing Finn would come up with would make Bonnie like him like that, but she couldn’t exactly out her best friend. “Okay, go ahead.”

“Well, there’s this science museum a few towns over. It’s not very big but I thought it’d be something she’d like.” Finn said, “Also, I kind of need a date to this movie thing we’re doing in a couple of weeks, and I really like her.”

“Listen, dude,” Marceline knew she would have to tell him the truth before he got even more invested in something that’d never happen, “Bonnie would be happy to hang out with you as friends, you get me? She won’t date you, or any other boy who comes knocking on her door.”

She felt a little bad when she saw the hurt look on his face, but she knew it was for the best. Finn sighed. “But _why_ won’t she date anyone?”

“She said it’d distract her from her schoolwork,” Marceline lied.

Finn sat back in his chair, dejected. “I really like her, though.”

“Think about it, man,” Marceline tried to console him, “A brainlord like _Bonnie_? You’d be bored with her in a week. Move on, dude. Find someone more outgoing and extroverted. You’re a great kid. Don’t waste your time on something that’s not going to happen.”

Finn seemed like he was processing everything Marceline had said. “I…I guess you’re right. Thanks, Marceline.”

“No worries, man.” Marceline offered him a small smile.

He positively beamed back. “You know, you’re -,”

“Not as bad as I seem?” Marceline cut in with a smirk. “Yeah. Been getting that a lot lately.”


	28. twenty-eight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie and her friends go to the cinema.

** Saturday 17th May 2014 **

With each ring that sounded, Bonnibel found herself growing increasingly nervous. _Just pick up the phone_ , she thought, _please? I’m nervous enough._

She bit down on her lip and shut her eyes, hoping that she’d get an answer. She even crossed the fingers on her free hand – even though she knew it wouldn’t do anything, it was comforting. Bonnie impatiently shuffled from foot to foot and hoped the phone would at least go to voicemail to put her out of her suffering.

After what felt like an eternity, the ringing finally ceased. _“Hey, Bonnie.”_

“Marceline,” Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief and smiled to herself, “I have a question for you.”

_“Okay, shoot.”_

Bonnie sucked in a deep breath, and quickly said, “Will you come to the movies with me? And my friends, but you don’t have to talk to them.”

 _“I don’t really want to spend a day with your friends, so no,_ ” Marceline replied, and Bonnie felt something sink inside of her. She was about to wave it off and say it was fine, but Marceline continued, _“Maybe if you tell me how much it means to you, I’ll reconsider.”_

“Seriously?” Bonnie replied, “Uh…it means a lot to me and I’ll cry if you don’t come. And maybe I’ll go and get a new best friend.”

 _“Okay, fine,”_ Marceline cut her off, _“I’ll come.”_

“You just didn’t want me to tell people you’re going to willingly hang out with my friends.” Bonnie laughed. “Did you?”

 _“If anyone asks, you begged at my feet.”_ Marceline responded, and Bonnie assumed that meant ‘yes’. _“What are we going to see, anyway?”_

“I’m not sure,” Bonnie said, “They didn’t say a specific movie. I think it’s going to be something romantic, though. It’s apparently a couple thing.”

 _“And you invited me?”_ Marceline laughed, _“You know, if you think I’m hot, just tell me.”_

Bonnie was incredibly thankful that Marceline wasn’t present to see her blushing. “I didn’t mean it like that, you big jerk.”

 _“I know, I know,”_ Marceline said, _“Couldn’t find a date, huh?”_

“I thought about maybe getting a date, but I decided against it.” _Because I have feelings for you,_ Bonnie thought, “Besides, you’re much better company. With you, I know I’ll have fun.”

 _“Aw, that’s sweet,”_ Marceline teased, _“Seriously, though. Thanks. You want a ride to the cinema?”_

Bonnie nodded, but then realised Marceline couldn’t see her. “Yeah, sure. We’re meeting at 1PM outside and going in to buy snacks and stuff.”

 _“I’m going to sneak in some Twizzlers we can share.”_ Marceline stated, _“Cinema food is way too overpriced. We’ll stop by the store on the way there to get contraband snacks.”_

“Ooh, very rebellious.” Bonnibel replied, “Want to go mug a policeman while we’re at it?”

 _“Sure, I haven’t mugged anyone for a while,”_ Marceline casually responded, “ _It should be fun.”_

Bonnibel laughed. “If the FBI or something is listening into this conversation that probably sounded really bad.”

 _“Fuck the FBI.”_ Marceline exclaimed, “ _Punk listens to nobody.”_

“And that probably sounded worse.” Bonnie laughed. “What time are you picking me up?”

 _“Well, it’s 11 now, so probably around 12:15 if we’re going to go to the store.”_ Marceline replied. “ _That okay with you?”_

“Yeah, I’ll see you then.” Bonnie said, “Will Marshall be joining us in the car?”

 _“Nah, he slept over at Gumball’s last night.”_ Marceline explained, _“Which was good, as it gave me and Keila an opportunity for a girl’s night.”_

“You and Keila have girl’s nights?” Bonnie really couldn’t imagine Marceline and Keila painting each other’s nails and gossiping.

 _“If you count drinking beer and playing Guitar Hero as a girl’s night, then yeah.”_ Marceline said. Bonnie laughed. She should’ve known that their girl’s nights wouldn’t be conventional. _“Anyway, I’m going to go. I have to get ready.”_

“Alright. I’ll see you when you come and pick me up.” Bonnie replied.

 _“Later, man,”_ Marceline hung up, and Bonnie was left still holding the phone to her ear and sighing in relief.

She actually didn’t make a fool out of herself like she thought she would. That was comforting.

* * *

 

“I brought a backpack so I don’t have to pretend I’m pregnant or something to sneak the food in.” Marceline said, producing her black school backpack from the backseat.

Bonnie frowned. “Please tell me you’ve never actually tried pretending you’re _pregnant_ of all things.”

Marceline smiled sheepishly. “In my defence, it was Guy’s idea. And it worked, so take _that_.”

“It _worked?_ ” Bonnie laughed, with a surprised look plastered across her face. “That’s ridiculous.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Really, Marceline?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow, and a small smirk made its way onto her face.

Marceline just pouted. “You always make fun of my insults. You’re mean.”

“Says the girl trying to insult me.” Bonnie chuckled, opening her door and hopping out of Marceline’s car. “Come on. We need snacks.”

Marceline just rolled her eyes in response and got out of the car, locking it behind her. Then, she walked over to Bonnie and smiled as the pink haired girl grabbed her hand and excitedly pulled her into the store and to the candy aisle.

Marceline was even happier as they went past the cash registers and she saw that Ash wasn’t there.

 _Good,_ she thought, _the last thing I need is an encounter with that asshole._

Bonnie paused in front of the fully stocked shelves and nodded to Marceline. “Take your pick.”

“I’ve just brought some Twizzlers with me. I don’t need anything else aside from a drink.” Marceline assured. “I’ll be fine.”

Bonnie frowned when she heard Marceline’s stomach rumble a little. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded. Bonnie was still sceptical, and Marceline seemed to sense this. “Dude, I’m _fine_. Seriously.”

Bonnibel _wanted_ to question why Marceline’s stomach had just been rumbling, but she decided to ease off and trust her friend. “Okay. I’ll just get a couple of candy bars and we’ll go and get some drinks.”

Marceline waited for Bonnie to pick out a few chocolate bars – Bonnie noticed Marceline seemed particularly tense – and then they headed to the drinks cooler, where Marceline grabbed a Dr Pepper and Bonnibel picked a Diet Coke.

Marceline pulled out ten dollars from her pocket. “There, that should cover it. I’ll go wait in the car.”

Bonnibel frowned. “You’re not paying for everything. I have some money with me.”

“Well, split it, whatever.” Marceline shrugged. “I’m waiting in the car. Even if Ash isn’t there, I still don’t want to talk to strangers. Simon told me not to.”

Bonnie laughed. “That’s your new excuse for avoiding human interaction? Wow.”

“Shut up. I’ll see you in the car.” Marceline rolled her eyes and left Bonnie in the line for the checkout.

Bonnibel paid for everything – she’d decided that was how she was going to pay Marceline back for all of the coffees – and then re-joined Marceline in the car. The dark haired girl held the backpack open for her and Bonnie left the food in there, and then they set off to meet Bonnibel’s friends.

As they got closer to the cinema, Bonnie noticed Marceline’s grip on the steering wheel became tighter and tighter, and she smiled knowingly. “Be honest; you’re nervous.”

“Shut up.” Marceline half-heartedly muttered. “You know I’m not good with other people.”

Bonnibel smiled. “Don’t worry, my friends are nice. You’ve already talked to Finn, Lady and Gumball, _and_ your twin brother is going to be there. It’s just Fionna, Cake and Jake you haven’t really talked to yet.”

Marceline shrugged. “That Jake dude is scary, though.”

“Jake’s not scary, he’s really nice.” Bonnie assured. “He’s scared of you, too.”

“That’s what I don’t like about your friends.” Marceline said. “Like, some of them used to shove me around a lot and then I break a dude’s wrist and I’m suddenly scary. I don’t get it.”

“Maybe they’re scared because they think you’ll do the same to them for shoving you around.” Bonnie suggested.

Marceline shrugged in consideration. “I guess. I wouldn’t, though.”

“I know you wouldn’t. You’ll be nice, right?” Bonnie asked.

“Yeah,” Marceline nodded. “Might be a little bit of sarcasm, but yeah.”

“You’re sarcastic with me and I’m one of your best friends,” Bonnie said, “I bet you came out of the womb making a sarcastic comment about bad lighting or something.”

Marceline laughed. “Yeah, it’s totally built-in.”

“It’s just your sense of humour,” Bonnie smiled, “And I love it. Hey, there’s a parking space there.”

Marceline pulled into where Bonnie said, and stopped the car. Turning to look at Bonnie, she smiled. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

Bonnibel smiled as they got out of the car and grabbed hold of Marceline’s hand, pulling her towards the cinema. “We’ll have fun, I promise.”

Marceline stayed silent. For some reason, she doubted that.

* * *

 

When they entered the cinema, Bonnie looked around for her friends, spotting Jake stood against a wall talking to Lady, who was holding his hand. Bonnie pulled Marceline over, chuckling a little when Marceline protested with wide eyes. “The scary guy is over there!”

“Jake is as scary as a puppy. He’s more scared of you than you are of him.” Bonnie assured.

“Pretty sure that ideology only works with spiders, and they _aren’t_ fucking more scared of me.” Marceline shuddered a little. “They’re gross.”

“Well, Jake isn’t a spider, so you’ll be fine.” Bonnie said as they approached Jake and Lady. She shot them a wide smile. “Hey, guys.”

She saw Jake’s eyes widen at Marceline, and Lady just smiled. “Bubblegum, hey!”

“I got Marceline to be my _platonic_ date.” Bonnie grinned, looking up at Marceline and smiling. She reassuringly squeezed Marceline’s hand and then dropped it when she saw Lady’s smirk out of the corner of her eye. “What are we going to see?”

“The Amazing Spiderman 2.” Jake replied. “We all saw the first one together, so…”

Bonnie just shrugged. “Okay. Are Fionna and Finn and everyone on their way?”

“Cake backed out to hang out with LSP and Fionna found out Marshall is coming – no offence, Marceline – and decided not to come.” Lady explained. “But Finn, Marshall and Gumball are still coming.”

Marceline frowned. “Why would I be offended by that?”

“Because Fionna doesn’t like your brother.” Lady pointed out.

“Half of the time _I_ don’t even like my brother.” Marceline laughed, “It’s no big deal, dude.”

“Okay,” Lady smiled, “I just didn’t want to offend you, is all. Not that I don’t like Marshall, he’s great, but -,”

“You need to chill.” Marceline interrupted. “Seriously, dude. I’m not going to go all Buffy the Vampire Slayer on you and stab you and send you to hell. You can relax.”

“ _Another_ Buffy reference?” Bonnie laughed. “How often do you watch that show?”

“Too often.”

“Well, look who _actually_ got out of bed.” Bonnibel spun around to see Marshall, Finn and Gumball heading towards them.

Marceline rolled her eyes at her brother. “I could say the same to you. I guess you were too busy making out with your boyfriend over there.”

Bonnie laughed as both Gumball and Marshall flushed bright red. She could tell Gumball was terrified, but Bonnie knew Marshall wouldn’t be smart enough to figure out Gumball actually liked him.

“He’s _not_ my boyfriend.” Marshall quickly replied. “I’m not even gay. Besides, you can’t talk – you and Bonnibel might as well be dating.”

Bonnie blushed bright pink. Now, she felt Gumball’s pain, and she actually had a reason to be afraid – Marceline was smart and could probably figure out what Bonnie was thinking if she wanted to.

“Just because B – I mean, I’m bi, doesn’t mean we’re together.” Marceline said. She could tell that the accusation had made Bonnie uncomfortable. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Getting defensive, huh? Are you guys going to sneak into the back of the cinema and make out?” Marshall teased.

Bonnie blushed even harder, and Marceline scowled. “Shut up. Can’t you see you’re upsetting Bonnie?”

Bonnibel looked up and shot Marceline a reassuring smile, taking hold of her cold hand. “It’s fine, really.”

“Okay.” Marceline smiled at her and reassuringly squeezed her hand.

Finn decided to intervene before the twins could start arguing again, and walked over to Bonnie and tapped her on the shoulder. “Bubblegum, can I talk to you before the movie?”

“Sure, Finn.” Bonnie smiled, looking up at Marceline. “You’ll be okay here, right?”

“I’m not a five year old.” Marceline shot back. “I’ll be fine without adult supervision for five minutes, okay?”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes and began following Finn towards a quieter area near the ticket booth. “Be sociable!”

“Whatever, Mom.” Marceline shouted after.

Bonnie smiled to herself – Marceline’s silly comebacks always made her laugh – and turned to Finn, shooting him an encouraging smile; he seemed incredibly nervous. “What’s up, Finn?”

“So, I talked to Marceline, and she told me that I shouldn’t bother, but…” Finn took in a shaky breath and looked up at Bonnie with his big hopeful blue eyes, “Will you go on a date with me?”

Bonnie bit on her lip and wondered how she could let him down gently. She could always just use her usual excuse of not dating, or she could…

_Just tell him, you idiot._

Bonnie shot him a sympathetic smile. “Listen, Finn. You’re a really great friend, but I don’t like you like that.”

His usual smile wavered. “Couldn’t you just give me a chance?”

“No. I’m really sorry, Finn.” Bonnie replied. She was trying to be as gentle as possible. “It’s just not going to happen.”

“But…why?” He asked.

She hated the sadness written on his face. She decided to tell him – she owed him that. Plus, if he knew, he wouldn’t try asking her out again. “Finn, I’m gay.”

He looked up at her, and Bonnie was shocked by his reaction – he looked almost _relieved_. “That’s why you wouldn’t date me? Why didn’t you just tell me? It would’ve saved me a lot of time.”

“I’m not exactly comfortable with everyone knowing just yet.” Bonnie said. “A few people know, but that’s it.”

“Who knows?” Finn asked.

“All of our friends aside from Jake, Gumball and Marshall.” Bonnie informed him. “Marceline found out before we were even friends.”

“How did _that_ happen?”

“I was drunk,” At his shocked look, she paused, “I don’t know _how_ I got drunk, before you ask. Anyways, she was nice enough to take me back to hers and look after me and apparently I told her then. The day after was the day we made friends.”

“She seems cool.” Finn replied. “She’s like a guy but a girl. You know what I mean?”

“You’re saying girls can’t be cool?”

“No!” Finn’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “I’m just saying she’s like one of the guys. She’s cool.”

“Yeah,” Bonnie breathed out as she turned to look at Marceline, who was in a debate with her brother over something, “She’s _awesome_.”

* * *

 

“That movie was _awesome_.” Jake announced as they left the cinema and headed down the street. “I liked it better than the first.”

Bonnie didn’t know if she agreed. She’d spent most of the movie eating her chocolate bars and staring at Marceline – she couldn’t help it if her best friend was so gorgeous.

Marceline frowned. “Nah, sequels are _never_ better than the original. Besides, the best thing about that movie was the fact that Tonight Alive played on the end credits.”

“Tonight Alive?” Bonnie asked – she wasn’t sure she’d heard Marceline mention them. None of her friends seemed to know what Marceline was talking about, either.

Marceline looked around. “Tonight Alive? Australian band? Jenna McDougall? Anyone?” Then, she sighed in annoyance. “You all need a better music taste.”

Bonnie frowned. “I think I’ve heard you mention them before.”

“Hm…maybe. Not really your thing, though.” Marceline mused. “They’re probably too heavy for you. You know, because you think All Time Low are death metal.”

“I like All Time Low!” Bonnie exclaimed in defence. “From what I’ve heard, I mean.”

“You like All Time Low?” Marceline repeated, “Okay, next time I get tickets to one of their shows, you’re coming with me and Keila. Yeah?”

“Okay. They’re not too wild, right?” Bonnie questioned.

“Nah, their gigs are usually pretty chilled out compared to others.” Marceline said. “What’re your plans now, anyway?”

“I was just planning on going home,” Bonnie looked up at her friends and smiled, “Unless you guys have any more plans?”

Lady shook her head. “Jake and I are going out and everyone else is going home, I think.”

“We can do something if you want.” Gumball offered. “I think Marshall said something about hanging out at his place.”

Bonnie shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Besides, that would give this one,” She poked Marceline in the side, “An excuse to lock herself in her room and watch TV.”

“You’re saying I’m _not_ allowed to do that?” Marceline frowned. She looked as though Bonnie had just smashed all of her guitars. “Dude, that’s _harsh_.”

Bonnibel just shrugged. “You can do what you want. I’m just saying that if I was planning on joining them, I would probably make you hang out with us.”

“I’m all dorked out,” Marceline said, holding her hands up in defence. “You don’t need to torture me anymore.”

“You had fun, _admit it._ ” Bonnibel teased.

“Fine, it wasn’t too horrible. Okay?” Marceline shot Bonnie an amused smirk. “Apparently, I’m more interesting than Spiderman, though.”

Bonnibel blushed. “You’re such a jerk.”

“Don’t be mean to my sister.” Marshall spoke up, “She _is_ a jerk, but still.”

“You’re a jerk.” Marceline shot back.

“Well, you guys _are_ twins.” Bonnibel muttered.

Marceline responded with a poke in Bonnibel’s side, which made Bonnie giggle and swat her hands away. “And you say _I’m_ the jerk, when you’re comparing me to him. Damn.”

Bonnibel just shrugged. “I’m just saying it how it is.”

Marceline rolled her eyes and took hold of Bonnie’s hand, nodding towards her car. “Are we going?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Bonnie hugged all of her friends before they left, and was surprised when Finn gave Marceline one of his bear hugs. She saw the dark haired girl tense up, but Marceline didn’t push him away, so that was progress in Bonnie’s opinion.

After that, Lady gave Marceline a quick hug and then Marceline quickly escaped to her car before anyone else could follow their lead.

When Bonnie sat down next to her in the car, she turned to Marceline and smiled. “You didn’t push Finn away.”

“Well, he’s nice.” Marceline shrugged. “I still didn’t like it, though.”

Bonnibel frowned – that didn’t make much sense. Bonnie touched Marceline all the time. “How come you’re okay with me hugging you, then?”

“It’s like this,” Marceline said, “Don’t fucking touch me without my permission, but then once you have my permission, don’t fucking _stop_ touching me.”

“So it’s okay because I have your permission?” Bonnie asked.

“Yeah,” Marceline confirmed. “It makes me feel weird when random people become rubbing up on me. It’s weird.”

Bonnie nodded, “And that’s why you didn’t like it with Finn.”

“Yup,” Marceline replied.

Bonnie was silent as they drove down the road. She shuffled about in her seat and then looked up at Marceline. “Do you like my friends yet?”

Marceline barked out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, _totally_.”

Bonnie looked up – Marceline hadn’t made a sarcastic comment on how stupid her friends were or insulted them in any way. Bonnibel turned to Marceline with a cocky smirk on her face. “You like them.”

“Fuck you.” Marceline replied. Bonnie shot her a knowing look, and Marceline sighed, a small smile playing at her lips. “They’re a little intense…but they’re not too bad.”

“Told you so.” Bonnie teased.

Marceline tried to think of a snarky reply, but she couldn’t. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel and sighed, unsure of whether it was a sigh of relief or content.

Maybe being friends with Bonnie’s friends wouldn’t be so bad after all.


	29. twenty-nine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline's mom died ten years today. i guess you could say she's pretty emotional about it.

** Tuesday 27th May 2014 **

Bonnie pushed open the door to her English Language classroom, her blue gaze almost immediately flicking to her usual seat next to Marceline, frowning when Marceline wasn’t already there.

 _That’s odd_ , Bonnie thought. Usually, she’d enter the classroom with Lady and Gumball and Marceline would be occupying herself with her phone. In fact, she’d never _not_ come into English when Marceline wasn’t already there.

She dumped her bag on the table and pulled her folder out, placing it down on the table. As she dug around for a pen, she told herself not to worry. Marceline was probably just talking to Simon or getting food from the cafeteria. She’d be there in a minute.

Bonnie sat down in her seat and placed her bag on the floor, looking up to Lady and Gumball, who were getting their stuff out for the lesson. “You guys haven’t seen Marceline, have you?”

Lady shook her head as she sat down. “She wasn’t in Art this morning.”

“She’s sick?” Bonnie pulled her phone out of her pocket. If Marceline was sick, Bonnie was going to see how she was doing.

“Probably,” Lady responded. “Why else would she miss school?”

Bonnie just shrugged in response as she hurriedly typed out a text to Marceline.

**_Bonnie (10:58AM): Are you okay? Lady said you’re not in school._ **

Gumball shot her a sympathetic smile. “If you want, I can text Marshall and ask where she is.”

Bonnie declined his offer, and she really didn’t like the way he was looking at her. “No, that’s fine. Why are you looking at me like you know something I don’t?”

“Well, you like her.” Gumball casually stated.

Bonnie’s eyes widened. If he knew, what’s to say Marceline didn’t? How did he even know she liked girls? “I…is it really that obvious?”

“No, you’re good.” He assured. “I just figured because you always talk about her and whenever you see her you get this look in your eye.”

Bonnibel blushed, but she didn’t reply as she felt her phone vibrate in her hand. She looked down and smiled. Marceline had replied.

**_Marceline (11:00AM): yeah I’m not coming in until lunch, simon told school I have a dentist appointment_ **

**_Bonnie (11:00AM): Because of that reply I’m going to assume you’re not actually at the dentist. Where are you?_ **

Bonnie looked up sheepishly at Betty as she walked in the room – she knew she wasn’t supposed to be on her phone during lesson. “I’m just seeing if Marceline is okay.”

Betty seemed to understand something Bonnie didn’t, and smiled gently. “Okay. Just be subtle about it – I don’t want everyone else thinking it’s okay to text in class.”

Bonnie shot Betty a grateful look and then her gaze flicked back to her phone, where she read Marceline’s reply.

**_Marceline (11:01AM): at home in bed contemplating life_ **

**_Bonnie (11:01AM): You’re in bed? You’re supposed to be at school!_ **

**_Marceline (11:02AM): I have a good reason_ **

**_Bonnie (11:02AM): Which is?_ **

**_Marceline (11:02AM): it’s ten years since my mom died today so I’m kind fucked up a little_ **

Now Bonnibel understood why Betty was letting her text in class. She must know about Marceline’s Mom.

**_Bonnie (11:03AM): You’re coming in at lunch, right? Meet me outside the cafeteria. I’m going to cheer you up._ **

**_Marceline (11:03AM): you don’t need to do that_ **

**_Bonnie (11:04AM): I want to. Promise you’ll meet me?_ **

**_Marceline (11:04AM): okay_ **

**_Marceline (11:04AM): love you bonnie :)_ **

Bonnie smiled to herself – that was the first time Marceline had ever said it first.

**_Bonnie (11:05AM): Love you too. <3_ **

With that, Bonnie slid her phone into her pocket and looked up to Betty, who was in the middle of explaining sentence structures and their effects.

She would do whatever it took to make Marceline feel better.

* * *

 

Marceline occupied herself by picking lint from her black Tonight Alive t-shirt while she waited for Bonnibel to come. She’d arrived a little early, but she knew Bonnie would appreciate her coming in. She actually hadn’t planned on coming into school at all – she was so emotional that she’d cried because they’d ran out of Fruit Loops at home. Simon had been okay with her having the day off, and even though he offered Marshall the day off too, her brother had just shrugged and said he was ‘over it’.

Marceline cringed as the loud school bell signalling the end of class cut through her music, and she pulled an earphone out, knowing that Bonnie would be here soon. When she saw the pink haired girl bouncing down the hallway towards her, she couldn’t help but smile, despite how upset she was. Bonnie just had that effect on her.

Bonnie immediately pulled Marceline in for a hug and smiled into her shoulder. “Hey. Are you okay?”

Marceline gave her a gentle squeeze back. “I’ve been better. You?”

“I’m fine. You don’t need to ask about me.” Bonnie assured as she pulled back. She knew how upset Marceline probably was. “Let’s go outside. It’s really nice weather out.”

“Okay,” Marceline murmured in response and followed after Bonnibel – who was guiding her by her hand.

Bonnie saw her friends sat in their usual spot and smiled at them, and she saw Lady beckon them over, but she shook her head in response. She knew that the last thing Marceline would want today was to hang out with Bonnie’s friends.

Instead, Bonnie found a nice, secluded spot in the sun, and took her pink jacket off. She spread it out on the grass and sat down, patting the space next to her and looking up at Marceline. “Sit.”

Marceline complied, laying out her leather jacket next to Bonnie and sitting down on it. Then, the dark haired girl pulled out a pair of sunglasses from her backpack and put them on, looking towards Bonnie. “So…”

Bonnie’s gaze flicked down to Marceline’s hands, which were pulling out little pieces of grass from the ground. “Do you want to talk about her?”

“I don’t…I don’t know.” Marceline admitted. “I mean, it’d be good to talk about it, but it’d hurt and I don’t want to think about it but if I get it all out maybe I’ll feel better. I don’t know.”

Bonnie chuckled, plunging a hand into her backpack to get out her lunch. “How about we just take your mind off of things?”

“That’d be good. Thanks.”

“Well, first, we got a letter about the History trip handed round in homeroom today.” Bonnibel pulled it out with her lunchbox and passed it to Marceline. “It’s what we’re going to be doing on the trip and stuff.”

Marceline frowned and read the letter over.

_Dear Students,_

_A lot of people have come asking about the schedule for the trip, and we’ve finally finished booking everything, so we can now give you a full list. The activities are as follows:_

_Monday – AM: later start (We’ll be setting off around 10:30) Buckingham palace, London Zoo. PM: cinema_

_Tuesday – AM: London Eye, Madame Tussauds, Imperial War Museum. PM: Swimming_

_Wednesday – AM: Natural History Museum, Science Museum. PM: Bowling._

_Thursday – AM: Thorpe Park, night time meal at Planet Hollywood_

_Friday – AM: Shopping until 2PM when we will set off for the airport._

_You will be allowed to separate from the group and go around in groups of two or more. We will arrange a meeting place and time at every activity._

Marceline looked up. “You’re not going to make me hang out with your friends all week, right?”

“Nope,” Bonnibel assured, “We can go off by ourselves sometimes. I _do_ want to see them, of course, but I won’t ditch you. You’re my best friend, idiot.”

“I don’t appreciate being called an idiot,” Marceline shot back, “But thanks for the reassurance. I bet you’re stoked for the Science Museum, huh?”

“Oh, of course! Wednesday is the day I’m looking forward to the most!” Bonnie smiled. “It’ll be so interesting!”

“Dork.” Marceline half-heartedly replied. Bonnie picked up on how upset Marceline still sounded, and looked down at her lunchbox. She smiled to herself – she had the perfect plan to cheer Marceline up.

Marceline watched as Bonnie pried the lid from her lunchbox and pulled out one of the two cookies she’d brought.

Bonnie held the cookie out to Marceline. “Here. You need cheering up and cookies are great for that.” When Marceline didn’t take it, Bonnie waved it in the air and smirked. “It’s chocolate chip. Plus, I made it. If you don’t take it I’ll be offended.”

Marceline sighed but took the cookie and bit into it, genuinely surprised by how good it was. “You made this? Are you sure you didn’t just buy it from the store this morning?”

“I’m sure. My Mom and I did some baking last night and we made these and some brownies.” Bonnie said. “I take it you like it?”

Marceline nodded and took another bite, even though she knew she shouldn’t and felt guilty doing so. “Yeah. It’s better than anything I could make.”

Bonnie blushed and looked down at the grass. “Thanks.”

“No worries.” Marceline replied through the last bite of her cookie. She stood up and brushed the crumbs onto the grass.

As she sat back down, she saw Bonnie pluck a daisy from the grass and smile. “I love this time of year.”

“Really?” Marceline frowned. Her favourite time of year was around her birthday. “I hate summer.”

“Why?” Bonnie didn’t think she’d ever heard of someone disliking summer. Most kids her age loved it, especially because they had three months of no school. In Bonnie’s opinion, that was the only con of summer.

“Well, it’s too hot, it’s exam period and there are too many annoying ass bugs.” Marceline listed. “And it stays light until like 10PM, and I like the dark.”

“You’re a winter person.” Bonnie stated.

“Yup.” Marceline nodded. “And autumn. All the good things happen then. Halloween, Christmas, school is easier, and all the bugs are rotting in hell where they belong.”

Bonnie laughed. “I couldn’t picture you running away from bugs.”

“They’re fucking disgusting!” Marceline exclaimed. “I’ll be minding my own business and then a fucking asshole wasp decides to chase me around. It’s horrible.”

Bonnibel smiled; Marceline was cheering up. “That _does_ suck, I have to agree. But, I like summer because it’s warm and I can go outside and there’s flowers everywhere and stuff. It’s pretty.”

“Snow is pretty.”

“Yeah, but snow can be annoying and it’s cold.” Bonnie pointed out. “And there’s no pretty flowers.”

Marceline rolled her eyes and plucked a daisy from the grass. “Look, I just murdered your precious pretty flower. What’re you going to do about it?”

Bonnibel plucked another daisy from the ground and held it up to Marceline. “I guess we’re both murderers, then.”

“I can’t believe you,” Marceline shot her a look of mock surprise, “You gave up your perfect grades and opportunities for a life of crime.”

“We can be an evil duo.” Bonnie laughed. “Punk and nerd.”

“I’m down for that.” Marceline chuckled, before she sent Bonnie a soft, appreciative smile. “Thanks for cheering me up, Bonnie.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Bonnie assured, plucking another daisy from the ground and taking the one on Marceline’s lap. “I’m going to make you a crown out of the bodies of our victims as a token of my love.”

“Was that you saying you’re going to make me a flower crown in criminal talk?”

Bonnie knowingly smiled. “Possibly.”

Marceline helped Bonnie pick as many daisies as possible, smiling to herself – she thought Bonnie was adorable. “I’ll make you one, too.”

“Aw, I’ve got the hardcore punk making flower crowns.” Bonnibel laughed. “You know, when I met you, I’d _never_ have thought we’d be friends, let alone sitting making daisy chains together.”

“Being associated with you has already ruined my reputation of being a hardcore punk,” Marceline shot back. “I don’t think any more damage could occur from the flower crowns.”

Bonnie smiled as she watched Marceline link two daisies together. “It amazes me that you know how to do them.”

“What else do you think I did as a child?” Marceline replied, “I was a weird loner with no friends and a surplus of daisy chains.”

Bonnie laughed. “Well, you’re still weird.”

Marceline shot her a look of mock offence. “And _you’re_ still an asshole.”

“Meanie.” Bonnie looked down to her daisy chain and connected the two ends, looking up at Marceline. “Hold on, lower your head for a second.”

Marceline complied and Bonnie placed the flower crown on her head, smiling. First of all, she took note on how _devastatingly adorable_ Marceline looked. Secondly, she realised it was a little too small and took it off, picking a few more daisies to add to it.

Marceline raised an eyebrow at her as she focused on the flower crown she was making. “What was the purpose of that?”

“I needed to see if it was too big or too small.” Bonnie said.

“Oh, okay. I’m done.” Marceline reached up and placed a flower crown on her head.

Bonnie smiled and pulled out her phone. She looked at her reflection in the screen and smiled, adjusting the flower crown on her head. “It’s perfect.”

“That’s good,” Marceline replied. “Because in that case it matches you.”

Bonnibel was a little taken aback. _Was Marceline…was she flirting with her_?

_No…no way._

* * *

 

Bonnibel had just finished writing up some answers for a set of questions in German – it was her third draft, and she was finally satisfied. She’d only just started preparing for her German final; she was already fluent in the language so she didn’t need to study much – for everything else, she’d been revising since March. She set the paper aside and smiled in content – she would fix that up later in case she’d missed any grammar points.

She leaned down and grabbed her Chemistry folder, pulling out the worksheet on balancing chemical equations Simon had given them for homework. She smiled – it was fairly simple, so she’d be able to finish this quickly and then get into bed with some chamomile tea.

She’d just filled in the first answer when her phone rang on her bedside table. Usually, she’d just ignore it when her phone rang – her Mom was the only person who really called her – but she stood up and picked it up anyways. “Hello?”

“ _Bonnie? Can you come over?”_ Marceline hurriedly asked. Bonnie frowned – she sounded rather distressed. _“Please? Keila’s not picking up and you’re my only other friend.”_

“I’m not your only other friend.” Bonnie said. “But sure, I’ll come. What’s wrong?”

 _“I miss my Mom and my Dad is coming over and I’m freaking out because I know he’s going to find something to yell at me for and I don’t know how much longer I can keep it together so please hurry.”_ Marceline replied. _“I need you.”_

Bonnie’s heart broke at the little crack in Marceline’s voice. “Okay, I’ll be as quick as I can. I’ll get my Mom to give me a ride.”

 _“Okay. Thank you so much. I owe you.”_ Marceline said, before the line went dead and Bonnie quickly jogged down the stairs.

* * *

 

When Bonnie arrived at Marceline’s, it was Simon who opened the door. Judging by the shouting she heard upon arrival, she assumed Marceline’s Dad had gotten there before she did. She slid off her shoes and looked to Simon, motioning towards the staircase. “Should I…?”

He just shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t think it could get any worse. You’d probably make them shut up.”

“How did it start?” Bonnie asked as she edged towards the stairs.

“With a passive-aggressive comment from her Dad about how tough Marshall was and how he was coping really well, ‘unlike _others_ ’.” He explained. “Marcy called him out on it and this is how it ended up.”

Bonnie gritted her teeth. She already didn’t like Marceline’s Dad. “Alright. I’m going to see if I can break it up.”

“Good luck.” Simon replied.

Bonnie made her way up the stairs, cringing as the shouting became louder. As she stood outside Marceline’s bedroom door, she hesitated. Should she go in? Would Marceline yell at _her_ for intruding?

“You’re _such_ an asshole!” She heard Marceline shout.

A man’s voice responded. “You shouldn’t use that kind of language. What guy will want to date you if you swear? It’s not ladylike.”

“You’re so fucking sexist.” Marceline sounded so frustrated and Bonnie wanted to go in and make everything better. “Do you think I fucking _care_ if guys want to date me? Because I _don’t_. I like someone, and _she_ doesn’t give two fucks if I swear.”

Bonnie stood, shocked. Marceline liked someone? She felt her heart sink a little. She’d never have a chance with Marceline now. This girl was probably much better than her.

She was cut out of her thoughts when Marceline’s Dad spoke.

“She?” The man’s voice was quieter now, and Bonnie wondered if it was a good quiet. “I won’t tolerate that.”

 _Nope, not good_ , Bonnie thought. “Yeah, well I won’t tolerate you being such a fucking asshole. So _what_ if I like a girl? Sorry I’m not the perfect, well behaved kid you always wanted. Sorry your constant pressure didn’t work.”

“Marceline, the reason I pressure you is because I know what you’re capable of.” Her Dad seemed calmer – Marceline, on the other hand, was not. “I know you’re smart but you’re just too lazy to work hard in school. You waste all your time playing all of these instruments. Where’s that going to get you in life?”

“You’re saying you’d rather have me be miserable and not playing music than happy and doing what I love?” Marceline shot back. “Great fucking parenting, Dad.”

“You know, if your mother was here she wouldn’t be proud.”

“Get out.” Bonnie gulped. The way Marceline said that was _much_ scarier than the yelling. It was softer, and meaner. She sounded furious, and rightfully so. “Get the _fuck_ out of my room.”

The door opened a crack, and Bonnie quickly dived into the bathroom. She didn’t want Marceline to think she’d been eavesdropping. She watched as a dark haired man in a black business suit walked towards the stairs. He looked towards Marceline’s room, and with a sigh, he said, “I just want what’s best for you, Marceline.”

“Go fuck yourself.” Bonnie heard a door slam shut, and then she watched as Marceline’s Dad walked down the stairs and was out of sight before she crossed the hallway and knocked on Marceline’s door.

When there was no reply, Bonnie gently pushed open the door and peered round, to see Marceline sat on her bed, with her back against the wall. She was breathing heavily and Bonnie was certain she was crying, but she couldn’t see as Marceline was hiding her face in her knees.

Bonnie closed the door and sat down next to Marceline on the bed, pulling the dark haired girl into her arms. She didn’t really know what to say – she wasn’t very good at comforting people. “It’s okay, Marcy. I’m here.”

“Bonnie?” Marceline looked up and sniffled, wiping her eyes. “Hey. How much of that did you hear?”

“A bit.” Bonnibel admitted. “He was totally uncalled for.”

Marceline shot her a weak smile. “Yeah. Thanks for coming over.”

“Don’t worry about it. You need me, so I’m here.” Bonnie smiled. “You’re just lucky I pretty much finished all my homework.”

“You didn’t have to come, you know.”

“I know.” Bonnie replied. She wiped a few stray tears from Marceline’s face, before she sat up and shuffled towards the edge of the bed. “I’m going to go and make you a hot chocolate to cheer you up. Maybe get some cake or something, too.”

Marceline shook her head. “You don’t need to do that. I’m fine.”

Her stomach let out a little rumble, and Bonnie shot her a doubtful look. She was suspicious; that had happened _twice_ now. Marceline would say she wasn’t hungry, and then her stomach would give her away. Bonnie wouldn’t stand for that. “Hot chocolate and toast, then. You’re clearly not fine. What did you have for dinner?”

Marceline looked down at her feet and murmured, “I haven’t had it yet.”

“It’s 7PM.” Bonnie said. “Well, that settles it. I’ll make you dinner. I apologise in advance, however – I’m not much of a chef. The most I can make is spaghetti, and that’s only because it’s my favourite. Do you even like spaghetti? Because it would suck if you didn’t.”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah, I like it.”

“Alright. I’ll be ten minutes, okay? Unless you want to come down with me, but your Dad -,”

“He wouldn’t start another argument with you around.” Marceline interrupted. “I’ll be okay. Promise. I just…don’t want to be alone.”

“That’s understandable.” Bonnie smiled. She stood, motioning for Marceline to follow her. “Come on. I’ll make you some of my not-so-famous spaghetti bolognese and then we’ll go for a walk or something to cheer you up.”

“Okay.” Marceline nodded as she followed Bonnie out of the room. “Can I still have the hot chocolate? My Mom used to make me it when I was sad and -,”

“You don’t need to explain.” Bonnie cut in. “I’ll make you whatever you want.”

They were about to head down the stairs, when Marshall peered around his bedroom door and looked to Marceline. “Marce, you okay? I heard the shouting and everything.”

“I’m fine.” She quickly replied.

He smiled. “Good. I’ll see you in the morning I guess.”

“Yeah. Night, dude.” Marceline said.

Once Marshall had disappeared back into his bedroom, Bonnie took hold of Marceline’s hand and pulled her down the stairs. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you guys be nice to each other.”

Marceline just shrugged. “We’re siblings. We fight and we’re assholes to each other, but when it comes down to it we’ve got each other’s backs.”

“I wish I had a sibling.” Bonnie said.

“People who are only children _always_ say that.” Marceline complained. “Like, having a sibling _sucks_ sometimes. You have to share everything and I don’t like sharing.”

“Sharing is caring.”

“Oh my fucking God, how old are you?” Marceline laughed. “Five?”

Bonnie was happy Marceline seemed to be cheering up. “Sharing _is_ caring. Didn’t your Mom teach you that when you were little? No wonder you’re such a brat.”

Marceline scoffed in mock offence. “Me, a brat? Whatever you say, _princess_.”

Bonnie shrugged off the use of the old nickname. She decided it wasn’t worth getting upset over – besides, Marceline was just teasing, after all. “You do realise calling me princess is technically you admitting I have more authority than you, right?”

“Ah, but it’s not.” Marceline shot back. “Because I’m a queen. Suck on that.”

Bonnibel laughed, pushing open the kitchen door. “Marceline the Vampire Queen.”

Marceline crinkled her nose in disgust. “Never call me that again.”

Bonnibel smirked as Marceline got the spaghetti out of the cupboard for her. “That can be my new nickname for you.”

“Uh, no. Just Marceline is fine, thanks.” Marceline said, sitting up on the counter and looking at Bonnie expectantly. “Well? Work your spaghetti magic, Bonnie.”

“I need a pan to put on the cooker.” Bonnie pointed out. “I think you’re forgetting this isn’t my house, _just Marceline_.”

“You’re such an asshole.” Marceline replied. She pointed to a cupboard behind Bonnie. “The pans are in there.”

Bonnie knelt down and pulled a medium sized pan from the cabinet, aware of Marceline’s eyes on her. Then, she filled it up with water and frowned at Marceline’s stove, trying to figure out where to turn it on.

Marceline rolled her eyes at the pink haired girl and jumped from the counter, switching the stove on. “There.”

“Whoa, you actually _helped._ ” Bonnie replied in mock surprise as she opened up the packet of spaghetti and put a considerable amount in. She wasn’t expecting Marceline to help out at all – this was meant to cheer her up, so Bonnie figured she’d want to do as little work as possible.

“Well, I figured every pro chef needs a glamourous, beautiful assistant.” Marceline responded, leaning back against the counter. “If you need me, just say.”

“Well, it’d help if you could chop some tomatoes for me for sauce. I’m not going to make full bolognese because I’m lazy, but I’ll make you some tomato sauce.” Bonnie said. “It’d just speed things up. You don’t have to, though. I know you’re upset and stuff and -,”

“Dude, chill.” Marceline said, opening up the fridge and getting out two tomatoes and getting a little knife from a drawer. “It’ll help get my mind off it. Focusing on other things usually helps. If I fuck up, I’m sorry.”

“I doubt you’ll screw up.” Bonnie smiled. “You’re pretty much flawless, so…”

 _Did I really just say that?_ Bonnie thought, scolding herself, _she’ll know something’s up, you idiot!_

Luckily, Marceline didn’t think anything was strange about the compliment, and brightly smiled in response. “Thanks, Bonnie. You’re not too bad yourself, you know.”

Bonnibel blushed. “Thanks.” She looked towards the spaghetti and then to Marceline. “You watch the spaghetti. I’ll do the sauce.”

Marceline nodded and moved to stand by the cooker, grabbing a wooden spoon from a drawer and sticking it in. “It’s still hard.”

“That means it’s not done.” Bonnie said, not looking up from cutting the tomatoes up into little pieces.

“I know,” Marceline shot back, rolling her eyes. “I’m seventeen, not seven.”

Bonnie looked over her shoulder and shot Marceline a look of pseudo annoyance. “Really? I didn’t notice.” At Marceline’s scoff, Bonnie continued. “When it stops being hard, turn the heat off.”

“Okay.” Marceline said. As she watched Bonnie make the sauce, she occupied herself by absent-mindedly stirring the spaghetti.

Then, Bonnie turned to her with a bowl full of what looked like tomato sauce and smiled. “Can you get me another pan? I need to heat this up a little.”

Marceline complied, and Bonnibel poured the sauce into a silver pan and put it on the cooker next to the spaghetti. Marceline switched it on for her, and then she used a spoon to stir it around a little while Marceline poked at the spaghetti. “I think it’s done. I don’t know, I can’t really cook very well.”

“I bet you could make me a three course meal if you wanted.” Bonnie replied, moving over to check on the spaghetti. She nodded to herself – it was done. “Yeah, it’s done.”

Marceline watched as Bonnie put the spaghetti into a bowl. “Yeah. First course would be cup-a-soup, second would be a grilled cheese, and then desert would probably be Ben & Jerry’s. That’s the extent of my cooking.”

“How are you going to survive if you go to college?” Bonnie asked, chuckling. “You have to make every meal all by yourself.”

“I’ll just follow you wherever you go and leech of off you.” Marceline joked. “Nah, I don’t know. I’d just find the nearest pizza place.”

“Typical.” Bonnie muttered as she put the sauce on the spaghetti and handed the bowl to Marceline with a spoon and fork. “You’ve got to eat healthy, good stuff. Like this, for example.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Marceline said as she had a mouthful of Bonnie’s spaghetti. _Damn_ , Marceline thought as she tasted it, _why does she have to be such a good cook?_ “Okay, fine. It’s good.”

Bonnibel smirked. “See? I’m a pro.”

“Are you sure you didn’t do any sciency mumbo jumbo to this?” Marceline asked through another mouthful.

“Positive.” Bonnie smiled. She motioned towards the kitchen door. “Want to go up to your room?”

Marceline nodded. “Sure.”

* * *

 

Marceline made it through half the bowl of spaghetti before she made herself stop. _That’s enough, Marceline_ , she told herself, _you don’t need any more than that._ She _wanted_ to finish the bowl – the rest of that spaghetti looked so good and she’d already had a taste – but she knew she shouldn’t.

She put the bowl down on her bedside table and hoped that Bonnie wouldn’t pick up on it. She didn’t want the pink haired girl to worry.

Bonnie – being the brainlord she was – noticed. “Full?”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah. It was good, though.”

“Well, I’m glad you enjoy my cooking.” Bonnie smiled. “I’ll remember that.”

Marceline breathed a quiet sigh of relief; Bonnie hadn’t made any assumptions. “What, as bribery or something?”

“Yeah.” Bonnie causally responded. “If I ever want something I can offer to make you spaghetti or something as a reward for helping me.”

“I’d help you anyway.” Marceline said. “I actually like you, remember?”

Bonnie grinned and shuffled close to Marceline, pulling her in for a tight hug. Marceline was familiar with these bear hugs by now – and she really loved how Bonnie felt pressed up against her. “Good. I actually like you, too. Ich liebe dich.”

“Did you just tell me you love me in German?” Marceline raised an eyebrow.

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Well, it’s not that hard to work out. And,” Marceline began, “Ich habe letzte Jahr studiert. I think that’s right, anyway.”

“You did it last year?” Bonnie frowned. Then, she remembered Marceline showing her the way to the German room. “ _That’s_ how you knew where the German room was! You told me Keila used to do it, not you.”

“Well, Keila did.” Marceline said. “I just didn’t mention that I did too. I didn’t want you to think that I was a nerd.”

“You _are_ a nerd.”

“Yeah, and you’re allowed to know that because you’re one of my best friends.” Marceline explained. “I’m not going to tell some random excitable nerd who won’t leave me alone that I’m also a nerd, because then she’ll follow me around even more. You get me?”

“Not telling me that didn’t even work as a deterrent.” Bonnie chuckled. “If you didn’t apologise for threatening to break my jaw or whatever, _then_ I would’ve stayed away. But you did. And here we are.”

Marceline smiled and leaned forward, kissing Bonnie on the cheek. “Love you, nerd.”

“Love you too, bigger nerd.”

“ _You’re_ the bigger nerd.”

“Want a bet?”

“…Shut up.”

 


	30. thirty.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie visits the mall with her friends.

** Saturday 7th June 2014 **

When Bonnibel was shaken awake at 10AM, she really didn’t expect Lady, Fionna, Cake and LSP to be stood in her bedroom. Especially LSP – she figured LSP hated her, not that she cared at all. Ever since that night at Lady’s, she’d harboured a strong dislike for the other girl.

Bonnie slowly propped herself up on one arm and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. She pushed her knotted pink hair from her face and frowned up at the four girls. “What are you guys doing here?”

Cake rolled her eyes. “We told you we’d take you to the mall one day. We picked today.”

Fionna looked at Bonnibel, almost begging her to come along with the pleading, hopeful look in her eyes. “Come on, we can go off by ourselves and sit down until these guys are done. I need _someone_ to keep me company.”

Bonnie let out a long sigh; she really _didn’t_ want to go shopping – it was one of her least favourite activities. She couldn’t think of anything worse than spending a day walking around a stuffy, cramped mall, especially with LSP there. “I guess I could come for a little while.”

LSP shot her a wary look. “Only if you don’t invite _Marceline_.”

Bonnie tried not to scoff. Typically, the first words the other girl had spoken to her in two months were bitchy and annoying. Bonnie bitterly replied, “I’m pretty sure Marceline has better things to do than trail around a mall all day.”

“So…you’ll come with us? We’re buying some new stuff for the England trip.” Lady tempted, smiling. “Besides, you’ve been stressed out because of finals – you need a pick-me-up.”

Bonnie didn’t particularly agree with the idea that shopping was a pick-me-up, but she nodded and shuffled out of her bed. “Yes, I’ll come. But, if I don’t enjoy it, I’m going to come home and study some more.”

“Deal.” Fionna replied. Bonnie was sure she was just desperate to have someone else who didn’t like shopping along on the trip. “Even _that_ sounds more interesting to me than shopping.”

* * *

 

The car ride was… _awkward_ to say the least. Bonnie felt incredibly uncomfortable to be sat near LSP, who was trying to keep as far away from Bonnie as possible, as if the pink haired girl had some sort of contagious disease.

The tension didn’t go unnoticed – Lady decided to take Bonnie up in conversation. “So, Bubblegum…how did your first week of finals go?”

“Okay, I think.” Bonnibel responded. “I got together with Marceline in the library before each final and we did a little studying together. She was a big help.”

“How could that _freak_ be any help?” LSP muttered. Clearly, she wasn’t expecting Bonnie to hear, as she looked taken aback when Bonnie responded.

Bonnie gritted her teeth in annoyance. “Leave her alone.”

Fionna decided to step in before any arguments could happen between the two girls, and decided to start a conversation with Bonnie. “Bubblegum, what stores do you want to go in when we get to the mall?”

Bonnie realised Fionna was trying to distract her, but played along all the same. “Well, unless you have a science store or something, I don’t think any shops will interest me. Although, I think I’d like to buy Marceline something from the music store – I figure it’d be a nice gesture.”

“Okay. I’ll show you where it is after we go to the food court and get McDonald’s, yeah?” Fionna offered. “These guys can go and shop until they drop, and we can just hang out wherever.”

“I actually already know where it is, and anything sounds better than walking around billions of clothes shops,” Bonnie said. She thought back to New York, when her Mom would take her out shopping on weekends to ‘get her out of the house’. Even though Bonnie loved spending time with her Mom, she _really_ hated shopping. “I got enough of that back in New York.”

“Your friends there were avid shoppers, huh?” Fionna chuckled. “I get that you feel my pain, then.”

This brought the thought of _her_ back in Bonnie’s mind, and she quick shook her head. “No. My Mom. She used to force me out of the house and take me shopping. I…uh…didn’t have any friends in New York.”

Fionna looked pretty shocked at this revelation; she couldn’t believe Bonnibel didn’t have friends back in New York. “Seriously? You’re one of the nicest people ever. You have _tons_ of friends here. You even got Marceline to be your friend, and that’s nearly impossible.”

Bonnie chuckled, taking the topic of Marceline as an opportunity to change subject. “It’s not _impossible_. You guys just haven’t tried.”

“Because she’s super mean.” Cake added.

“That’s just a sort of…defence mechanism,” Bonnie assured. She’d deduced that once she’d seen how nice Marceline was to people like Keila and Simon. And her, now. “She’s really cool, I swear.”

Lady just shrugged. “I think Bubblegum is right. I mean, I used to think she was a sociopath or something, but -,”

“Sociopath?” Bonnie laughed. Marceline was _far_ from sociopathic. “She came to check up on me one time when I was sick, and she went and got me chicken soup and…helped me get warm.” She _definitely_ wasn’t going to announce that she and Marceline had cuddled, particularly with LSP in the car. She knew Lady would jump to conclusions, since she knew Bonnie liked Marceline, and her other friends might figure something out.

“You didn’t let me finish,” Lady rolled her eyes, “I was _going_ to say that I like her now. I mean, she’s nice to me and stuff and from what I’ve seen she’s definitely not as mean as everyone says.”

“Yeah.” Bonnibel smiled, thinking back through all of the nice things Marceline had done for her. She breathed out a sigh of content. “She’s sweet.”

* * *

 

When they arrived at the mall, Bonnie and Fionna were both dragged along to a clothes store. Honestly, Bonnie was already bored, and she hated how crowded the small shopping centre really was. She just wanted to find somewhere quiet so she could sit down and read a book – maybe a library. She’d mention that to Fionna later.

“Guys, do we _really_ have to go in here?” Fionna complained as they were dragged into possibly the most crowded and overpriced store in the mall. “I hate this store.”

“Yeah,” Lady replied. “And then we’ll go up to McDonald’s with you and then you two can go off and be antisocial. We want to go in at least _one_ shop all together, right?”

“And typically you’d have to pick the most annoying,” Fionna rolled her eyes and turned to Bonnie. “This is the worst shop in the mall. All of the ‘cool’ people shop here so it’s constantly packed full of people, and it’s _ridiculously_ overpriced. Plus, I end up stuck in here for hours because they all try on clothes they’re not even going to buy and take photos.”

Bonnie looked around the store and frowned. She recognised a lot of the clothes; she’d seen a lot of people from school wearing this brand. The store was cramped and stuffy, and Bonnie felt lightheaded already. “I think I’m going to wait outside. I get claustrophobic.”

Fionna nodded, “Get out while you can.”

Lady frowned, but allowed Bonnibel to leave the store for a little while. “Come back in once you feel better.”

Bonnie nodded in response as she headed outside the store and found a small bench to sit down on. She looked over the mall. There were quite a few stores she’d heard of, and above her was a food court where she could see a McDonald’s, Burger King and Pizza Hut. As she looked around, she spotted a few people who she recognised from school but didn’t know personally; she figured this must be a popular meeting place for teenagers around here.

She searched around for anyone she knew; she was rather bored just sitting on the bench alone. She was scanning over the mall for the fifth or sixth time, when she saw Keila.

Hiding behind a plant.

Bonnie smirked, curious to see what might play out. She watched Keila for a while, until out of the corner of her eye, she saw another familiar face; Marceline. Bonnie admired the dark haired girl for a minute; she was wearing a red and black plaid shirt with a grey hoodie over the top, and Bonnie tried not to think about how adorable she looked. Her perfectly messy black hair looked flawless – as always – and she was wearing her trademark black skinny jeans.

Bonnie watched as Marceline crept over to Keila and tugged her arm. Keila jumped around in surprise, and she relaxed again once she realised who it was. The two seemed to be discussing something, and Bonnie saw Marceline point towards Guy, who was on the other side of the mall looking around. She saw Keila nod to Marceline, and she watched as the two of them quickly ran into the biggest shop in the mall – a big two floor Sears.

She wondered what they were doing, and decided to watch Guy, who was walking around the lower floor of the mall and looking around. Then, he spotted something, and broke out into a run. Bonnie watched after him and saw him run over to Marshall and grab his arm. She saw Marshall curse and look pretty pissed off, and then the two of them headed off into another store and disappeared from Bonnie’s view.

Bonnie didn’t really know what to think of this strange behaviour, but she knew at least Marceline and Keila wouldn’t be doing anything bad. She looked around for any sign of them, but came up short. However, she did see Bongo – the drummer of Marceline’s band – on the floor above them, looking down on the mall. Bonnie met his eyes and he sent her a smile, which she returned, before he spotted something behind her and disappeared. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Marshall and Guy looking down at her.

“Hey, Bonnibel.” Marshall smiled. “You haven’t seen Marceline, Keila and Bongo, have you?”

“I’ve seen them all running around here. Why?” Bonnie questioned. She was quite interested in what they were doing.

“We’re playing hide and seek and -,” Guy began, but Marshall cut him off.

“Dude! You weren’t supposed to say that. Now she won’t tell us because she’ll want my sister to win.”

Bonnie found it hard not to laugh. A bunch of teenagers playing hide and seek in a mall? And Marceline called _her_ a dork. “Well, I’ve seen them around. I don’t know where they all are, though. Marceline and Keila were over by that plant a little while ago.”

“Wait, both of them?” Guy frowned. “They teamed up! I didn’t know we could do that.”

Marshall just shrugged. “We’ll find them. Thanks, Bonnibel.”

With that, the two of them jogged off, and Bonnie was left to her own devices.

* * *

 

Bonnie didn’t know how long she sat on that bench for, but at least time was going quicker for her than it was for Fionna, who was still inside the shop with Lady and everyone. They were busy trying on different outfits in the changing rooms.

Bonnie occupied herself with her phone. She played on a few games and considered texting Marceline, but she knew that she was busy running around with Keila somewhere.

When her friends finally came out of the shop, it was almost 11:30 – Bonnie had been waiting for around forty minutes. Lady apologised profusely and insisted they’d just lost track of time, and Bonnie just shrugged it off – she’d had plenty of fun by herself.

“It’s fine,” Bonnibel assured for what felt like the fiftieth time, “We’ll just go in a couple more stores and then get lunch, yeah?”

Lady smiled. “Yeah. Okay.”

Bonnie and Fionna separated from the group when Cake announced they were going in another clothes store, as Fionna had hurriedly insisted Bonnie needed to go to the music store.

That’s how Bonnie ended up walking aimlessly around the music store wondering what the hell half the stuff in there even was.

She turned to Fionna with a frown. “Do you know what I could buy Marceline? I want to get her something but I don’t know what half of this stuff is.”

Fionna held her hands up in defence. “Don’t look at me! I’m not musical.”

Bonnie walked over to the guy who was behind the cash register and awkwardly got his attention. “Um…hello. Do you know what I could buy for a friend who plays guitar?”

He seemed almost… _annoyed_ that Bonnie was asking something like that, until he looked up and a strange smile settled its way onto his face. “Hello. I’m Braco. You could always get your friend some strings.”

Bonnibel frowned. “She told me they’re expensive.”

“They’re ten bucks, but I could give you a discount.” He winked at her, and Bonnie suddenly became _painfully_ aware that he was flirting with her. “It’ll be our little secret.”

She looked around to Fionna for help, but the blonde was busy looking at the guitars hung up on the right side of the wall.

Bonnie backed away and looked towards the door. She felt even better when she saw Lady, Cake and LSP approaching. “That’s okay, really. I’ll pay the full price, thanks.”

“Seriously, I’ll give you my staff discount. I get 15% off.” He continued, standing up and examining the packs of strings. “What size does your friend use?”

Bonnie thought back to when Marceline told her about different string sizes. “Nines.”

Braco nodded and put a pack on the counter. “That’s $8.50.”

“I told you, I don’t need a discount.” Bonnie was aware that all of her friends were watching, now. “I’ll pay the full price.”

“I can’t let a pretty girl like you spend too much money.” He persisted.

Bonnie sighed. She could tell he wasn’t going to give up, and she couldn’t be bothered to argue. She handed over the money in exchange for the strings. “Fine.”

Then, she hurriedly made her escape, before he could do something even worse, like ask her on a date. Cake, Fionna and Lady quickly followed her, but LSP hung behind – Bonnie hadn’t noticed until Cake pointed it out.

Fionna shrugged her off. “She’s probably flirting with that guy.”

“Yeah, true.” Lady agreed, “Are we going to lunch when she’s done?”

“Yeah.” Cake nodded. “I’m starving.”

Bonnie agreed – she was ready to eat. LSP came out not long after them, but she’d seen her exchange numbers with the boy. Bonnie assumed LSP was on one of her regular breaks from Brad or something. She pushed the thought from her mind; she couldn’t stand relationship drama.

* * *

 

They made their way through the bustling crowds – mostly teenage girls – and ended up in the food court, where Bonnie’s friends quickly pushed her down in a seat at one of the only free tables they could see. Her friends left her to guard the table, and Bonnie passed Lady her money and asked for Big Mac meal – recently, she’d come to like them.

Bonnie was alone, once again, and took to people watching. It was a habit she’d picked up back in New York when she was friendless – she would watch people and wonder what their story was. Admittedly, it was a lot more fun with another person, when you could make up theories together, but Bonnie didn’t mind. It was interesting to think about how the people you pass by on the street all have their own lives and intricate backstories.

Bonnie was scanning the crowd for someone interesting, when she heard the metallic sound of two chairs being pulled out. Bonnie looked up, about to tell whoever it was that those seats were taken, but she relaxed when she saw Marceline and Keila. “Did your game of hide and seek finish?”

Both of them frowned and exchanged a look. “How do you know about that?”

“Marshall and Guy told me. They asked me if I knew where you guys were.” Bonnie explained.

Marceline scowled. “Fucking cheaters.”

“We can’t talk,” Keila laughed, turning to Bonnibel. “We’ve been hiding in Marmalade’s car for the past half hour.”

“Technically we didn’t leave the mall, we were just in the parking lot, which is _connected_ to the mall.” Marceline shrugged. “We didn’t go and get outside help.”

“Well, I hope you guys win.” Bonnie smiled. “But should you _really_ be out in the open like this? They might see you.”

“Yeah, but they have to catch us. We’re fast.” Keila said. “We made a plan in case we have to split up, though. We’re going to meet up by the elevator on the second floor if we’re caught.”

“We’ve just got to not get caught until 1PM and then we win.” Marceline grinned. “So what’re you doing out of the house? Don’t you usually go into hiding on weekends?”

“My friends may or may not have forced me out of the house. They got me when I was tired – my negotiation skills aren’t at their best when I’m sleepy.” Bonnie explained. She was still itching to get home and get some English revision done – their final was on Tuesday.

“Well, at least you’re having fun, right?” Bonnie was grateful Keila was trying to be optimistic, but she couldn’t be more wrong.

“Actually, I’m really bored. My idea of socialising isn’t trekking around a crowded mall all day. I prefer just staying inside with one or two other people and relaxing.” Bonnie elaborated. “Plus, I had plans to do a load of revision for English today.”

“Just go home then.” Marceline suggested. “I mean, if you’re bored and want to do your nerd thing, go home.”

“It’d take me forever to walk home, and my parents are busy.” Bonnie said. She’d realised that Cake probably wouldn’t give her a ride home until a _lot_ later.

“I’ll give you a ride.” Marceline offered. “We’re leaving in a bit, anyways. I’ll drop you off at your place on the way, if you want.”

“Yeah. Meet us at the entrance at 2PM and we’ll give you a ride.” Keila smiled. “That way you’ll be with your friends for another hour and a half, and then they won’t get annoyed with you for leaving early.”

Bonnie shot them both a grateful smile. “Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.”

“Dude, seriously?” Marceline frowned, looking at something behind Bonnie. “You’re hanging out with _her_ again? I feel betrayed.”

Keila followed Marceline’s gaze and scowled; Bonnie was shocked. She didn’t think Keila even knew _how_ to scowl. She always seemed to have a permanent smile on her face.

Bonnie knew they were talking about LSP. “Hey, I’m not happy about it. She was just there, and I guess they’d decided to drag me here on the way and she had to put up with it. Trust me, I’d rather I was with you guys than her.”

“Good.” Marceline looked to Bonnie and smiled.

Bonnie’s friends sat down on the remaining seats, and Lady passed Bonnibel her Big Mac and change. Bonnie took a sip from her drink and looked back to Marceline and Keila. “So, I’ll see you guys at 2?”

“Yep.” Keila replied, standing up. “Bye.”

“Bye, Bonnie.” Marceline followed Keila’s lead, and was a few paces away from Bonnie before she froze and jogged back, wrapping her arms around Bonnibel and giving her a gentle squeeze. “Love you, nerd.”

Bonnie smiled and reached an arm behind her to awkwardly hug Marceline back. “Love you too. Hope you win hide and seek.”

“Oh, I will.” Marceline smirked, before jogging off back to Keila.

Bonnie smiled as Marceline and Keila headed off, watching after the two girls until her view was blocked off by crowds of shoppers. She smiled to herself – Marceline was such a sweetheart. She was cut out of her daydream when Fionna shot her a strange look. “What did they mean ‘see you at two’?”

“They’re giving me a ride home at 2PM.” Bonnie explained. “Because I _really_ want to get home to get some studying done.”

“You’re leaving?” Lady said. Bonnie detected a tone of disapproval in her voice.

“Not _just_ yet. I’m staying until 2.” Bonnie replied. “Then I’m leaving.”

Bonnie could tell none of her friends were very happy with that.

* * *

 

“ _Why_ exactly were you guys playing hide and seek in the mall?” Bonnie asked as she climbed in the backseat of Marceline’s car.

“We got bored.” Keila responded as she fiddled with some buttons – she was trying to find the right radio station.

“We’d already finished practising, so yeah. Why not?” Marceline added as she started the car up. “Plus, it’s better than actual shopping.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Bonnibel delved her hand into the small bag she’d brought with her, pulling out the packet of guitar strings she’d bought for Marceline. “Here. I wanted to get you a present.”

Marceline turned around before she pulled out of the parking space they were in. She took the strings from Bonnie and examined the packaging, frowning. “Dude, you didn’t have to get me these!”

“I wanted to.” Bonnibel replied. “After all the strawberry Frappucinos, I figured it was time to repay you.”

Keila looked over Marceline’s shoulder and smirked when she saw the guitar strings. “She even knows the gauge you use, dude! True love, right there.”

Marceline shot Keila an irritated look. “You’re so annoying.” Then, she turned back to Bonnie and smiled. “Thanks, Bonnie. You really didn’t need to do this.”

Bonnie shrugged as casually as she could. “It’s no big deal. You’re welcome.”

“Anyways,” Marceline put the strings in the pocket in the door and turned back towards the road, pulling out of the parking space, “Enough of this sappiness. Let’s get you guys home.”

“Wait, you two aren’t hanging out after you drop me off?” Bonnie frowned. That was surprising – she expected Marceline and Keila to hang out whenever they could.

“Nah, dude.” Keila replied, “I really need to tidy my apartment – I had this killer party last night and everything aside from the band room is a mess. If Marmalade came, we’d probably just end up getting distracted and playing guitar all night.”

Marceline nodded. “Yeah, and I still haven’t studied for English.”

“You mean today?” Bonnie asked.

“No, I mean I haven’t really started studying anything. I was going to try and weasel the answers out of Betty, but she figured out why I was using my puppy-dog eyes.” Marceline replied. She looked at Bonnie, whose eyes were wide and she looked like she’d just seen the most horrifying thing ever. “What?”

“You _haven’t_ studied? Our final is on _Tuesday!_ ” Bonnibel exclaimed. Marceline and Keila exchanged a glance as Bonnibel continued, “I can’t _believe_ you, Marceline! That’s it, you’re coming over to my house whenever you can, and we’re going to study together. Okay?”

“Can I play on your Dad’s guitar?”

Before Bonnie could reply, Keila spoke up. “Bonnibel’s Dad plays guitar?”

“Yeah, he’s got a Fender acoustic. It’s really fucking cool, dude.” Marceline explained.

Bonnie just rolled her eyes. “Of course you can’t play on his guitar. We’re going to be _studying_ , remember?”

Marceline smirked. “I won’t come if you don’t let me.”

Bonnibel held a glare for what felt like hours, but Marceline didn’t crack. Eventually, it was Bonnie who caved. “Fine, but only if you’ll focus.”

“I will, I promise.” Marceline replied. “I’m the most focused person on the planet. Trust me.”

Keila laughed. “If you’re focused, I’m a fucking mathematician.”

Marceline just shrugged. “You’re better at math than me. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”

“You never know what you’re doing.”

“True.” Marceline replied, “Hey, Bonnie?”

“Yeah?” Bonnibel looked up and smiled.

“Are you excited for England?” Marceline asked.

Bonnie eagerly nodded her head. “Oh, yeah! I can’t wait for the science museum. Can we go around together for that?”

“Sure. You can talk my ears off about your science and I’ll try my best not to be incredibly confused.” Marceline assured.

“I’ll explain stuff to you, if you want. The more complicated things, anyway – you’re smart, it won’t take you too long to pick up on things.” Bonnie replied.

Keila shot Marceline a look which Bonnie struggled to decipher – eventually, she shrugged it off.

Marceline just smiled to herself. “Yeah. I look forward to it.”

“You look forward to _science?_ ” Bonnibel frowned. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with Marceline?”

Marceline just laughed. “I wasn’t saying I was looking forward to science. I was _saying_ I was looking forward to seeing you happy.”

“Oh my _God_.” Keila muttered to herself, staring out of the window. “Subtlety has never been your greatest asset, Marmalade.”

“Shut up.” Marceline shot back. “I want to see one of my best friends happy. Is that so bad?”

Keila just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, _okay_.”

Bonnibel didn’t really understand the exchange, so she brushed it off and turned back to Marceline. “When are you going to pack?”

“Probably the night before. Usually I just get Simon to ‘help’, which basically means to do it for me.” Marceline replied. “So I get more time to play with my guitars before I leave them for a week.” Marceline explained, before she looked to Keila. “Which reminds me – you’ll come over and tune them, right?”

“Of course. I don’t want you to come back to out of tune guitars. That would suck.” Keila replied. “Bring me back a bunch of candy, yeah?”

“Sure.” Marceline nodded. “I’ll take a second suitcase and fill it with chocolate for you, yeah?”

Keila grinned. “Fuck yeah! Thanks, Marmalade. You’re the best.”

“Tell me something new.” Marceline replied, taking one hand off the steering wheel to dramatically flick her hair over her shoulder. Then, she laughed.

Bonnie smiled. “You _are_ awesome, you know. You actually put up with how anti-social I get around finals.”

“I wouldn’t call it anti-social. We’re still _sort of_ socialising, even if we are talking about math formulas.” At Keila’s confused expression, Marceline elaborated. “Pretty much every lunchtime she comes bursting into Simon’s classroom and drags me to the library to help her study. I don’t mind it, though. Some of it actually goes in my head, too.”

Keila scoffed. “Nerds.”

“I’m _not_ a nerd. I’m punk rock.” Marceline responded. “The farthest corner of my _ass_ is more punk rock than you, Keila.”

Keila laughed. “Someone’s defensive.” Then, she looked to Bonnibel and smiled. “Anyways, I haven’t seen you for ages. How are you?”

Bonnie just shrugged. “Neutral, I guess. I mean, I’m stressed because of finals, and I’m excited because of England, so they balance each other out. What about you?”

“I’m always great, man. I’m going to this gig tomorrow night in Minneapolis, and it’s going to be fucking awesome.” Keila replied.

“Which band is it?” Bonnie asked.

Marceline was the one to respond. “The Pretty Reckless.”

“You’re going, too?” Bonnie was surprised – it was a Sunday night, Marceline should be studying for any finals the next day.

“Yeah, dude. We always go to gigs together.” Marceline replied, and shot her a ‘what were you expecting?’ look in the rear-view mirror.

Before Bonnie could launch into a rant about studying and distractions, Marceline’s car pulled up outside her house. Bonnie sighed, shuffling towards the door. She awkwardly stood up in the back of the car, and reached over the driver’s seat, hugging Marceline as best she could. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. Bye, Bonnie.” Marceline looked up at her and smiled, watching as Bonnibel climbed out of the car.

Before Bonnie closed the door, she smiled at Keila. “Bye, Keila.”

“Later, man. Have fun with your studying or whatever you’re doing.”

Bonnie closed the door and headed towards her house. As usual, Marceline waited until Bonnie got in safe, before she drove away.

As they were driving down the road, Marceline caught Keila’s gaze – the older girl was staring at her with a smirk on her face. “What?”

“You _like_ her.” Keila dragged out the middle word for as long as she could, in an annoying sing-song voice.

Marceline hesitated before replying. “Fuck off.”


	31. thirty-one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> history trip, part one.

** Sunday 15th June 2014 **

When Bonnibel’s parents pulled into the school parking lot at 8:39AM, Bonnie couldn’t be more excited. She was going to _England_ today with her best friends.

She was incredibly excited to be with Marceline for a week. Bonnie was hoping that she wouldn’t say anything stupid – it wasn’t her fault that Marceline had such an effect on her.

The first thing she did once her parents parked the car was jump out and jog over to Marceline, leaving her parents with her luggage. She ran past the coach, catching a glimpse of Betty talking to Mr Lich, their History teacher – she must be the other teacher accompanying them.

Bonnie arrived next to Marceline and smiled down at her. Marceline was sat on her suitcase, talking to Simon, Keila and Marshall, who was also sat on his case. Bonnie was surprised that Keila had come, too – she didn’t think the older girl ever got up before 1PM.

Bonnibel grabbed tapped Marceline on the shoulder and smile. “Hey! Are you excited?”

“Yeah, totally.” Marceline replied, not sounding excited at all. “I just want to get on the fucking coach so I can take a nap.”

“I just want you to get on the fucking coach so I can go home and take a nap.” Keila added, smiling at Bonnibel in greeting. “I would’ve slept in today but I couldn’t let my best friend leave without saying goodbye. You’ll skype me, yeah?”

“Of course, when I can.” Marceline said. “The hotel has WiFi, so I should be able to.”

“Good.” Keila grinned. “I can’t go a week without talking to you. Never have in 12 years.”

“I’ll come over on Saturday when we’re back.” Marceline replied. “I promise. Anyways, Bonnie – where are your parents?”

“They’re walking over here with my luggage,” Bonnibel replied, pointing over to her Mom who was carrying her suitcase and her Dad who had her pink backpack on – a sight which both Bonnibel and Marceline found amusing. “Are you excited for Thorpe Park? I imagine you’re the rollercoaster type?”

“Oh, yeah.” Marceline replied. She’d loved rollercoasters ever since she was a little kid. “You?”

“I don’t like them.” Bonnie said. “Rollercoasters, I mean.”

“Dude, no! You can’t _not_ go on any of the cool rides. What’re the odds you’re going to go back?” Marceline argued, crossing her arms. “You’re going on them with me.”

“Only if you hold my hand.” Bonnibel stated. She hated how often she was making excuses to do something that people in relationships usually do with Marceline. She just couldn’t help herself.

“Deal.” Marceline said. “I’ll keep you safe, don’t worry.”

Bonnie blushed like a schoolgirl and butterflies awoke in her stomach. “Thanks. We’re still bus buddies, right?”

“Not if you keep using the term ‘bus buddies’.” Marceline shot back. “I get the window seat.”

“Of course.” Bonnibel smiled. “Can I share your earphones with you?”

“Sure, dude.” Marceline nodded, “But if I fall asleep, don’t wake me up until the airport. Even if the bus explodes and we all die.”

“How would I wake you up if we’re all dead?” Bonnie laughed.

Marceline frowned in thought for a second, eventually shrugging off Bonnibel’s question. “You know what I mean.”

Suddenly, Keila wrapped her arms around Marceline’s waist and shook her head. “Nope. You’re not going if the bus will explode.”

“Let me go and I’ll bring you back some really cool chocolate.” Marceline bribed. She knew Keila’s weaknesses, and chocolate was one of them.

Keila grinned and pulled away from Marceline. “Okay, but I’m holding you to that. Seriously, though; I hope you guys have an awesome time.”

“We will.” Bonnibel smiled, looking up to Marceline for confirmation.

“Yeah. We will.” Marceline replied, grabbing hold of Bonnie’s hand and squeezing it.

* * *

 

“Airports are weird.” Bonnibel decided as they’d just finished going through security. “I’ve only ever been to one once before and it was to pick up my aunt after her trip to Spain.”

“You’ve never been on a plane before?” Lady asked, tucking her iPad back into her backpack. “I figured you’d be the really well travelled type.”

“The only holidays I went on were to visit my Grandma and Grandad who live in Ohio.” Bonnie explained. “We just drove up.”

“Didn’t you fly here from New York?” Finn asked. “You know, when you moved?”

“Nope. We drove to my Grandparents’ house and stayed there overnight and then finished the drive the next day. We got to my house at around 9PM on the Friday before I started school.” Bonnibel explained.

She’d remembered how scared she’d felt once her parents’ car had entered town. She remembered it like it was yesterday. She had stared out of the window, taking in the surroundings that were now so familiar to her, wondering if she’d ever fit in anywhere and worrying about what the kids at school would think about her.

“I guess that was a busy weekend for you, then.” Jake replied, catching up to them as they headed towards one of the stores to buy some candy for the trip.

Bonnie chuckled as they arrived at the candy aisle. “Yeah. There was a lot of unpacking to do.”

“I hate packing and unpacking stuff.” Finn said. “That’s why I’m keeping everything in my suitcase this trip. I’m not going to unpack anything so packing is super easy on Friday.”

Lady rolled her eyes. “You _have_ to unpack some things. Like, your clothes and whatever snacks you brought.”

Finn frowned. “Oh, yeah…well, I’ll just put them back in my case when I’m done with them.”

Lady just shrugged. “I doubt I’ll make an effort to unpack _much_. I mean, we’re only going to be there until Friday.”

“I think I’ll unpack. And if I have time, I’ll make Marceline unpack, too.”

“You’ll make Marceline do _what_?”

Bonnie turned around and smiled at the frowning Marceline standing behind her with Marshall, holding a plastic bag in her hand which Bonnie assumed had food for the plane in. “Hey, Marcy. I was just saying I’ll get you to unpack when we get there.”

“I probably won’t, and _you_ probably won’t make me.” Marceline shot back. “I’m lazy, you know that. Simon packed my bag for me.”

“Yeah,” Marshall nodded. “He packed _her_ bag, and then told me to stop being so lazy and do mine myself.”

“I was sad.” Marceline defended.

“You were just sulking because you couldn’t find your favourite guitar pick.” Marshall argued.

“Because _you_ stole it.” Marceline concluded. She mockingly stuck her tongue out. “I win.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes at Marceline. “Really mature, Marceline. Where are you sat on the plane?”

“Next to this asshole,” She motioned towards Marshall, “And you.”

“You want the window seat, right?” Bonnie asked.

“Yeah, and I want the aisle so I can talk to Gumball,” Marshall said, “So you’re stuck between us.”

“That’s fine,” Bonnie smiled. She went to continue, but Marceline beat her to it.

“I was just heading to get some lunch. You want to come with?” Marceline said, nodding to Bonnie.

“Sure.” Bonnie smiled, “Burger King or McDonald’s?”

Marceline shrugged. “I’ll let you pick. I don’t mind either way.”

“Okay, just let me pay for these.” Bonnie replied, nodding down to the chocolate bars in her arms.

“Do you want me to hold any of those for you?” Marceline questioned, snickering at Bonnie, who was trying not to drop anything as they headed over to the cash registers.

“Uh…no, it’s fine,” Bonnie assured, quickly jerking to the right to stop one of her chocolate bars from falling onto the floor.

Marceline just laughed and took a few chocolate bars from Bonnie’s arms to make it more manageable for her. “There, nerd.”

Bonnie smiled a little; Marceline was so thoughtful. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it, Bonnie.” Marceline shrugged. “I just didn’t want you dropping everything and looking like an idiot.”

Bonnie just shrugged as she placed her chocolate bars down on the counter in front of the cashier. “I think I already managed looking like an idiot on account of my buying as many chocolate bars as possible.”

“Whatever, dude.” Marceline replied, watching as Bonnibel paid.

Once Bonnie had finished paying and put her chocolate in the plastic bag Marceline already had, the two girls headed over to the Burger King. Bonnie found a fairly big table in the back, so if her friends wanted to join them they could.

Marceline came back with their food, and – as per usual – refused payment from Bonnibel. “No. I’m paying.”

“Marceline, you can’t _always_ pay for me.” Bonnie said, holding out the five dollars for her meal. “Take it or I’ll shove it in your bag when you’re not looking.”

Marceline let out a sigh, taking the money from Bonnibel. “Fine. I was trying to be nice, you know.”

“You’re nice enough,” Bonnibel assured, “You don’t need to buy me things.”

Marceline just shrugged, “Whatever. Are you looking forward to getting on the plane?”

“Dreading it, actually.” Bonnibel replied. “I fear the unknown. That’s one of the reasons I’m a scientist.”

“You’ve…you’ve never been on a plane before?” Marceline frowned.

“Nope.” Bonnibel said, “So this is a first.”

“I’m taking your plane virginity,” Marceline smirked, suggestively wiggling her eyebrows at Bonnibel, who flushed bright pink. “On a serious note, though – if you get scared, I’ll be there.”

Bonnie smiled. “Thanks, Marcy. I just don’t know what to expect.”

“I like planes,” Marceline absently replied, “Aside from the landing part. That part is kind of sucky. And take off is annoying because your ears pop sometimes.”

“Well, I’ll just hold onto you for dear life the whole time.” Bonnibel resolved.

“Okay,” Marceline nodded, “If I fall asleep, I’m sorry.”

That made Bonnibel remember something. “Hambo! Did you bring him?”

“Yup.” Marceline replied, “How could I forget him? I brought Socks, too. Hambo needs company when we’re out.”

“That is _the cutest_ sentence you’ve ever said.” Bonnibel teased.

Marceline scowled. “I’m _not_ cute.”

“I didn’t say you were cute.” Bonnibel replied. “I said the _sentence_ was cute.”

Marceline paused. “Fuck off.”

“Nice comeback.”

“Shut up.”

* * *

 

Bonnie was certain she was the only one still awake.

After a long day of travelling, they were around halfway through their coach journey to the hotel they were staying in for the week, and Bonnie was bored out of her mind. She _wanted_ to sleep, but she just couldn’t. She’d never been able to sleep in moving vehicles.

Bonnie looked over to Marceline, who had her head rested against the cold window, with the hood of her grey hoodie pulled up over her head. Her pale skin was almost glowing in the light of the moon, and she looked incredibly relaxed. Her hair was perfectly messy – as usual – and Bonnibel was having trouble remembering why Marceline was single. In Bonnie’s opinion, Marceline was gorgeous.

The pink haired girl looked around her, checking to see if any of her friends were awake. Finn was asleep on Gumball, Fionna and Cake were both lightly snoring, and Lady and Jake were both snuggled up together, soundly sleeping. Bonnie smiled at the two of them –they were so cute together. She wished she had someone to do that with so _badly_ ; she looked over to Marceline and sighed. Why couldn’t she just ask Marceline out? Lady was right – Bonnie shouldn’t be such a chicken.

She just couldn’t bear the thought of losing her best friend again.

Bonnibel gently shook Marceline’s arm in an attempt to wake the older girl up. “Hey, Marceline? Marcy?”

Marceline groaned and shuffled in her seat, so Bonnie kept trying. “Marceline?”

“Simon, I don’t want to go to school.” Marceline tiredly mumbled, attempting to push Bonnie’s arms from her. “Go away.”

“Marceline, it’s me,” Bonnibel laughed. “Bonnie?”

Marceline opened her eyes and yawned, sitting up. “What’s up? Are we at the hotel?”

Bonnibel took hold of Marceline’s hand and shook her head. “No. We’re nearly there, I think. I was just bored. Everyone else is asleep. I just wanted someone to talk to.”

“Okay,” Marceline smiled, “What do you want to talk about?”

“Anything.” Bonnie replied. “The ball’s in your court.”

“I just woke up. I’m not mentally prepared to make decisions.” Marceline shot back. “Therefore it’s up to you.”

“Fine. Can we play twenty questions?” Bonnie asked. “I know you’re my best friend, before you make a snarky comment about it, but there might’ve been things that we missed out when getting to know each other.”

“Alright,” Marceline replied, stifling a yawn, “Hit me with your best shot.”

“Okay,” Bonnie paused in thought. “Favourite animal?”

“Dude, that was _weak_.” Marceline said, “I like dogs.”

“You need to ask me a question now.” Bonnibel prompted.

“Really? Wouldn’t have guessed. It’s not like the game is called _twenty fucking questions_.” Marceline sarcastically responded.

Bonnibel chuckled. “Cool it with the sarcasm.”

Marceline yawned in response. “What’s your favourite movie?”

“The Breakfast Club.” Bonnie replied. “I think everyone can relate to at least one of the characters, which is weird as it’s from the 80s; you’d think people would’ve changed a lot since then. Anyways…favourite sport?”

Marceline snorted. “I don’t do sport. None. Favourite science out of biology, chemistry and physics?”

“Chemistry, then physics, then biology.” Bonnie listed. “Favourite instrument to play?”

“Either guitar or bass.” Marceline said. “I can’t choose between them. Favourite snack food?”

“Hershey’s chocolate.” Bonnie quickly responded. She _especially_ liked the cookies and cream bars – they’d been her favourite since she was a kid. Bonnie was struggling to think of any creative questions now. Her eyes fell on Marceline’s nose ring. “Do you have any other piercings aside from your nose?”

“Yeah,” Marceline nodded, “I have my tragus done on my right ear and I got my ears pierced when I was like ten, but this one,” She paused to point at her left ear, “Has closed over because I never put anything in it. I have a stretcher in the right ear, though.”

“What’s a stretcher?” Bonnie frowned.

Marceline pushed her hair back to reveal a rather intimidating black spike in her earlobe. “That.”

“Oh,” Bonnie watched as Marceline took it out to reveal a pinky-sized hole in her earlobe. “I get why it’s called a stretcher, now.”

Marceline just laughed. “Yeah, well done on that observation, Sherlock.”

“Shut up,” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Now ask me a question, it’s your turn.”

“Uh…” Marceline frowned as she put her stretcher back in, “What’s your idea of a perfect date?”

“Watching the sunrise together,” Bonnie replied, a small smile on her face. “A memory from your childhood?”

“One time my Mom got me a doll because she wanted me to be all girly and it was one of those battery powered ones that can make noises and stuff. It started to cry and I threw it out of a window. Motherly instincts at their finest.” Marceline told her, smiling a little at the memory. She smiled even wider when Bonnie giggled. “What was your first word?”

“Cat,” Bonnie responded, “My Mom was showing me a picture book and she pointed at the cat and told me what it was and I repeated it. If you could date any celebrity on the planet, who would it be?”

“My answer to this changes a lot,” Marceline said, “But right now, probably Alex from All Time Low. If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would you pick?”

“Albert Einstein.” Bonnie said.

Marceline laughed. “Should’ve known you’d say something like that.”

“Nothing wrong with being a little predictable,” Bonnie shrugged, “What about you? The dinner question, I mean.”

“My Mom.” Marceline replied without hesitation. Bonnie felt her heart break a little and wrapped her arms around Marceline in a hug. The dark haired girl frowned. “Uh, why are you assaulting me?”

“I’m _hugging_ you, you weirdo.” Bonnie shot back, “Enjoy it.”

“Back to the game,” Marceline said, “Favourite word?”

“I don’t really have one.” Bonnibel said, thinking hard. She couldn’t think of any words she particularly favoured. “I don’t know. If I do, it’s probably got something to do with candy or something. Do you have one?”

“I told you that ages ago.” Marceline said, “Fuck. Remember?”

“Oh,” Bonnibel laughed. “Yeah, I remember that. On our midnight walk to McDonald’s with Keila.”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded, “Back in the pre-friendship days. Time flies.”

“It makes me laugh to think that there was a point in my life when I was scared of _you_ ,” Bonnie chuckled, “The big cuddly teddy bear who is the sweetest thing in the world.”

Marceline crinkled her nose in disgust. “I’m _punk_.”

“ _Fine_ ,” Bonnibel rolled her eyes, “I can’t believe I was scared of the big cuddly _punk_ teddy bear who is actually the sweetest thing in the world. Better?”

“ _Much_ better.”

* * *

 

** Monday 16th June 2014 **

Bonnibel walked down to breakfast in the hotel with Marceline that morning. She felt good – she’d had a great night’s sleep. She was overjoyed when she walked into the hotel room to see a double bed and one single – she got to share a bed with Marceline for a whole week!

She found a table in the restaurant that was big enough for all of her friends, sitting down in the chair next to Marceline. “You can go and get your food first, if you want.”

Marceline shook her head. “You go. I can wait for a few minutes until one of your friends shows up.”

“Stop calling them _my_ friends.” Bonnie shot back as she stood to go over to the buffet table, “They’re your friends too.”

Marceline rolled her eyes, but Bonnie saw the small smile on her face. “Yeah, like _three_ of them. Go get your food, nerd.”

Bonnie walked over to the buffet table with a happy little skip in her step, grabbing herself a bowl of cornflakes and making a mug of chamomile tea. Then, she turned back to the table to see that Marceline had been joined by Finn, Jake and Lady. She walked back over and put her stuff down on the table, smiling at Marceline. “You can go get your food now.”

“Okay. See you in a few.” Marceline stood up and left.

Lady shot her an enthusiastic grin. “Morning. You and Marceline came down here quickly – didn’t make any pit stops on the way, huh?”

Lately, Lady had taken to teasing Bonnibel about her crush. Bonnie didn’t get why it was so funny. “No. We’re fine.”

“So, did you have a good night’s sleep?”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. She knew Lady was asking her because she was sharing with Marceline. “Yeah, I did. Marceline has really cold feet, though.”

“Fuck off.” Marceline sat back down next to Bonnie with a slice of toast and a mug of green tea. “You’re no picnic either.”

“What does _that_ mean?” Bonnie shot Marceline an incredulous look.

“It means you’re all up in my business when we share a bed. Sometimes I need a little room to breathe but your _fucking iron grip_ disagrees.” Marceline rambled. Bonnibel felt a little hurt – she thought Marceline didn’t mind cuddling her. “How do you even manage to hold on that tight when you’re sleeping?”

Bonnie shrugged and took a sip of tea. “I don’t know.”

Marceline frowned – she didn’t get why Bonnie was suddenly so quiet. “I’m just kidding, you know.” She lowered her voice as she continued, “I like cuddle time.”

Bonnie’s face broke out into a grin. “Awesome. And I like your cold feet.”

Marceline smiled and bit into her toast. “Fuck yeah you do.”

* * *

 

“It’s amazing, really,” Bonnie stated as she jumped off of the coach, pulling Marceline along by her wrist. “Wouldn’t you love to live there?”

“Buckingham Palace?” Marceline looked up at the big building, squinting in the summer sunlight. She pulled her sunglasses from her pocket and slid them on. “Nah, it’d be too big. I’d get lonely.”

“I’d visit you.” Bonnie smiled. She stared at Marceline – who was distracted by the big building – and smiled; Marceline looked so attractive in her leather jacket and sunglasses. “I’d live with you, if you let me.”

“Course I would let you.” Marceline looked away from the palace and smiled at Bonnibel. “You’re one of my best friends. I’d get all sad without you.”

“Glad to know you’d miss me. Now come on, I want to take some pictures by the gates.” Bonnie jogged over to where Lady and the rest of her friends were stood, with Marceline walking behind. She turned back to the dark haired girl and smirked. “Hurry up, slowpoke!”

“I don’t hurry.” Marceline said as she neared them. “It’s too much effort.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Well, maybe you should.”

Marceline just shrugged and looked up at the palace again as she came to a stop next to Bonnibel. “Do you think the queen is looking out of her window?”

“Probably not,” Bonnie said, “I mean, she’s the queen. She’s busy. Then again, she might be – there are loads of random people walking around outside her house. Wouldn’t you get creeped out if people were doing that at your house?”

“Well, yeah,” Marceline said, “But I’m not the Queen of England and my house isn’t a landmark.”

“True.” Bonnibel chuckled. “You seem happy. I like it.”

“Do I not usually seem happy?” Marceline frowned. She tried to be as happy as she could, particularly on bad days. Plus, she was usually in a good mood around Bonnie.

“Well, you told me that you’re mostly neutral,” Bonnie replied, “But you seem to be happier lately. Maybe it’s the trip.”

Marceline nonchalantly shrugged. “Maybe it’s the fact that I get to spend a week with one of my best friends.”

Bonnibel blushed, and quickly decided to change the subject before the situation became any more affectionate than it already was. “Be honest – if we weren’t friends, would you have come on this trip?”

“Probably not.” Marceline admitted. “I mean, what’s the point? I’d be by myself the whole time, and that’d suck.”

“Your _twin brother_ is here.” Bonnibel pointed out. “I highly doubt Marshall would leave you by yourself.”

“No, he would.” Marceline stated. Her and her brother only really bonded over music and when it came to hanging out at school, she’d usually stuck with Keila and he’d stayed with his other friends until they met Bongo and Guy. “We’re not too close. We’re not…not close, but – our relationship is pretty neutral. If that makes any sense.”

“Kind of.” Bonnie replied. She managed to decipher Marceline’s explanation a little, “You mean you get on but you don’t have sibling days and stuff?”

“Yeah, exactly.” Marceline nodded.

“I always wanted a little sister.” Bonnie mused. “We could play dress-up, and I would look after her and stuff. It would be fun.”

“You don’t want a sister. They’re annoying.” Marceline said. “I would know, I _am_ a sister.”

“You’re not annoying.” Bonnibel assured. “Besides, weren’t you adorable and quiet and stuff as a kid?”

“Only at school and around people I didn’t know. At home, I made my brother’s life hell.” Marceline smirked, watching as Bonnie pulled out her phone to snap a picture of Buckingham Palace. “I always got away with everything, too. Especially when my Mom was around. Simon was a little less biased towards me, but I’d just cry and he’d let me off the hook.”

“You could make yourself cry?” Bonnie raised her eyebrows. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. I’ve been a convincing liar since I was like 5.” Marceline said. “I try not to be proud of it, but I can think of a good lie in like 0.2 seconds.”

“Have you ever lied to me?” Bonnie asked. She was curious – she wouldn’t be mad if Marceline had.

Judging by the guilty, sheepish smile on Marceline’s face, Bonnie knew she had. “One time. When you asked me if I’d studied for a test. I said yes and you looked really proud and I felt _so bad_.”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. “Well, you felt guilty, so it’s okay. You can make up for it by taking a selfie with me.”

Marceline crinkled her nose in disgust. “I don’t take selfies.”

“I found your Instagram, Marceline. It’s 90% selfies.” Bonnie shot back, smirking at the red hue on Marceline’s cheeks. She wasn’t going to lie – she’d gone through the entire thing right back to the first picture, practically drooling over her gorgeous best friend. “You’ve got _no_ excuse to not take a selfie with me and post it on your selfie-centric Instagram.”

Marceline knew Bonnie had won, so she didn’t bother arguing. “Fine. Whatever, dork.”

Bonnie grinned in triumph and pulled Marceline close to her, quickly snapping the photo before Marceline stopped smiling. “There. I’m putting that on Facebook and you have to like it, yeah?”

“You’re _forcing_ me to like your posts?” Marceline laughed. “You’re such a nerd.”

“You love me, though.”

“Mm...that’s debatable.”

“Jerk.”

* * *

 

“Guys, look at me! I’m riding a lion!” Finn exclaimed as he climbed on a big lion statue that had been placed near the entrance of the zoo.

Jake laughed, climbing on after him. Jake balanced himself on the lion’s back, and stood up, holding his hands in the air in a victory stance. “Lady, quickly, take a picture.”

Lady complied, and snapped a picture of Finn and Jake. Bonnie looked over to Marceline, who was smiling, but when the dark haired girl caught Bonnibel’s gaze, she quickly turned her expression neutral and rolled her eyes.

Bonnie shot her a knowing smile as Finn and Jake jumped off the lion. She leaned in and whispered to her, “You’re not fooling anybody with your whole indifferent act. Just chill out, Marcy.”

Marceline just rolled her eyes and looked away from Bonnie, but the pink haired girl could see the smile playing at Marceline’s lips – Marceline wasn’t very good at holding her smiles back, Bonnie had noticed.

Finn came bouncing over to them, sending them both an infectious smile. “Guys, we’re going to check out a few of the indoor things and then go around the outside pens. What do you want to see?”

“Anything.” Bonnibel replied. “Preferably less common animals, but I don’t have a preference.”

“Awesome,” Finn smiled, “Marceline?”

Marceline nonchalantly shrugged. “I don’t care. Whatever you guys want, I guess.”

“Radical!” Finn enthused as he bounced off towards Fionna and Gumball, who were leading the group towards one of the first big buildings in the zoo.

Bonnibel took up conversation with Lady, and Marceline just trailed along beside her and tried not to look like a lost puppy. It was hard – her brother was too busy annoying the blonde girl who didn’t seem to like him very much, and Gumball was drooling over Marshall. Marceline still didn’t understand how someone could _possibly_ have a crush on her brother.

She looked over to Bonnie, who was whispering something to Lady, and she caught the blue-eyed girl’s gaze. Bonnibel blushed and looked away, and Lady smirked and whispered something else to the pink haired girl, who blushed harder. Marceline looked away, then; teenage girls whispering always made her uncomfortable. She knew Bonnie wouldn’t be saying anything bad, but it made her nervous all the same.

Marceline pulled her earphones from her jeans pocket and worked on untangling them; if she was going to be by herself, she might as well have some music as company. She was plugging them into the headphone jack of her phone when a gruff, deep voice sounded beside her.

“Hey.”

She looked around in surprise – it definitely wasn’t Bonnie – and met Jake’s gaze. She froze a little; he was _much_ bigger than her, and he seemed like he could probably tear her to shreds if she got on his bad side. “Um…are you talking to me?”

He nodded, stuffing his hands in the pocket of his yellow hoodie. “Yeah. Listen, um…I wanted to ask you something.”

She frowned. He wanted to ask her something? Did he want advice, or did he just want to ask her to stay away from him or something? “Uh…okay.”

“So…um…Finn – he’s my best friend and all, I mean, you probably know that,” Jake started. Marceline was stunned – was Jake _nervous_? That made two of them. “He said that you’re actually like… _nice_.”

Was he trying to be nice to her? Marceline didn’t understand his motives – she couldn’t help being wary. “That’s not a question.”

He seemed a little taken aback by her blunt reply. “Uh, yeah…um…well, he said I should give it a shot and try and be friends with you. So, can we be friends?”

 _What?_ Marceline thought, _that was unexpected._ “Uh…I guess.”

“Okay,” He seemed relieved, “You still scare me, though.”

“Right back at you, dude.” Marceline replied.

He walked back over to Finn after that, and Marceline grabbed one of her earbuds and put it in. She scrolled through her music library, selecting the artist _Joy Division_ , before she locked her phone and shoved it back in her pocket.

She kept one earbud out – in case Bonnibel wanted to talk to her – but cranked the volume up to make it clear that she didn’t want conversation.

She let out a heavy sigh and bit down on her lip – this was going to be a long trip.

* * *

 

In Bonnie’s opinion, the zoo was the best part of the day; as interesting as Buckingham Palace was, Bonnie was interested in animal biology – reading the little biographies of the animals from different countries appealed to her.

Marceline, on the other hand, didn’t agree – she hated zoos.

“It’s sick.” Marceline announced as she walked into the big cat section with Bonnie; they’d separated from Finn and Jake and everyone after Marceline had requested some alone time with Bonnibel. “I mean, animals should be allowed to roam free. They’re not ours to stick in cages and gawk at.”

“You have a pet.” Bonnie said. “Schwabl isn’t yours to lock up.”

“Good thing I _don’t_ lock him up.” Marceline replied as Bonnie led her over to the tiger cage. “Besides, dogs are different. They’re domesticated. They can’t really fend for themselves in the wild. Tigers can.”

Bonnie didn’t look up from the notice on the tiger’s cage she was reading. “Okay, good point. I kind of agree with you with the whole zoo thing, but it _does_ save animals from becoming endangered and protects animals that already are.”

“Yeah, but that can be solved by like, making hunting them illegal.” Marceline pointed out.

“Downloading music for free online is illegal,” Bonnie responded, “Does that stop you from doing it?”

Marceline froze for a second, before she shot back with, “Well, no, but this is different.”

“How?”

“Music isn’t alive. Animals are.” Marceline said.

Bonnie sighed. She knew how stubborn Marceline could be, and decided to let the dark haired girl win this argument. “Fine, I surrender. You win.”

Marceline proudly smiled. “Hell yeah. I’m awesome.”

“Don’t get cocky, or I’ll bring up another argument and win.” Bonnibel warned.

“Who says you’d win?” Marceline shot back, but at Bonnibel’s warning look, she held her hands up in defence. "Okay, truce.”

“Thank you,” Bonnibel smiled, before her eyes fell on the tiger in the cage. It was laid out on the white floor of its pen, licking its paws and looking as bored as Marceline did in school. “It’s cute, don’t you think?”

Marceline cocked her head to the side and examined the tiger for a few minutes, eventually shrugging. “I guess you could say that. I mean, it’d rip your head off, but yeah. Sort of cute.”

“Like you, then.” Bonnibel teased.

“Are you admitting that I could actually rip someone’s head off if I wanted to?” Marceline raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Oh, hell no.” Bonnibel responded, “I’m saying that you _seem_ menacing, but you’re actually about as intimidating as a kitten.”

“How the fuck is that like a tiger?” Marceline exclaimed, “I mean, if I shoved you in there with it, it’d probably rip you to shreds.” Marceline’s eyes widened then, and she quickly pulled Bonnie back from where she was standing. Even the thought of that scared her. “Not too close.”

Bonnibel chuckled – inwardly, she was thinking about how stupid she was for falling for someone so adorable. “Aw, you’re worried that it’ll break out and attack me.”

“What? No…” Marceline scoffed, steering Bonnie away from the cage, “Do you think they have any kittens in here or something?”

“You’re _totally_ worried!” Bonnibel teased.

“No, I’m just curious about the smaller animals they lock up in this animal prison.” Marceline replied. She brushed up against Bonnibel’s side and weaved her fingers with the pink haired girl’s.

Bonnibel looked down at their hands and smiled sadly. She wished that meant something more. “Are you going to refer to all zoos as an animal prison from now on?”

“Yeah, because that’s what they are.” Marceline pushed open the doors of the big auditorium-like room they were in – which was where the lions and tigers and other animals of that sort resided – and took them outside.

Bonnie squinted a due to the sudden burst of sunlight in her eyes, noticing an A4 sheet of paper stuck on the door they’d just come out of. Bonnie stopped walking and pulled Marceline over, reading the notice. She smiled, “Hey, there’s a sea-lion show on over at the aquarium part of the zoo soon. Want to go?”

Marceline shook her head, a disgusted look on her face. “That’s another reason I hate zoos. They teach the animals little tricks for human entertainment. How would you like it if that was your only purpose in life?”

“Well, don’t you entertain people when you play music? It’s kind of the same thing, Marceline.” Bonnie pointed out.

Marceline’s eyes widened and she looked like Bonnie had just told her the most horrifying thing ever. “Oh my God. That’s it. I’m quitting music. I’ll be a fucking lawyer or something. I don’t know.”

Bonnibel grabbed onto Marceline’s arm and shook her head. “Nope, you’re not allowed to quit music. You still haven’t sung for me. You need to do that.”

“Did I say I would do that?” Marceline asked, heading down a little pathway which pointed them towards the birdhouse.

Bonnie followed her, shrugging. “I don’t know. I still want you to, either way.”

“I guess when we get back I could throw a little something together.” Marceline smirked, “It’ll probably be an All Time Low song, though.”

“That’s fine. I just want to hear you sing.” Bonnie responded.

Marceline stuffed her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket. “You’ve heard me sing.”

“Well, yeah. I’ve heard you sing a chorus of a song,” Bonnie linked her arm through Marceline’s and smiled. “I want to hear you sing _properly_. Like, a full performance.”

“Okay.” Marceline replied. “I’m sorry if I suck.”

“You don’t. I already know that much.” Bonnibel assured, pushing open the door to the birdhouse.

They were met with a long, dimly-lit corridor, and ear-splittingly loud chirping. Marceline looked down the birdhouse and nodded towards the benches, which were spaced apart along the right hand side of the building, facing the cages. “Want to sit?”

Bonnibel nodded. “Yeah. That sounds good.”

They made their way over to the second bench – it was in the centre of the birdhouse. As Bonnibel sat down, she noticed how warm it was inside – even though it was summer, and it was warm outside, the room seemed to be heated up. She looked towards the different birds in separate cages – a lot of them looked tropical. That was probably why it was so warm.

Marceline stretched out, smiling over at Bonnie. “Enjoying yourself?”

Looking over at Marceline, Bonnie sighed in content. “Yeah. I really am.”

* * *

 

“Guys, can you all just _settle down_?” Their History teacher, Mr. Lich, had to shout over the noise in the restaurant. “We need to organise the time to be back down here to set off for the movies!”

Bonnibel sat up abruptly and paid as much attention as possible. Marceline just rolled her eyes and concentrated on pushing her string beans around her plate with her fork – they were the worst vegetable, in her opinion.

She saw Bonnibel glance down at her plate – which, admittedly, wasn’t as empty as it should’ve been – but the look only lingered for a second before Bonnie’s gaze flitted back up to their teacher, who was talking about something devastatingly uninteresting, as per usual.

People started getting up, and she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to her left to see Bonnie smiling at her. Bonnibel nodded down to Marceline’s plate, “Are you finished?”

Marceline nodded and left her fork to rest on the plate, several string beans impaled on the end. “Yeah. What was he talking about?”

She nodded over to their teacher, and Bonnibel shot her a disapproving look. “You weren’t listening?”

“When do I _ever_ listen, Bonnie?” Marceline pointed out as she stood from the table. She tucked her chair in and then followed Bonnibel out of the restaurant, towards the elevators. “What did he say?”

“Just that we need to be down in fifteen minutes and we’re going to see The Fault in Our Stars thing that everyone has been going on about.” Bonnibel explained.

Marceline just nodded. “Okay. Whatever. I’ll probably take a nap or something during the movie.”

Bonnie chuckled, “You can use me as a pillow, if you want.”

“You know,” Marceline steered Bonnie into the elevator, “Flirty Bonnie has always been one of my favourite Bonnies.”

Bonnibel flushed pink. Inwardly, she was freaking out – had Marceline caught on? Did she know Bonnie liked her? “Shut up. You can’t talk, you flirt with me all the time.”

“Oh yeah?” Marceline raised her eyebrows, “I do, do I? Since when?”

Bonnibel bit on her lip and creased her brow in thought, “You called me perfect one time.”

“That wasn’t flirting.” Marceline responded. “That was merely a platonic compliment.”

Admittedly, Bonnie’s heart sunk a little, but she didn’t let it show. Shrugging, she replied, “It _sounded_ like you were flirting.”

* * *

 

Surprisingly, getting into the cinema wasn’t _too_ much of a hassle, and thanks to Marceline, Bonnie and her friends all got to sit together. Marceline reserved the seats whilst everyone grabbed popcorn and other snacks – Bonnibel bought a Coke for Marceline and picked up an unrequested chocolate bar for her, too; she’d seen how little Marceline ate at dinner, and wanted to fix that by at least getting a few extra calories in her.

Naturally, Marceline didn’t lean against Bonnie or cuddle up to her at all during the movie. Bonnie wasn’t happy with that – she’d been looking forward to the cinema purely for that reason, but she understood that cuddling would probably end up outing Bonnibel and they’d get lots of people assuming things.

The movie didn’t really interest Bonnibel in any way, so typically, hidden in in the dark of the cinema, Bonnie covertly stared at Marceline. She wanted her _so_ badly. She wanted to hold Marceline like how Jake was holding Lady a few seats down from them.

She was ready. She was going to tell Marceline how she felt – she was sick of waiting around. If she didn’t tell her, Marceline might get in a relationship, and that’d hurt Bonnie more than just being without her. Marceline wouldn’t be mean to her about it – she knew it.

“Hey, Marceline?” Bonnie whispered, tapping the other girl on the shoulder.

“Yeah?” Marceline looked over to her and smiled.

Bonnie froze up. Looking at Marceline – that gorgeous, smiling, _perfect_ girl, she just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t. Bonnie kept silent for a few seconds, before she put on a smile and shook her head. “Nothing. Doesn’t matter.”

As Marceline turned away, Bonnie couldn’t help but feel a little hint of regret in the bottom of her stomach.

She’ll tell her tomorrow.

* * *

 

** Tuesday 17th June 2014 **

Bonnie woke up in an empty bed.

She sat up and looked around the room, hoping to see Marceline looking in her suitcase or something, but there was no sign of the dark haired girl anywhere. Bonnie was about to get up and look around the hotel for Marceline, but the bathroom door swung open and Marceline appeared in the room, dressed and ready for the day.

Bonnie smiled. “Morning.”

Marceline seemed surprised Bonnie had woken up. “Oh, hey. I was going to wake you up in case you needed to shower, because I was going to go in, but then I remembered we have swimming tonight and it’d probably be stupid to shower _before_ going swimming.”

The mental image of Marceline showering was too much for Bonnie to handle, and she sat in silence for a few seconds, trying to get the thought out of her mind. She was aware she was probably as red as a tomato. “Uh…okay.”

“So,” Marceline paused as she sat down and grabbed her hairbrush, quickly brushing through her already perfect hair, “The London Eye this morning. That’ll be interesting.”

“I’m kind of worried,” Bonnie admitted, grateful for the change of topic. “I’ve never really been very good with heights – that’s why I don’t like big theme park rides.”

Marceline smiled softly, “I’ll look after you, you know. I’ll be there for constant hand-holding support.”

“Thanks, Marceline.” Bonnie replied, sitting up. She brushed her tangled pink hair from her face and fiddled with her fingers. They were virtually alone – Lady was asleep, and it was just Marceline and her. This was the perfect time to tell Marceline. It had to be. “I need to talk to you about something.”

Marceline raised an eyebrow. “What’s up?”

“Well, I -,” Bonnie stopped herself, as Lady sat up and rubbed her eyes.

“Morning, guys.” Lady yawned, propping herself up and smiling at them. “What time is it?”

Marceline looked to Bonnie apologetically, “Tell me later, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Bonnie nodded, picking up her phone from the bedside table, where she’d left it to charge overnight. She pressed the centre button and squinted at the bright screen. “It’s 7:21. Breakfast is at 8, so unless you need a shower, you’re probably fine.”

Marceline stood up and put her hairbrush back in her suitcase, pulling out her deodorant. Bonnibel watched as Marceline sprayed herself, but tore her gaze away when the dark haired girl turned back around. “I’m going to go for a walk. I’ll see you guys at breakfast.”

“A _walk_?” Bonnibel repeated. “Where?”

“Relax, I’m not going to leave the hotel,” Marceline assured, “I’m just going to explore.”

“Be back soon!” Bonnie exclaimed as Marceline slipped out of the door.

She merely got a hand wave in response.

* * *

 

“You were going to _what_?” Lady exclaimed as they stared out at the city of London.

They were currently on the London Eye – Marceline had gone to see the other side of the city and had been taken into conversation by Finn, and Bonnie had hurriedly told Lady she was going to confess her feelings for Marceline.

“I’m going to tell her that I like her,” Bonnibel said in a hushed voice, “And don’t be so loud! She’s right over there with Finn.”

“Sorry,” Lady apologised, quieter this time. “You’re actually going to tell her? Seriously?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s Marceline. She wouldn’t be mean about it, right?” Bonnie pressed. She knew that Marceline would be understanding even if she didn’t like Bonnie back, but she couldn’t help but have a small sense of doubt in the back of her mind.

“Of course not. Besides, she probably likes you too.” Lady nonchalantly responded.

“What?” Bonnibel was taken aback – Marceline _couldn’t_ like her. “No, she doesn’t.”

“Have you not _seen_ the way that girl looks at you?” Lady shot her an incredulous look. “She looks at you like you’re her entire _world_ , and if you haven’t noticed, you’re blind.”

“Who’s blind?”

Bonnie whipped around to see Marceline approaching them and smiled, “Nobody. It’s not important. How were the sights over there?”

“Mm…not much different to the sights over here.” Marceline replied, “Although, this side has an added bonus of you.”

Lady looked at Bonnie as if to say ‘seriously?’ and then walked over to Jake, leaving the two girls alone.

“Have you seen Big Ben yet?” Bonnie awkwardly asked, “It’s really pretty.”

Marceline shrugged. “It’s a giant clock. I don’t see how that’s pretty. There’s these panel things, though,” Marceline took Bonnie’s hand and pulled her over to an interactive touchscreen, poking at it, “You can click on the landmarks and it gives you an explanation. I want to see if you can translate the German ones.”

Bonnie read over the German explanation and shrugged. “Yeah. It’s not that complicated. See, this one here is just talking about Parliament, right? It’s just telling you the amount of rooms and some facts about it.”

Marceline looked down and that German and frowned. “See, I used to do it and I can only figure out a sentence. How are you so good?”

“I’m already fluent in the language.” Bonnie explained. “I have been since I was little because I have a German side of the family and they don’t speak English. I kind of have to be fluent to communicate with them.”

“And you’re taking it at school because it’s an easy A?”

“Partially, yes.” Bonnie admitted, “But you can never know an _entire_ language. I still learn new things and it keeps me speaking it on a regular basis.”

“I never understood it, to be honest.” Marceline shrugged. “Like, I got the basics but then we started learning harder grammar like the case system back in September and I got really confused and dropped it while I still could.”

Bonnie smiled. “The grammar eventually sinks in. I could’ve helped you, if you still did it.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t know I’d end up befriending a fucking genius this year, did I?” Marceline shot back. “I didn’t know I’d end up befriending _anybody_ this year, to be honest.”

In all honesty, Bonnibel felt a little bad for Marceline – she’d had nobody in school after Keila and the rest of her friends had graduated. Bonnie could relate; she knew how hard it was to be alone. “I’ll always be around to help.”

Marceline shot her a gentle smile. “I know.”

* * *

 

When they entered Madame Tussauds, Bonnie, Lady, Fionna and Cake all ran off in a group together, with Bonnie tugging Marceline along by her sleeve. Marceline was the person handling Bonnie’s camera, and she was more than willing to take photos for Bonnibel.

Bonnie could tell that Marceline was becoming more and more irritated by her friends as they dragged her around, but she was proud that Marceline managed to hold in most of her sarcastic comments – although occasionally one would slip out and she’d send Bonnie an apologetic smile.

Marceline was relieved when Bonnie’s friends announced they were going to get some food and meet up with everybody else. Bonnie declined their offer to join – she was looking forward to getting some photos with Marceline.

Once she’d said goodbye to her friends, Bonnie shrugged her pink hoodie off and stuffed it in her backpack, taking her camera from Marceline. She grabbed Marceline by the arm and positioned her by the wax figures of One Direction. Marceline quickly stepped away and frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Well, I really want to remember this trip, which means taking lots of photographs.” Bonnibel explained, “And I want you to be in them.”

Marceline bit on her lip and shook her head. “I don’t do pictures.”

Bonnibel raised an eyebrow. “Um, I _did_ tell you I found your Instagram, right? The Instagram that’s full of selfies?”

“Do I _have_ to?” Marceline complained, before she looked at the One Direction figured and scowled in disgust, “And with _these_ sorry excuses for musicians?”

“Wait!” Bonnibel stepped back and readied her camera, “That’s good! Hold that pose, yeah?”

“Pose?” Marceline responded, although she did as Bonnie said, “Isn’t this how I usually look? You know, disgusted at everything?”

Bonnibel laughed, snapping the picture. “Well, yeah. That’s why it’s good – I can capture your personality on the screen.”

Marceline rolled her eyes in response, looking back to the wax figures. “I really want to push these over.”

Bonnibel’s eyes widened – if Marceline did that, she’d get in trouble, too. Bonnie quickly grabbed Marceline by the arm and pulled her away, towards the Marvel superheroes. “You like superheroes, right?”

Marceline walked around them in a circle, almost examining their quality, before she frowned. “They have _Nick fucking Fury_ but they _don’t_ have Black Widow? Sexism at its finest.”

Bonnie shook her head and chuckled, and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something that made her do a double take. They had an _Einstein_ figure!

She grabbed Marceline’s hand and speedily walked through the crowds – Marceline was pretty confused about Bonnie’s sudden reaction, but quickly followed her. As they came to a stop in front of the Einstein figure, Bonnibel thrust her camera into Marceline’s hands, “Take a picture of me!”

Marceline rolled her eyes and looked down at Bonnibel’s camera, pointing it at the pink haired girl. She found the button to take the photo and waited until Bonnibel nodded to say that she was ready, snapping the picture. Looking down at it on the screen, she smiled; Bonnibel looked so adorable, doing the thumbs up sign and looking like a little kid on Christmas.

Bonnibel excitedly pulled the camera from Marceline’s hands and looked down at the picture, grinning. “It’s great.”

Then, the pink haired girl unexpectedly pulled Marceline close to her and snapped a picture. Marceline, stunned, jumped away and frowned, “What did you do that for?”

“You wouldn’t have taken a picture with me if I’d have asked.” Bonnie innocently replied.

Marceline sighed, “I’ll take one if you want.”

Bonnibel positively beamed, and Marceline couldn’t help but smile back – she loved that she’d caused that. She wrapped her arms around Bonnibel and hugged her tight, and Bonnie pulled her camera out and pointed it at the both of them. She took the photo and then put her camera in her backpack, looking up at Marceline with a grateful smile. “Thanks, Marcy. I really appreciate that.”

Marceline shrugged. She’d do anything for Bonnie. “Don’t worry about it.”

* * *

 

In Marceline’s opinion, the war museum was a bore – she ended up tuning out and putting her earbuds in for the most part, following an excitable Bonnibel and her friends around. The museum today had made her rather nervous for tomorrow – everything was museums until the evening, when they were going bowling. Marceline was _definitely_ looking forward to that last thing – she was actually pretty good at bowling and always beat Marshall and Simon whenever they went. She had a feeling that Bonnie was going to be secretly amazing at bowling, but she’d already decided she was going to try her best to beat her; she wanted to annoy Bonnie by gloating about it.

On the way to dinner, Bonnibel looked over at Marceline and stopped her before she could enter the restaurant. Bonnie nervously took Marceline’s hand – she was shaking. “Listen, you know I told you I needed to tell you something -,”

“Hey, guys!” Finn excitedly exclaimed as he happily jogged down the hallway towards the restaurant.

He was followed quickly by Marshall. “Aren’t you two coming to dinner?”

Marceline – who was anxious to hear what Bonnie had to say – was about to say no, but Bonnie let out a little sigh and bobbed her head. “Yeah. Come on, Marceline.”

Marceline reluctantly followed Bonnie; she really wanted to hear the important thing Bonnibel had to tell her. She leaned down and whispered, “You’ll tell me soon, right?”

“After swimming.” Bonnie promised, “ _Privately_.”

* * *

 

Seeing Marceline in a bikini was Bonnibel’s dream come true. The dark haired girl looked _amazing_ in her black bikini, and Bonnie couldn’t help but gawk as she followed Marceline towards the pool. Marceline’s stomach was incredibly toned – probably due to all of the exercise she got from running around playing guitar and singing – and Bonnie didn’t think she’d make it through the night without kissing Marceline senseless.

Bonnibel, on the other hand, looked average in her pink one-piece. She’d never really been comfortable with her body – even though she wasn’t exactly _fat_ , she wasn’t the skinniest girl alive. Bonnie thought of herself as a little softer around the edges; that’s why she was happy Marceline always bought shirts that were a few sizes bigger than she actually was, so Bonnie could fit into them when she borrowed one. She felt pretty self-conscious without her makeup on next to Marceline, who was basically naturally flawless – her usual dark eyeliner had been removed and her hair was done in a messy ponytail and she _still_ looked gorgeous.

Marceline took hold of Bonnie’s hand as they walked towards the steps of the pool. Bonnibel blushed, and then flushed even redder when she saw Lady smirking at her from the pool. Marceline stood on the first step and tugged on Bonnie’s hand. “Come on, let’s have a water fight or something.”

Bonnibel blushed – Marceline hadn’t really been paying any attention to her before, and now she was being stared at by the most gorgeous girl on the planet while she was wearing nothing but a pink bathing suit. “Um…okay.”

Bonnie nervously stepped into the water and shivered – it was fairly cold. She was aware of Marceline watching her the entire time, and was blushing bright red.

Marceline smiled at her, and then swam over to the pink haired girl with an adorable smile on her face. “Hey, Bonnie?”

Bonnibel looked up from where she was stood in the cold water, against the edge of the pool. “Yeah?”

As Marceline came to a stop next to her and sent her a reassuring smile. She found Bonnie’s hand under the water and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t be self-conscious, alright? You look beautiful.”

“Says Miss ‘I don’t exercise but I have the body of a freaking swimsuit model’.” Bonnibel shot back.

Marceline just shrugged. “If you’re not going to take the compliment, don’t. It doesn’t make it any less true.”

Bonnie blushed. “Thanks, Marceline.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Then, Marceline kicked off from the side of the pool and shot Bonnie a smirk. “I bet I could kick your ass at marco-polo.”

Bonnibel raised her eyebrows. For now, she’d try not to think about how self-conscious she felt, and decided to concentrate on beating Marceline. “Well, we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?”

* * *

 

“Marco!” Bonnibel shouted.

“Polo.”

Bonnie swam towards Marceline’s voice with her eyes closed, her hands outstretched. She’d bumped into some of her classmates a few times and spewed out apology after apology, and _every time_ she’d hear Marceline snickering at her, but she never seemed to be able to catch her.

 

They’d been playing the game for what felt like forever, and Bonnie still hadn’t been able to catch Marceline. Either her best friend was suddenly somehow a ghost and Bonnie was able to pass through her, or Marceline was just insanely good at this game.

“You know what?” Bonnie announced, “I quit. You win.”

She opened her eyes to see she was near the deep end of the pool, and Marceline was sat on the side, smirking. “Hey.”

“Have you been sat there the whole time?” Bonnie exclaimed.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Marceline responded, sliding back into the pool. “It was pretty entertaining to see you blindly swimming into people.”

“That’s cheating.” Bonnie stated, swimming towards Marceline. “I’m going to get you for that.”

“Oh, wow.” Marceline mocked. “I’m _so_ scared. What’re you going to do, bore me to death with science?”

“I’ll show you what I’m going to do,” Bonnie swam closer, and she noticed how Marceline edged away from her a little.

As Bonnie approached, Marceline sent a huge splash Bonnie’s way and started swimming away from her as quickly as she could. Of course, Bonnie wouldn’t allow that, and immediately went chasing after her.

“You’ll never catch me!” Marceline shouted back at her. “I’m _way_ faster than you.”

Bonnie took in a big breath and ducked under the water before Marceline turned around, which left the dark haired girl stunned. She stopped swimming, and Bonnibel smirked – this was exactly what she’d hoped would happen.

She quickly swam towards Marceline’s legs and then popped up right next to Marceline with a big scream.

Marceline splashed her in surprise and yelled, “What the actual _fuck_?”

Bonnibel burst out laughing and grabbed the dark haired girl, grinning. “I got you!”

“You’re evil.”

“I believe the correct term is evil _genius_ , thanks.” Bonnibel shot back, looking up at Marceline with her fingers linked at the back of the dark haired girl’s neck, supporting herself.

Marceline stared down at her and smiled softly. “Fine, I surrender. You’re the true winner here.”

“Perfect.” Bonnie replied, staring into Marceline’s gorgeous red eyes. She brought herself up on her tiptoes underneath the water to level her height with Marceline’s, before she slowly started to lean in.

 _This is it_ , Bonnie thought, _I’ll just kiss her. That way she’ll get the message_.

As Bonnie nervously leaned closer, she saw confusion written on Marceline’s face. She didn’t know if it was a good confusion or not, but right now she didn’t care. She was going to kiss Marceline.

Well, maybe she would have, if Mr Lich hadn’t have blown a whistle, signalling the end of their time in the pool.

Marceline backed away from her a little and climbed out of the pool where they were. Bonnibel, on the other hand, went to the steps – fully aware of how uncomfortable she felt in a bathing suit in front of her classmates – and headed towards the changing rooms, walking quickly so Marceline couldn’t try and talk to her.

She entered, pushing past LSP and a girl she didn’t recognise in an effort to get away from Marceline. She could’ve sworn she heard the girl she didn’t know mutter something about her weight, but she tried to brush it off – she was more worried about Marceline thinking she was weird.

She arrived at the locker she and Marceline had decided to share, wanting to smack herself when she realised she didn’t have the key. She’d have to face Marceline.

She heard a little cough from behind her and turned around to see Marceline dangling the keys in front of her. “Forget something?”

Bonnie gulped, shakily taking the keys from Marceline and fumbling to unlock the locker. “Thanks.”

She heard Marceline sigh, and the dark haired girl took the keys from her and unlocked the locker for her. “There, dork. Are you okay? You’re acting sort of weird.”

 _Yeah, because I nearly kissed you, you idiot!_ Bonnie wanted to shout. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Marceline pressed, grabbing her clothes from the locker, “I just want to make sure you’re okay before I go and get changed.”

 _Stop being so perfect_ , Bonnibel thought, although she was relieved that Marceline wasn’t acting strange or avoiding her. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you by the changing room doors when I’m done.”

With that, Marceline walked away from Bonnie, leaving the pink haired girl wondering how the _hell_ Marceline hadn’t caught the hint yet.

* * *

 

The coach ride back to the hotel was awkward, at least for Bonnibel. She kept looking back at Marceline, who had her earbuds in and was staring out of the window. Bonnie wasn’t sure if she should just tell her and get it over with – Marceline probably already suspected something after the awkward moment in the pool.

When the coach pulled up at the hotel, Marceline and Bonnie walked in together, but there wasn’t any conversation. Marceline was still listening to her music and chewing on her fingernails, and Bonnie was busy debating whether or not to tell Marceline about her feelings.

As they neared their room door, Bonnie sighed. _Screw it_ , she thought.

She tugged on Marceline’s arm, and the dark haired girl pulled out one of her earbuds and smiled at Bonnie. “Yeah?”

“Remember that I wanted to tell you something?”

Marceline seemed much more alert then, and nodded. “Yeah. What’s up?”

Bonnie quickly unlocked the room door and motioned inside. “I’ll tell you in here.”

They entered the hotel room, and Bonnie thanked the heavens that Lady hadn’t already come back the room. For good measure, she put the chain on the door, before she pulled Marceline over to the bed they were sharing and sat her down, nervously perching next to her on the edge of the bed and shooting her a weak smile. She tried to speak, but she was already tripping over her words. “So…I…well, there’s this thing that I – I should probably tell you about.”

At Bonnie’s stammer, Marceline frowned in concern, and Bonnie saw worry in her beautiful red eyes. “What’s wrong? You’re not sick, are you? Please tell me you’re not dying. Oh God, you’re dying, aren’t you? Fuck -,”

Bonnie cut her off by grabbing hold Marceline’s hand. “Hey, calm down. I’m not dying. I just…”

Marceline noticed Bonnie was having a hard time getting the words out. “Are you okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this, Bonnie.”

“I’m okay. I just…” Bonnie took in a deep breath. “I like…someone.”

Inwardly, Bonnie was scolding herself for chickening out at the last second. Why did she do that? God, she could be such an idiot, sometimes.

She saw Marceline breathe a sigh of relief. “That’s it? Jeez, I thought it was going to be something ten times worse. Damn, Bonnie. Why did you need to tell me that so badly?”

Marceline thought back to earlier in the day when Bonnie had told her that she needed to tell her something urgent. She’d thought it would have been something big, but she felt a little more at ease after finding out.

Bonnie sighed, knowing she was going to have to think up some stupid lie. On the spot, she quickly blurted out, “I…I need your advice.”

“About what? This girl you like?” Marceline was confused – advice had never been her strong suit. Usually she just told people to ‘do what they think is right’, and then awkwardly hugged them.

“Yeah.” Bonnie nodded. “Do you think I should tell her? I mean…she’s one of my closest friends and last time I told someone I thought would be nice to me about it they left, and I’m just really unsure of what to do because this girl is like the dictionary _definition_ of gorgeous and she’s _completely_ out of my league and I know she’d just reject me and I don’t want to lose her.”

Marceline blinked as if that was a lot of information to process, which it probably was. “Uh…well, I guess if she’s a fucking bitch to you about everything then she’s not worth it, and I’ll go and punch her in the face.”

Bonnie smiled. She loved how sweet Marceline could be, but she knew that wouldn’t be possible. “I just…she’s so beautiful and I want her to be mine. You don’t know how badly I want to hold her and kiss her and just _be_ with her. I’ve tried to shake this and I can’t.”

Marceline shot Bonnie a warm but sad smile. “Personally, I think you should tell her. It’d get the weight of it all off your chest and she might like you back; I don’t see who wouldn’t. Besides, if she’s a bitch to you, you’ll still have me to comfort you afterwards.”

 _But I won’t_ , Bonnie thought. “I don’t know.”

“Bonnie, just do it. I swear I’ll threaten her with death if she’s mean to you, okay?” Marceline promised.

Bonnie felt herself getting more and more frustrated. _But you can’t,_ she thought to herself, _Stop making promises you can’t keep_. “I don’t think I can do it. I can’t lose her, she means too much to me.”

“Bonnie, she’s not fucking worth it. I can tell that you’re going through fucking hell thinking about it, and I don’t want to see you like that. _Tell her_ , and I’ll prepare the ice cream in case you get shot down, but like I said, you probably won’t. She’d be an idiot to reject you.” Marceline exclaimed.

Bonnie was getting angry. “Just stop, Marceline. You’re not helping.”

“Well I’m fucking trying to. You were the one who asked.” Marceline shot back.

Bonnie could tell Marceline was getting mad at her, which just made her ten times angrier. “No. Don’t get mad at me. Can’t you see that I’ve been thinking about this for _ages_? Do you even _care_?”

Marceline snapped. “You’re asking me if I care about you? Of _course_ I fucking care about you, Bonnie. You’re one of my best friends. I’m sorry I’m too fucking self-absorbed to notice that you’re all fucking upset over some dumb girl.”

“You know what? You _are_ self-absorbed. You were too wrapped up in your own little world to notice that I have the biggest _fucking_ crush on you, Marceline! It’s _you_ , okay? Are you happy now? I _like_ you, alright?” Bonnie hit Marceline’s shoulder, and then broke down into sobs. Marceline sat stunned; she really wasn’t expecting that revelation – she also wasn’t expecting Bonnie to swear. Bonnie choked something out between sobs. “You’re such an idiot.”

Marceline pulled the crying girl in for a hug. Bonnie sobbed into Marceline’s t-shirt and clung onto the older girl as if she was the only thing keeping her safe. She felt Marceline’s calloused fingers stroking through her pink hair. “Hey, Bonnie. Calm down, it’s okay. Come on, don’t cry over me, alright?”

Bonnie continued to cry into Marceline’s shirt, and she felt Marceline rubbing comforting circles on her back. After what felt like hours of crying, Bonnie realised what she’d done. She’d just told Marceline she liked her. Fear overcame her, and she pulled herself from Marceline’s arms and ran, only one thought running through her mind.

 _I’ve just ruined everything_.


	32. thirty-two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> history trip, part two.

** Wednesday 18th June 2014 **

When Marceline woke up that morning, she immediately turned to her right to see an empty bed. Sighing, she pushed herself up on one arm and looked around the room for any signs of Bonnie.

After Bonnie had told her that she had a freaking _crush_ on her, Marceline had checked around the hotel, but couldn’t seem to track down the pink haired girl. Disappointed, Marceline had gone back to the room to see Lady searching about in her suitcase. Marceline had asked if Lady knew where Bonnie was, but she didn’t. Defeated, Marceline had laid down on the bed and waited for Bonnie to return to the room – she’d probably fallen asleep pretty late.

What she didn’t know, was that Bonnie had spent the night sleeping on the floor of Finn, Jake, Gumball and Marshall’s room. The pink haired girl had assumed Marceline wouldn’t think to look in the boys’ room, and her friends were more than happy to help her out.

Bonnie was dreading breakfast – she really didn’t want to face Marceline after what she’d admitted. She’d ruined things, and she knew it. She was so mad at herself – she’d ruined everything with two of her best friends now. Marceline wouldn’t want to be around her anymore.

She knew she had to go to the room to get dressed for breakfast, and she knew Marceline would probably be waiting for her. But, she put on a brave face as she left the guys’ room and made her way to her own. Using her key card, she unlocked the door and peered around, only to see Lady stood in the mirror brushing her hair.

“Is Marceline here?” Bonnie quickly asked, pushing her way into the room and quickly closing the door behind her.

“She went out.” Lady said, “She told me she was looking for you.”

“Did she say why?” Bonnie questioned.

“No. She just said she needed to talk to you and that it was important.” Lady responded. The blonde girl stopped brushing her hair and looked up at Bonnibel, “What happened? Where were you last night?”

“I slept in Finn and everyone’s room.” Bonnie hurriedly began getting grabbing the clothes she was going to wear for the day, “I told Marceline I liked her and I freaked out and ran and now she probably hates me.”

“If she hated you, why would she be looking for you?” Lady shot back.

“To tell me to stay away from her.” Bonnie answered. “Which won’t be a problem.”

Lady rolled her eyes. “Just go and talk to her.”

“I can’t, Lady. I can’t hear her say she hates me, okay? That’d kill me.” Bonnie murmured. She headed towards the bathroom to change her clothes.

She switched outfits as quickly as possible – she couldn’t risk Marceline coming back into the room while she was there.

Unfortunately, when she opened the bathroom door, Marceline was sat on the bed. The dark haired girl jumped up and almost ran over to Bonnie as if the pink haired girl was about to teleport away from her. “Hey. Can we talk?”

Bonnie gulped; Marceline was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. Staring into Marceline’s entrancing eyes, she couldn’t help but nod. “Yeah. I guess so.”

She looked to Lady as Marceline grabbed hold of her wrist and gently pulled her towards the door. The blonde smiled at her and mimed ‘good luck’ as Bonnie left with Marceline.

The two girls walked outside the hotel in the breezy morning air. Marceline found a bench for the two of them to sit on – Bonnie kept as much distance between them as possible.

There was an awkward silence, and Bonnie was pretty sure they both felt it. Bonnibel gulped –she knew what was coming, and she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her best friend.

Marceline cleared her throat before she spoke. “So…you...you have a crush on me?”

Bonnie nodded, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. “Yeah.”

Marceline nodded in response, her fingers nervously drumming against the cold bench. “Well, I…I kind of -,”

“You hate me again, don’t you?” Bonnie interrupted. “I already know, Marceline. It’s fine. Save me the lecture. I’ll just go.”

Bonnie stood up, but Marceline quickly grabbed her by the arm and shook her head. “Wait, Bonnie. Just hear me out, okay?”

Bonnibel heavily sighed, but sat down. She knew she wouldn’t want to hear what Marceline had to say. “Fine.”

“Okay,” Marceline sucked in a deep breath and nodded to herself, “Alright. So, when you told me that you liked me, even though I was pretty shocked, I kind of…already knew, a little. Sort of. Like, I had my suspicions, but I always just kind of brushed them off.”

“Great. You hate me, _and_ I’m terrible at hiding my feelings.” Bonnie muttered.

“Wait until I’m done, _god_.” Marceline rolled her eyes and shuffled a little closer to Bonnie. “I’m just… _confused_. I don’t get why you didn’t tell me sooner, because I’ve had a huge fucking crush on you this entire time, and you would’ve made it a whole lot easier for me.”

Bonnie really wasn’t expecting _that_. “What?”

She must have misheard; Marceline couldn’t possibly like her. Marceline was one of the most beautiful girls Bonnie had ever seen, and Bonnie was…well, just Bonnie.

“I said that I like you too.” Marceline repeated.

Bonnie’s jaw dropped, and her heartbeat picked up. She felt a little soaring sensation in her stomach. “Really? Why didn’t you tell me that last night?”

“You hit me and ran away.” Marceline raised an eyebrow as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, before shuffling towards Bonnie so their thighs were touching. She took Bonnie’s hand, holding it like it was something fragile and beautiful. “Look, I just wanted you to know that I like you too.”

Bonnie couldn’t hide the overwhelming joy she felt and grinned. She couldn’t stop herself from jumping and wrapping her arms around Marceline, pulling her in for a huge hug. “Oh, Marcy! You don’t even know how happy I am! You like me back? Really?”

“Why would I lie to you about that?” Marceline laughed. “Of course I like you, you nerd.”

“Good,” Bonnie pulled back from the hug, and smiled wider than she’d ever done before. Bonnie was the happiest girl alive – nobody else could compete with how great she felt.

Marceline looked down at her hands and murmured, “So, what now?”

“Um…I don’t know.” Bonnie replied. She picked at a loose thread in her jeans and avoided Marceline’s gaze.

“Would you want to…like…I don’t know,” Marceline began, “Be my girlfriend?”

Bonnie looked up at Marceline with wide eyes; she wasn’t sure if she’d heard that last part right. “You want me to be your girlfriend?”

“Well, yeah,” Marceline finally looked up, and Bonnie could tell how nervous she was, “I like you, you like me…isn’t that what usually happens now?”

Bonnibel smiled, and it was like the entire world lit up. “Yeah! I would _love_ to be your girlfriend, Marcy!”

Marceline looked incredibly relieved. She ran a hand through her hair and breathed out, “Okay. Good. Awesome. Yeah.”

Bonnie sat on the bench in content, swinging her legs back and forth, before a realisation hit her. She had a _girlfriend_. A real live _girlfriend_ , who was a gorgeous punk who was so sweet to her already. “Oh my God!”

Marceline looked up, frowning. “What?”

“I have a _girlfriend!_ ” Bonnie exclaimed, looking at Marceline and smiling widely. She _needed_ to tell Mar – no, she needed to tell _Lady_. Marceline knew. Marceline was her _freaking girlfriend_. “I _have_ to go and tell Lady.”

Marceline laughed, then. A real, genuine laugh. “Wow, Bonnie.”

“I’ll see you at breakfast!” Bonnie hurriedly replied, pressing her lips to Marceline’s cheek and squeezing the dark haired girl’s hand. “You’re my _girlfriend_.”

With that, Bonnie skipped inside, and almost sprinted to their hotel room, desperate to tell Lady everything that just happened.

Marceline stayed sat on the bench, a hand pressed to her cheek where Bonnie had kissed her, trying – and failing – to bite back the huge grin on her face.

* * *

 

They spent most of the coach ride to the Natural History Museum glancing at one another, unable to stop smiling. Bonnie held onto her girlfriend’s hand the entire ride – she didn’t care how sweaty their hands got, she was just too happy.

As the coach pulled up in front of the museum and people began getting off, Bonnie leaned towards Marceline and whispered, “Today is just for us, okay?”

“I was going to suggest that.” Marceline responded as they stood up and made their way off the coach. “I figured we could call today our first date. That way you can tell people that I took you to two dorky museums in London for our first date, _and_ it takes the pressure off for the real thing. What do you say?”

Bonnie squeezed Marceline’s hand. “I really like that plan.”

“Good,” Marceline replied. She was relieved Bonnibel went along with it; Marceline was hopeless at thinking of date ideas, and she really didn’t want to let Bonnie down.

They climbed off the bus holding hands, but nobody passed them a second glance – the two held hands so much that no one noticed a difference. Bonnie caught Lady’s eye and smiled – she’d decided against telling Lady for now. She’d just said that Marceline hadn’t cared that Bonnie liked her and that they were going to stay friends. Bonnie wanted Marceline to be her little secret for now.

As they entered the museum, Marceline could tell Bonnie was itching to run off and explore, but they had to wait for Mr Lich to tell them what time they’d been meeting back.

They were led to a big entrance hall, the entire class circling their teacher. Bonnie kept a tight grip on Marceline’s hand and shuffled her weight from foot to foot in excitement. Marceline looked down at the pink haired girl and let a soft little smile play at her lips – Bonnie was so adorable.

“We’re going to meet back here at 12:30PM, and then you’ll have an hour for lunch in the nearby area. We’re going to meet outside of this museum at 1:30PM, and then walk down to the science museum together.” Mr Lich checked his watch, and then looked up at the class, “It’s 10AM now – explore, and have fun.”

Bonnie sprinted towards one of the nearest doors, and pulled Marceline along by her hand. “I don’t know what to do first, so we’re just going to do everything. Deal?”

“Sure,” Marceline replied, “You’re the smart one, so we can do whatever.”

“We’re both the smart one.” Bonnie shot back, “You’re just the smart one that doesn’t apply herself or study in any way.”

“I think that was a compliment.” Marceline said, “Thanks, I guess.”

“It was like, a half compliment.” Bonnie chuckled. “Now come on, I want to see as much as I possibly can.”

“You’re going to be even worse in the science museum, aren’t you?” Marceline raised an eyebrow.

“You bet.” Bonnie smiled. She was looking forward to the science museum the most – so much that she’d looked it up online and checked out the exhibitions early. Today really was the perfect day – she was going to a science museum in London with her brand new girlfriend. It couldn’t get much better than this. “Okay, so according to this map, there’s four zones we can go to. Blue, red, green and orange.”

“Then we’ll just pick a colour and go.” Marceline said, “That makes things easier.”

Bonnie shook her head. “We should look at the map and see what we want to look at first and decide together.”

“Whatever you say, man.” Marceline shrugged and shuffled closer to Bonnie, looking at the different areas of the museum. “A lot of this stuff is science.”

“Yeah, it’s mostly Biology.” Bonnie agreed. She was rather interested in checking out the orange zone – there was a garden of wildlife and apparently a full centre dedicated to Charles Darwin. “Can we go to orange? There’s only a few things in there, so it shouldn’t take too long.”

“Okay,” Marceline nodded and relinked her and Bonnie’s hands. She saw a sign pointing towards the orange zone, so she started walking Bonnie in that direction, but the pink haired girl wouldn’t move.

“Wait,” Bonnie frowned, holding the map in Marceline’s direction. “Is there not anything you’re interested in seeing?”

Marceline scanned over the map again and shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t really mind. The dinosaur bit sounds cool.”

Bonnie nodded and looked down at the map. “That’s in blue. We’ll go orange, blue…then red and green? If you want, that is.”

Marceline smiled and squeezed Bonnie’s hand. “Anything is cool with me if you’re going to be happy.”

Bonnibel blushed and pushed herself up on her tiptoes, kissing Marceline’s cheek. “Thanks. Let’s go!”

Stunned by Bonnie’s sudden change in demeanour, Marceline allowed herself to be pulled along by her girlfriend.

* * *

 

“Dude, this is fucking rad.” Marceline said as they looked around the dinosaur exhibition. “Okay, serious question – if you could bring any dinosaur back, which one would it be and why?”

“Probably a brachiosaurus.” Bonnie stated. “They’re the big ones with the long necks -,”

“I know, Bonnie. When I was little I wanted to be a palaeontologist for like a year.” Marceline said. “I was like, six.”

“Seriously?” Bonnie was surprised – Marceline had never seemed like the scientific type to her. “Whoa. Anyways, yeah. I’d bring back a brachiosaurus, because they’re herbivores so nobody would get eaten and I could ride it to school. Arrive with a bang in September, you know?”

Marceline laughed, mentally picturing Bonnie riding a giant dinosaur. “You do realise that even though people wouldn’t get eaten, it’d probably crush hundreds of people with every step?”

Bonnie hesitated before replying. “Well, yeah…but at least I’d look cool riding it. Besides, being crushed to death is better than being eaten because it’s slower to get eaten.”

Marceline just shrugged. “I guess you’re right.”

“What about you?” Bonnie pressed. “What dinosaur would you bring back and why?”

“Uh…” Marceline bit on her lip in thought, before pointing at the velociraptor model to their right. “Velociraptor. I know they were like, super vicious and would probably kill me, but I’d bring one back and train it, and then if someone annoyed me I could just be like, ‘meet fluffy’ and the velociraptor would kill them for me.”

“You’d name your velociraptor Fluffy?” Bonnie laughed.

“Yeah. They’d think it was a little kitten or something and then bam,” Marceline paused for effect, hitting her palm with her fist, “Velociraptor attacks!”

Bonnibel chuckled and boosted herself up on her tiptoes, kissing Marceline’s cheek. “You’re adorable.”

Marceline blushed. “I’m _not_.”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, Marceline. Where do you want to go for lunch, anyways?”

“I don’t mind.” Marceline said. “Whatever you want is cool.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to pick?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow. “I saw that you didn’t eat much at breakfast so I want to make sure you have a good lunch. We need to go somewhere I know you’ll like.”

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck_ , Marceline inwardly cursed. “Uh…well, like I said, anything is fine.”

Bonnibel frowned, but decided not to push the topic. Marceline seemed a lot tenser. “Okay. What do you want to check out in the next zone we go in?”

Bonnie pulled out the map, and heard Marceline breathe a sigh of relief. “Um…anything. Anything cool. Nothing about the properties of a fucking stick insect or something.”

Bonnie laughed. “If they had an exhibition on the properties of a stick insect, I would be rather amused.”

“Just take us to something cool after this, yeah?” Marceline replied, rolling her eyes.

“Your definition of cool is a punk rock concert.” Bonnie shot back. “I doubt we’ll find any of those in here.”

“You’re my definition of cool.” Marceline said, leaning back against the barrier of the exhibition. “I know you’ll deny it, but I mean…you’re like, the nicest person ever, you don’t judge people, you’re just…you’re rad.”

“I don’t judge people?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow. “If I don’t anymore, I definitely used to. I judged you. I thought you were nothing but a lazy punk who would end up dropping out of school to smoke all day.”

“If you changed smoke all day to watch Netflix all day, maybe you’d be right.” Marceline said. “I mean, I _am_ pretty lazy.”

“You’re not _lazy_. You just don’t like school, therefore you’re not motivated to do it.” Bonnie explained. “If someone offered you a venue to put a concert on at, you’d work your butt off, and I know it.”

Marceline smiled and leaned forward, kissing Bonnie’s cheek. “Thanks, Bonnie.”

“Don’t mention it.” Bonnie beamed and grabbed Marceline’s hand, tugging her along the corridor they were in. “Come on, let’s go explore.”

* * *

 

Bonnie was almost _bouncing_ with excitement as they headed towards the science museum, and Marceline couldn’t get enough of it. She loved seeing Bonnie so happy.

Bonnie’s excitement only grew as they entered the museum, and once they’d separated from the group, Bonnibel darted towards anything she could see – she couldn’t decide what she wanted to explore first. Marceline was having trouble keeping up with her excitable girlfriend, but she couldn’t help but smile when she saw how genuinely overjoyed Bonnie was.

Bonnie ran over to Marceline, positively beaming. She threw herself into Marceline’s arms. “Marceline, this is so amazing! Everything seems so interesting! I can’t decide what to look at first. This is the best day ever, I’m in such a good mood. I just…” Bonnie rambled on and without thinking, she pushed herself up on her tiptoes and kissed Marceline with everything she had.

It was the most amazing thing Bonnie had ever experienced. She felt Marceline’s arms snake around her waist and hold her tight, and Marceline’s lips were soft and tasted like mint and chocolate and something underneath that was so wonderful and Bonnie didn’t ever want to stop kissing her. As Marceline’s lips worked perfectly against Bonnie’s, she felt electric – every part of Bonnie’s body, every fibre of her being, seemed to come alive at the simple gesture of a kiss.

It was like the entire world melted out of existence and it was just the two of them. All Bonnie could register was Marceline – her arms wrapped around Bonnie’s waist, her soft but chapped lips, and her intoxicating scent.

Sadly, it couldn’t last; after what felt like hours, they finally broke apart, and Bonnie let out a sigh of content. “Wow.”

“I know, right?” Marceline murmured back.

Bonnie was overjoyed – Marceline had felt it, too. She was wrong when she thought the day couldn’t get any better, because it definitely did.

Bonnie found Marceline’s hand and weaved their fingers together. She smiled at the soft pink blush on Marceline’s cheeks. “You’re so amazing.”

“Me?” Marceline raised an eyebrow and shook her head. “No. You, on the other hand…”

“Oh, just shut up and let me compliment you.” Bonnibel responded. She pushed herself up on her tiptoes and kissed Marceline just off the corner of her mouth. “Now come on, let’s find something fun to do.”

* * *

 

Bonnie made them go all the way up to the top floor and work their way down – she wanted to check out the medical area of the museum first. By the time Marceline got up the first flight of stairs, she was already spent. “Bonnie, I’m _tired_.”

“Woman up, Marcy.” Bonnibel shot back, tugging the dark haired girl up the stairs. “It’s only four more flights.”

“I’m taking the fucking elevator.” Marceline said.

“But we’d have to wait for it to come, and by the time it does we could’ve gotten up there.” Bonnie insisted. “This is quicker, I swear.”

Marceline pulled through, and the two girls ended up at the top of the museum. Bonnie followed the signs to the medicine area and they pushed open the big double doors to reveal a huge room full of displays.

Bonnie’s eyes widened – there was so much to look at, dating back to the Egyptian times. Her Mom would be in love with everything here. Bonnie took Marceline’s hand and pulled her over to the Egyptian area. Bonnie pointed at a small, metal instrument. “That’s what they used to pull people’s brains out through their noses before they mummified them.”

“How the _fuck_ would a brain fit through your nose?” Marceline shot her an incredulous look. “Sometimes it takes me like a year to get my fucking nose ring in, let alone pull a fucking brain out of there.”

Bonnie eyed Marceline’s nose ring and shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just interesting. I mean, something like that seemed so normal back then, and now it would be seen as brutal and inhuman.”

“You’re pulling a _brain_ through a _nose_.” Marceline repeated. “I’m surprised it wasn’t brutal back then.”

“We’ve become more civilised over time.” Bonnie stated, “I assume that’s what this exhibition is going to show us. Medicine through the ages. It makes me wonder how much more advanced we’ll be in twenty years.”

“I think about stuff like that.” Marceline admitted as they turned a corner and went into a different time period. “Like, new technology, new genres of music and film. All that sort of stuff. Life is crazy.”

“Nothing stops evolving.” Bonnie said. “That’s why science is so interesting. It shows how much things have changed. Think about it; when we’re dead and gone, there’s going to be more technology than we could have ever imagined. There’ll be cures for diseases, all sorts.”

“You know, unless all young adult literature is right and there’ll be some huge ass war and society will be even more corrupt than it is now.”

“Well, I guess there’s always that possibility.”

“I don’t see why abortion is even an issue.” Marceline spoke up as she stared at a board of information on abortions in the 40’s. “I mean, if you don’t want one, don’t get one, but don’t stop other people from doing it.”

“It’s like that with things like gay marriage and transgender rights and whatnot,” Bonnie added. “I mean, if a random old guy in Texas doesn’t want to marry someone of the same sex, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to.”

“I just don’t get why we can’t all get along.” Marceline responded, turning to look at Bonnie. “I mean, sure, we’re all different, but that’s good. If we were all the same, everyone would be boring.”

“If we were all the same,” Bonnie boosted herself up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Marceline’s lips, “I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

Marceline blushed and looked away from Bonnie, murmuring, “You’re a really good kisser.”

“Really?” Bonnie was amazed – she’d never kissed anyone before. “Because you were my first kiss.”

“Seriously?” Marceline looked surprised, and a soft smile settled on her lips. “I feel special, now.”

“I’m just… _really happy_ today.” Bonnie sighed in content and squeezed Marceline’s hand. “I have an actual girlfriend. Like…you’re really my girlfriend. If someone asked me last week what I thought would happen on this trip, this definitely wouldn’t be on the list. Girlfriend. Amazing. It keeps hitting me and every time I’m just as amazed.”

Marceline let out a light chuckle and shrugged. “Well, if future me had zapped into the present that day you moved to our school and told me I’d end up dating you, I wouldn’t have believed her. Me? Myself? Whatever. I don’t know, man. I’m really happy, too.”

“In my opinion, our first date was a success.” Bonnie said, “Don’t you think?”

Marceline nodded in agreement. “Oh, yeah. It’s going to get even better tonight when I crush you at bowling.”

“Bowling is all physics. I can kick your ass into next century, Abadeer.”

“Is that a challenge?” Marceline wiggled her eyebrows and smirked.

“Yeah, it is.” Bonnie crossed her arms in defiance. “If I win, you have to…sing for me when we get back home.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Didn’t I already say I’d do that?”

“Yeah, but knowing you, you’d probably ‘forget’.” Bonnie said, air quoting around the last word. “You _have_ to if I win.”

“Okay.” Marceline nodded. “But if _I_ win, you have to…do my homework for me when we get back to school in September. Deal?”

Marceline stuck out her hand, and Bonnie shook it. “Deal.”

* * *

 

They entered the bowling alley surrounded by Bonnie’s friends, to Marceline’s contempt. She wanted to spend all day with Bonnie, but she realised that they’d probably end up having to share a bowling lane with somebody – she’d rather it was people she’d talked to a little than complete strangers. Or LSP. _Especially_ LSP.

Marceline sat herself down on the chairs near the booking desk. She watched as Mr Lich talked to the person on the cash register, probably talking about the booking that they’d made. She looked over her classmates, biting back a grin when her eyes fell on Bonnie, who was animatedly chatting with Fionna and Lady. She looked away from Bonnie quickly – her awkward staring would probably give something away. Her eyes scanned the crowd of students for someone else she knew. Betty was just watching over everyone while Mr Lich sorted out the bowling lanes. Marshall was talking to Jake and Gumball.

Marceline leaned back on her seat and stretched out her legs. This was about as comfortable as she’d get on the hard, plastic chair she was sat in. She began picking at her fingernails – there was nothing there to bite at – and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard an excitable, “Hey!” from next to her.

She turned around in a flash and met the bright blue gaze of Finn. She tried acting nonchalant – the thought that someone had seen her get scared by _Finn_ of all people was truly mortifying. “Uh…hi?”

“Bubblegum said you’re on our team.” Finn said. “You know, for the bowling game?”

Marceline desperately wanted to make a sarcastic comment, because _really_ , what else would they be on teams for? Instead, she just nodded. “Okay…who exactly does this team feature?”

“Well, you, Bubblegum, me, Lady and Jake.” Finn listed, counting everyone off on his fingers. “Five of us. Bubblegum made Marshall go on the other team, because apparently you two end up killing each other in competition.”

Marceline thought back to the first time she’d ever competed against Marshall, back in PE in kindergarten. She’d bitten him. “We don’t end up _killing_ each other. We just…get a little aggressive.”

Finn just shrugged. “Well, she knows you better than I do. Weren’t you guys together all day today? We looked for you in the science museum.”

Marceline was incredibly glad they hadn’t found them; after Bonnie was satisfied she’d seen everything, Marceline sneaked them out of the museum, and what had started as a casual walk had ended up with them kissing. A lot. “Well…we were around. Bonnie activated her turbo speed and dragged me around everything twice.”

“Yeah,” Finn laughed. “Lady said she’d get like that.”

Marceline looked over to Bonnie, who was whispering something to Lady. She smiled to herself; Bonnie looked so happy. “Yeah. She’s rad.”

When Bonnie had finished whispering to Lady, she came skipping over to Marceline and Finn, leaving Lady stood with a shocked expression on her face. Bonnie perched herself on Marceline’s lap, even though there was a free chair on the dark haired girl’s right. “Hey, Marceline.”

“Bonnie. May I ask why I looked more comfortable than that chair?” Marceline nodded to the free chair, snaking her arms around Bonnie’s waist.

Bonnibel just shrugged. “I don’t know. You just did.”

Marceline felt a tap on her shoulder and flinched back a little, but turned to see Finn staring at her with wide eyes. He leaned in close to her and whispered, “I think Bubblegum has a crush on you.”

Marceline couldn’t stop herself; she burst out laughing. She looked up at Bonnibel, who was staring down at her in confusion. “What’s so funny?”

Marceline motioned to Finn with a jerk of her head. “He thinks you have a crush on me.”

Bonnie laughed, too. Marceline could feel the pink haired girl’s body shaking with laughter, and Bonnie turned around to her with an amused grin. Marceline let a little snicker out when she caught Bonnie’s gaze.

Finn frowned at the two of them. “I don’t get it, what’s so funny?”

“It’s funny because,” Bonnie paused to allow a little laugh to escape her, “I _do_ like her like that, Finn. And she likes me.”

Finn looked at the two of them in bewilderment, before he saw how the two girls were holding hands, and his eyes widened in realisation. “You two are -,”

“Yeah, we are.” Marceline interrupted him before he could announce it to the entire bowling alley. She used her free hand to put a finger to her lips. “But keep quiet about it, okay?”

“I…who else knows? When did this…have you two been together this whole time?” Finn rambled on, question after question spewing out of his mouth. “That’s why you always hold hands, isn’t it?”

Bonnibel processed the questions carefully before replying. “Well, we actually only started dating today, but we’ve both liked one another for a while now. We were just too chicken to tell each other. Nobody knows, aside from you and I just told Lady a few minutes ago. I wanted to keep it a secret for a little while, but I couldn’t help myself.”

“Oh…” Finn looked like he was taking a while to process this new information.

Marceline wrapped her arms around Bonnie’s waist and gave her a gentle squeeze. “As much as I care about your comfort, my legs are going dead. Shove off.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but shuffled off of Marceline and onto the free chair. “Honestly, I was wondering how long it’d take for you to kick me off. Your legs are bony and it got uncomfortable after a while.”

Marceline watched as Bonnie weaved their fingers together. “Should I be offended by that?”

“No, you should be honoured that I like you enough to endure your bony lap.” Bonnie stated.

Marceline was about to shoot back a sarcastic comment about how Bonnie didn’t actually _need_ to use Marceline as a chair, but people were being sent to bowling lanes and Bonnie’s attention was turned onto Betty, who was calling out names.

Eventually, their group’s names were called out, and Bonnibel tugged Marceline along to their bowling lane, closely followed by Finn. Bonnie looked over to Marceline and smirked. “I’m going to _win_.”

“In your _dreams_ , Bonnie.” Marceline shot back. “I’m so good at this game, that I’ve set a _trillion_ world records.”

“Yeah, _totally_.” Bonnibel rolled her eyes. “I bet you can’t even pick up a bowling ball.”

Marceline stuck her middle finger up at Bonnibel. “Bitch.”

Judging by the easy smile on Marceline’s face, she wasn’t insulted by Bonnie’s remark. “Is the little weakling offended? I’m sorry,” Bonnie dropped Marceline’s hand, “Maybe I won’t hold your hand – I might break it by accident.”

Marceline playfully hit Bonnie’s arm. “You’re unbearable.”

Bonnie looked around – nobody was looking in their direction, so she quickly pressed a kiss to Marceline’s lips and smiled. “You’re pretty insufferable yourself.”

When Bonnie bowled a strike on her first turn, Marceline realised she was pretty fucked. Marceline mostly just picked up spares – she just thought she was good because she was decent enough at the game to beat Simon and her brother. If she’d have known Bonnie was as good as she was, Marceline definitely wouldn’t have made a bet with her.

After her turn, Marceline sat back down, and Lady shuffled up next to her. The blonde girl smiled encouragingly. “So, you and Bonnibel, huh?”

“Yeah.” Marceline replied.

“If you hurt her, I’m obligated to kick your butt.”

Marceline snorted. “Yeah, _okay_.”

Lady raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms defiantly. “I could take you in a fight.”

“I’m not saying you couldn’t.” Marceline replied, although the smirk on her face said otherwise.

Before Lady could respond, Bonnie sat down in between them and grabbed Marceline’s hand. “I got another strike. I think I’m going to win.”

“I’ve already given up, dude.” Marceline admitted. “We’re done. You win.”

Bonnie leaned down and gently kissed Marceline, hearing a soft gasp from Lady. Bonnie pulled back and sat herself down next to Marceline, shoving her forwards. “It’s your turn. You never know, you might still beat me.”

“You’ve pretty much got strikes on every turn.” Marceline pointed out as she stood up. “I highly doubt I’ll win.”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes and watched as Marceline’s biceps – which were visible due to her grey tank top – strained as the dark haired girl picked up a purple bowling ball. She bit on her lip to contain a smile; she was _so_ lucky.

“You two are adorable.” Lady cut Bonnie out of her daydreams about Marceline, “But you should probably tone it down with the kissing. LSP or someone might see.”

Bonnie nonchalantly shrugged, although she agreed that Lady did hold a valid point. She did _not_ want to come out through rumour mill. “If they find out, they find out. I want to kiss my girlfriend, so I’m going to.”

“Fair enough,” Lady replied, “I just figured you didn’t like rumours, is all.”

“You’re right, I don’t.” Bonnie smiled up at Marceline as she sat down, glancing up at the leaderboard – Marceline was still second, and she’d just scored her first strike. She grabbed Marceline’s hand and smiled encouragingly. “I knew you could do it!”

“I’m still not going to beat you.” Marceline said. “We’ve only got like, two more tries.”

“Good,” Bonnibel grinned. “That means you have to sing for me when we get home.”

Marceline just shrugged. “I would’ve done it anyway. You could’ve spared me the crushing defeat.”

“Could’ve.” Bonnie repeated, “Not going to, but I _could’ve_. The thought of beating you at something fairly physical amuses me.”

“In case you didn’t notice, I’m not exactly the most physical person on the planet.” Marceline said. “It’s not really that much of an achievement.”

“Shut up and let me enjoy my victory.”

* * *

 

** Thursday 19th June 2014 **

“Hey. Bonnie. Wake up!”

Bonnie felt a pair of cold hands on her arm, carefully shaking her. The pink haired girl squinted and opened her eyes, not expecting to be met with darkness. She propped herself up one arm and looked over to her left to see Marceline pulling her socks on. “Marceline?”

“Hey. I have to show you something. Get dressed.” Marceline quickly placed Bonnie’s clothes – which the pink haired girl had set out the night before – next to her on the bed.

Bonnie kicked off the covers and shuffled over, grabbing her clothes. She stood and stretched, rubbing her eyes. Yawning, she asked, “What is it you need to show me?”

“It’s a surprise. Just get dressed.” Marceline quickly replied, tying up her shoelaces.

Groggily, Bonnie made her way into the bathroom and got changed. When she came out, Marceline grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the bed, placing Bonnie’s shoes on her lap. “Hurry up.”

Bonnie rubbed her eyes. “How much coffee have you had?”

“Surprisingly, none.” Marceline shifted her weight from foot to foot as she watched Bonnie slowly tie up the laces on her pink Converse. “Hurry _up_.”

“Calm down.” Bonnie responded, standing up and buttoning up her purple jeans which she somehow must’ve forgotten to do in the bathroom. “Are you _sure_ you haven’t had any coffee or like…accidentally taken ecstasy or something?”

“100%.” Marceline said, grabbing Bonnie’s hand. “I found something last night and I need to show you.”

“Okay,” Bonnie followed Marceline out of the room, stopping the door before it closed. “You’ve got a key, right?”

“Duh.” Marceline shot back, tugging gently on her arm. “Come on.”

As they quietly made their way through the hotel, Bonnibel frowned. “What time is it?”

“Around 4.” Marceline replied. She didn’t bother to check her phone.

“Why did you feel the need to wake me up at 4AM to show me something you found _last night_?” Bonnie pressed.

“Like I said, it’s a surprise.” Marceline responded. “You’ll see.”

Bonnie shrugged the response off and continued, “Why couldn’t you just show me in the morning?”

“You’ll _see._ Stop asking questions.” Marceline shot back. She turned to look at Bonnie and sent her a soft smile. “Let’s just say that it’s important, okay?”

“Alright.” Bonnie sighed; she really didn’t like surprises, but she decided to play along and see where this led her. “So…did you have a nice night’s sleep?”

“You _really_ don’t need to make small talk.” Marceline said, but added, “It was okay. You?”

“I thought we didn’t need to make small talk?” Bonnie teased. “My night was fine, thank you. When you woke me up I was in the middle of this insane dream about a talking cat. It was weird.”

“A talking cat?” Marceline laughed. “Why were you dreaming about a talking cat?”

“Well, I want a cat. Maybe that’s got something to do with it.” Bonnie shrugged. “I can’t get one, though. It’d eat Science.”

“Your rat or the subject?”

“Very funny, Marceline.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “My _rat_ , obviously.”

Marceline stopped walking, and Bonnibel frowned. Before she could ask why they’d stopped, Marceline spoke, “We’re here.”

They were in front of a door that read ‘roof access’. Bonnie’s eyes widened and she shook her head vigorously. “We _can’t_ go up there! I bet we’d be breaking like, a _million_ rules. We aren’t even supposed to leave our rooms between 11PM and 7AM. Mr Lich said so.”

Marceline just smirked and pushed open the door. “Live a little, Bonnie.”

With that, Marceline began jogging up the darkened, chilly staircase. With a reluctant sigh and a little glance around, Bonnie followed after Marceline, closing the door behind her and making her way up the stairs.

When Bonnie finally made it to the top of the stairs, she saw Marceline sat on a little blanket near to the edge of the roof. Bonnie headed over and sat down, her fingers immediately playing with the fabric of the blanket. “What’s this about?”

It took a while for Marceline to respond. “Well…our second date, I guess.”

Bonnie blushed and found Marceline’s hand, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. “As much as I appreciate this, why did you feel the need to do it now? At 4AM?”

“Well, you said you wanted to see the sunrise, right?” Marceline met Bonnie’s gaze then and smiled. “You said that was your perfect date idea when we played twenty questions.”

Bonnie felt a wave of affection wash over her. Marceline was so sweet to have remembered that. Bonnie leaned forward and cupped Marceline’s face in her hands. “You’re the sweetest.”

Bonnie then leaned in and kissed Marceline, until the dark haired girl pulled away. “I forgot something.”

She dumped a plastic convenience store bag in the middle of them. “What’s all this?”

“Just some snacks. I got all the candy I thought you’d like.” Marceline gestured to the bag. “Eat up, nerd.”

Bonnibel smiled, leaning forward and pressing a soft, quick kiss to Marceline’s lips. “You’re the best girlfriend in the world.”

Bonnie felt one of Marceline’s hands on her waist, and the dark haired girl kissed her again. Bonnie couldn’t help but feel all jittery inside; that was the first time that Marceline had initiated any form of romantic affection. “I can safely say that _you’re_ the best, actually.”

Bonnie shuffled closer to Marceline and rested her head on the dark haired girl’s shoulder. She picked out a caramel candy bar from the bag and opened it up, breaking a piece off. She held it up, looking to Marceline, “Open up.”

Marceline wanted to say no, but Bonnie looked so gorgeous and adorable that she couldn’t deny the pink haired girl a thing. Marceline complied and opened her mouth, and Bonnie put the piece of chocolate between her teeth. Marceline ate the chocolate and then smiled. “You’re adorable.”

“Coming from you?” Bonnie shot back, raising an eyebrow. “Even though you’re probably going to deny it and announce that you’re punk, you’re pretty cute.”

Marceline hesitated before replying. “Well…at least you recognised that I’m punk rock as fuck.”

Bonnie kissed Marceline on the cheek. “You’re the most punk rock person I know.”

Marceline smiled and pulled Bonnie in for a real kiss. “Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Bonnie responded. She laid herself down and beckoned for Marceline to join her. The dark haired girl complied and laid down so Bonnie could hold her, with her head rested in the crook of Bonnie’s neck. Bonnie ran her fingers through Marceline’s hair and smiled. “I’m so happy this means something now.”

Marceline looked up and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Us cuddling.” Bonnie explained. “It actually means something. It’s not just two friends casually hugging.”

“Wait…when did you start to like me?” Marceline asked.

“Around the end of March.” Bonnie responded. “I tried not to like you, but it didn’t work. I’m glad it didn’t work. What about you?”

Marceline laughed. “I’ve literally _never_ liked you platonically.”

“What?” Bonnie sat up in surprise.

Marceline propped herself up on one arm. “Yeah, I never liked you platonically. After I stopped trying to dislike you I realised how cute you are and started to like you.”

“When did you start liking me, though?”

“Pretty much from the start.” Marceline admitted. “I still tried to keep you away because I knew that the crush would just get worse if I made friends with you. It did.”

“Why didn’t you ask me out?” Bonnie pressed. “You knew I liked girls.”

“Yeah, but you’d always reinforce the platonic-ness of our situation and every time you did that I wanted to _fucking cry_.” Marceline exclaimed, “Sometimes I’d get really confused because it would _sound_ like you were flirting with me but then I realised you probably weren’t and wanted to cry some more.”

Bonnie was stunned to say the least. “So you’re telling me that back in January when you insulted me countless times and told me to leave you alone and never talk to you, you had _feelings for me_?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Marceline casually responded. “I’m just really good at hiding my feelings. I wrote about you in my journal, actually.”

“ _You_ have a journal?”

“Shut up, I need to get my inner anger out _somewhere_. It’s either that or punching people.” Marceline said. “And I’d probably break my fist on their face, so…”

Bonnie laughed at that and leaned in and kissed Marceline. “You always know how to make me laugh.”

“Funny thing is, I wasn’t even trying.” Marceline said. “But yeah, I wrote about you like, ten times in my journal before I made friends with you. I’ll read you the entries when we get back to the room, if you want.”

Bonnibel laughed. “As long as you’re comfortable with that.”

“Sure,” Marceline responded. “It’ll be funny.”

* * *

 

Once the sun had risen, Bonnie and Marceline quietly made their way back to the room, and Marceline pulled out her journal from her suitcase. She flicked through the pages while Bonnie anxiously waited on the bed.

“Okay, okay, I found it.” Marceline announced, sitting down next to Bonnie. She looked at the page and laughed for a second, “Alright. January 6th 2014 – there was this cute nerd in my History class today. She has pink hair and is kind of adorable. She fucking sat next to me, too, when there was a whole other free desk. Am I not supposed to be some sort of unapproachable scary monster? I -,”

“Wait, there was a whole other desk? Where?” Bonnie interrupted. “And you’re not an unapproachable scary monster. You just wear a lot of black.”

“Like, at the right, near the front of the room.” Marceline explained. “And thanks.”

“Okay, you can continue reading now.” Bonnie nodded.

Marceline cleared her throat and continued. “I kind of blew it, though. I told her I didn’t like her. I know, smooth, right? I fucking hate myself. Why can’t I just _talk_ to people?” Marceline stopped reading and looked up at Bonnie, “Still valid, to be honest. Anyways – I can’t remember the girl’s name, so I’ll just refer to her as cute nerd. Because she’s cute. And she seemed pretty smart, from what I can tell. I don’t know. Ugh.” Marceline laughed. “It literally ends with ‘ugh’. Oh my God.”

Bonnie laughed. “I think your little rant was cute. Are there any others?”

“I don’t know,” Marceline flicked through the book again, and stopped at a certain page. “January 10th 2014 – Bonnibel. That’s her name. Cute nerd’s, I mean. Goddamn, why does her fucking name have to be cute? Is this girl just like, the cutest fucking thing ever? Fuck. She knows my name, too. Why the fuck am I so happy about that?”

“You think my name is cute?” Bonnie blushed, kissing Marceline. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Marceline replied, “There’s more. She made friends with Lady – I think – and all of that group, and they’ve probably told her a million horrible things about me so I might as well just give up now. Maybe if I keep her away from me and just get everything out here, this stupid fucking crush will go away.” Marceline stopped reading and laughed, “Nope, not going to happen, kid – she’s just _so fucking attractive_ goddamn it. She’s really smart, too. Like, _genius_ level smart. Probably smarter than Einstein.”

“You wrote that about me?” Bonnie exclaimed. She pulled Marceline in for an enthusiastic hug. “That’s so sweet!”

“Well, I’m glad you don’t think it’s creepy.” Marceline said. “I think that’s it for you on this day aside from a little note at the end that says ‘maybe I’ll try and act like a normal human being and casually introduce myself to Bonnibel’. Yeah, _that_ ’ll happen.”

Bonnie laughed, “Find more – they’re cute and I appreciate the confidence boost.”

“January 13th 2014 – She came to my _house_. Bonnibel was in my house. I think my brother knows I like her, though. He kept smirking at me and it’s freaking me out. If he knows, what if she knows? She’s like, super smart and stuff. She’s actually nice to me, too. It’s weird. I’m not used to that sort of thing. I want her to go away because it’s never going to happen – a girl like that has _got_ to be straight, right?” Marceline burst out laughing, and Bonnie had to shush her – she didn’t want Lady to wake up. Marceline just shrugged, her body still shaking with silent laughter. “I’m sorry, but there’s just so many things wrong with that sentence. First of all, you’re gay as _fuck_ , and we’re fucking dating.”

Bonnibel let out a little chuckle of her own. “Well, you didn’t know then. Plus, I never thought we’d happen, either. You’re too cool for me.”

“Yeah, _okay.”_ Marceline just rolled her eyes. Then, she found another entry and began reading. “January 14th 2014 – I fucked up. I fucked up so bad. I’m pretty sure Bonnibel hates me. I mean, I know I wanted to push her away, but she’s pretty and sweet and she actually _talks_ to me and I really don’t know what to do. She looked so scared and I bet she thought I was going to hurt her or something and I’d never do that and oh god I really fucked everything up.”

“That was when you threatened to kill me! Or, something along those lines.” Bonnie announced. “Don’t worry, I’d never hate you.”

“I know.” Marceline smiled and kissed Bonnie, before she turned back to her journal and flicked through the pages. “Oh, here’s one. January 20th 2014 – Okay, so a few days ago I apologised to Bonnibel, but today this guy tried hurting her or something and I’m still really mad and I probably need to cool off but I don’t care. She’s here now while I’m writing this – not like physically in the room but I said I was going to take a nap and came upstairs but that’s not important – I hit the guy and I really don’t know how I did that but she was crying and I held her and I think I really like her and I can’t fucking do this. I actually started being nice to her because I figured why not. I decided to stop trying to keep her away and just be her friend, but -,”

“We weren’t friends until February.” Bonnie cut in. “And you were still mean to me up until the end of January.”

“If you’ll let me _finish_ , you’ll find out why.” Marceline said. “I decided to stop trying to keep her away and just be her friend, but then she called me a drug addict and now I’m kind of afraid to talk to her. I mean, she just thinks what everyone else does, so what’s the point?”

Bonnibel’s eyes widened and she leaned forward and pulled Marceline in for a hug. “Oh my God, I feel really bad now. You’re saying if I hadn’t have called you that, we would’ve been friends sooner?”

“Yeah, but you scared me off.” Marceline admitted.

Bonnie kissed her. “I’m sorry.”

“Water under the bridge, dude.” Marceline said. “I actually think it’s _funny_ , now.”

“Good. Because I know you’re not.” Bonnie smiled, kissing Marceline’s cheek. “Read another! A happy one, this time.”

“I’ll find one,” Marceline flicked through the book and stopped on a page, smiling. “Okay, here’s one. February 15th 2014 – Okay, so Bonnibel is sleeping in my bed, and she’s drunk. Like, smashed as fuck. She told me a few things I don’t think she’d want me to know sober, but at least she trusted me enough to look after her. I’ve decided I’m just going to go in head first. I’m going to be her friend. We talk and she seems to like me a little, so yeah. We’ll see how this goes.”

Bonnie smiled. “Aw, good times.”

Marceline shut her journal and put it back in her suitcase. “Yeah. In case you couldn’t tell by all that, I’ve pretty much had a huge crush on you this entire time.”

Bonnie blushed. “I still think you should’ve told me.”

“No _way_ , dude.” Marceline shook her head. “You _always_ kept reinforcing how platonic our relationship was and every time you did that I felt – you might as well have punched me in the gut.”

Bonnie wrapped her arms around Marceline and leaned in, kissing her. “Well, I only did that because I was worried you’d figure out that I liked you.”

Marceline just shrugged. “I had suspicions, but I always shrugged them off.”

Bonnie rested her head on Marceline’s shoulder and sighed in content. “You know what’s funny?”

“What?”

“The first thing I wanted to do when you and I became a couple was to run off and tell you that I had a girlfriend.” Bonnie said. “Then I realised I didn’t have to.”

Marceline smiled. “Well, if you wanted to tell me now, I’d play along.”

“Really?” Bonnie sat up – she didn’t expect Marceline to offer something like that.

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded, squeezing Bonnie’s hand. “I can play the platonic friend for a minute.”

Bonnie pressed a gentle kiss to Marceline’s lips and smiled. “Thanks. Ready?”

Marceline unlinked their hands and shuffled away from Bonnie. “Yup.”

Bonnibel turned around with a huge smile on her face. “Marceline, guess what?”

“What?” Bonnie could tell Marceline wanted to laugh, but was grateful that the dark haired girl held it back.

“I have a _girlfriend_!” Bonnie exclaimed, a huge smile on her face – she felt almost as excited as she did yesterday morning.

“Oh my God, who?” Marceline responded in mock surprise.

“You!” Bonnie leaned forward and pushed her lips against Marceline’s. She felt the dark haired girl smile against her lips. When she pulled away, she tried not to smile, but failed. “Thanks for that. You’re the greatest.”

Marceline smiled and cuddled up against Bonnie again. “As much as I like being your best friend, I prefer being your girlfriend.”

Bonnie slung an arm around her girlfriend and smiled. She shuffled around on the bed to get herself comfortable, cringing at the loud creaking it made. Bonnie leaned down and pressed a kiss to Marceline’s temple. “Me too.”

* * *

 

When they arrived at the theme park, the only rides Bonnibel could see were terrifyingly huge rollercoasters. She gulped a little and her grip on Marceline’s hand tightened – rides like that frightened her a lot, but she’d promised herself she’d go on them, for Marceline. Marceline had endured a day of science and learning for her – Bonnie wanted to make sure Marceline had as good a day today as she’d had the day before.

Marceline seemed to have read her mind, and sent her a gentle smile. “Hey. You don’t need to go on any rides you don’t want to. It’s not a big deal.”

Bonnie vigorously shook her head. “No, I want to. I really want to make today great for you.”

“This isn’t a date, Bonnie.” Marceline responded. “You don’t need to make today perfect. Hell, even if it was a date, you wouldn’t have to.”

“What if I want it to be a date?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow. “Then I’d have to make it perfect.”

“Two dates in one day? Don’t you think that’s a little far?” Marceline shot back. She figured they’d wait until they got back home to go on their first official date, although Marceline didn’t want to think about it like that. Third date sounded much easier. “Let’s just hang out with your friends, and we can be as subtly gay as you want.”

“But…you’re my girlfriend.” Bonnie argued.

“Uh…yeah, I’m aware of that.”

“Well, we’re _supposed_ to do romantic things. Theme park date sounds cool to me, even if you don’t want to call it a date. It’ll be a half date.” Bonnie said. When Marceline looked unconvinced, she pouted and put on her puppy-dog eyes, “ _Please_ , Marceline? It’ll be fun, I swear.”

“It’s not a date,” Marceline firmly stated, but at Bonnibel’s crestfallen look, she continued, “We can do romantic things, obviously. We’re girlfriends.”

Bonnie grinned. She loved hearing Marceline say that. She let out a little squeak of happiness, before saying, “Yay.”

Marceline just rolled her eyes in response, looking around their classmates, who were all talking in their different friend groups. “Want to write backstories for people? I mean, it’s better when you don’t know the people, but we can make it fun.”

Bonnie smiled, accepting Marceline’s offer with a bob of her head. “Sure. What about her?”

She pointed to an olive skinned girl with chestnut brown hair, tied up in a bun. Bonnie recognised her from the swimming pool; she could’ve sworn that the girl had made a comment about her appearance in her swimming costume.

“Maja?” Marceline questioned. “The one standing with LSP?”

“Uh…yeah.” At least, Bonnie thought that was who Marceline was referring to.

“Hm…okay.” Marceline bit on her lip with thought, her fingers drumming against the barrier of the line they were waiting in to get into the theme park. “Funny or tragic?”

“Tragic.” Bonnie replied. “Be as dramatic as possible.”

“Okay,” Marceline nodded, “When she was born, it was discovered that she had a horrible illness. It’s called ‘chronic bitch disorder’. Sadly, there is no cure. She is destined to have a life with no friends aside from others diagnosed with this sad, sad disease. She also has herpes.”

Bonnie snorted with laughter. “Was that last part _really_ necessary?”

“Yeah.” Marceline crossed her arms in defiance. “It _made_ the entire story. Without it, it’d be like Romeo and Juliet without Romeo. Also, she’s an asshole, so yeah. She deserves it.”

“You don’t like her?” Bonnie questioned.

“I don’t like anyone,” Marceline shot back as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. “I have like, 3 friends, _if that_. And one of them is my dog.”

Bonnie chuckled. “Cute. You have me, and you have your bandmates. And, as much as you deny it, you’ve got Lady and everyone.”

Marceline looked like she didn’t believe her, but changed the topic before Bonnie could assure her that she was part of their group. “So…what rides are you willing to go on?”

“Well, if you want me to join you on any, I’d be willing to face my fear of scary rides.” Bonnie said. She knew she’d probably end up shaking in fright and clinging onto Marceline for safety, but she was determined to go on at least a few scary rides.

Marceline chewed on the inside of her mouth, shrugging. “Like I said, you don’t need to. We can easily find some other fun things to do.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, shouting naughty words as loud as we can and then acting like it wasn’t us.” Marceline suggested – she and Keila did that to pass the time when they got bored in town. They both found it amusing to see people looking around in bewilderment.

“I don’t say naughty words.” Bonnie tartly responded. She folded her arms in defiance. “That won’t be occurring.”

“You said fuck when you told me you liked me.” Marceline pointed out.

Bonnie hesitated before replying – honestly, she was as shocked as Marceline was when that word had slipped out. “That was different, I was frustrated. You use that in casual conversation.”

“I just don’t get what the big deal is.” Marceline said. “I mean, it’s just a word. Like…potato or door. It’s stupid that we’ve invented words we’re not supposed to use.”

“I get your point, but you’re desensitised to stuff like swearing, with your circle of friends and all.” Bonnie explained. “It’s different for me. I was brought up to always be well mannered, and speak in quite a formal way, and all of the people I really interacted with were like that. I drop all of that stuff around you, though.”

“Why?”

“I’m comfortable with you.” Bonnie continued, “You’re my best friend and girlfriend. I don’t need to put that whole model child routine on around you. Back to your point – I personally don’t see the appeal of swearing, but after being your friend for six months, I don’t really notice it anymore. Back in New York, somebody could swear and I’d gasp and be rather shocked by their vulgarity, but you swear in virtually every other sentence, so I’m used to it.”

“Well, fuck me. The princess doesn’t care about bad words.” Marceline teased, smirking. “Fucking shocker, there. You know, this morning when I fucking woke up, I definitely did not fucking expect that. Fucking hell.”

“Okay, okay,” Bonnie rolled her eyes and lightly shoved Marceline, “You don’t need to go out of your way to swear.”

“Thought I already did?” Marceline shot back.

“Alright, I admit that you’re not _that_ bad. Actually, lately you’ve chilled out with the swearing.” Bonnie said.

“I have?” Marceline frowned to herself, shaking her head. “I’m losing my touch. Damn.”

Bonnibel squeezed her hand in response. “I don’t mind if you swear, though. That’s just how you are and I wouldn’t change you for the world.”

“What if Santa Claus offered you some huge science thing?” Marceline questioned, “Like, Santa arrived and offered you all the secrets of the universe _but_ you had to push me off a cliff to get them.”

“I definitely wouldn’t do that.” Bonnie hurriedly responded. “You’re better than that. Besides, you’re my girlfriend. How would I live without the kisses?”

Marceline smirked. “Oh, you wouldn’t. You’d miss them so much you’d come right down to hell just to give me a smooch.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, lightly hitting Marceline’s arm. “You wouldn’t go to hell.”

“I would _definitely_ go to hell. Think about it – hell will be full of parties and alcohol and punk rock. Why would Satan punish you if he _wants_ you to be bad?” Marceline said. “Hell sounds better than heaven, to be honest.”

“Well, I think you’re heavenly.”

“That was cheesy as _fuck.”_ Marceline teased.

“Shut up.” Bonnie muttered. “I tried.”

* * *

 

“I told you that you didn’t have to come on any scary rides, you know.” Marceline pointed out as Bonnie was nervously playing with her fingers and shuffling her weight from foot to foot.

“I’m not nervous.” Bonnie insisted. “I’m _fine_.”

“I didn’t say you were nervous,” Marceline casually leaned back on the metal bars separating them and the ride – it was their turn next. “I just said you didn’t have to come on this if you didn’t want to.”

“Relax, Bubblegum!” Finn enthused as he bounced around excitably. “You’ll be fine. It’ll be fun!”

Bonnie looked up at the metal death trap of a ride – it looked terrifying. From what Bonnie had seen, the ride was going to shoot them off into a 200ft drop, and each time she’d seen it go, she’d become more and more apprehensive. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

“We can still leave, if you want.” Marceline offered, sending Bonnie a soft smile. “Seriously. I don’t need to go on anything big.”

“I want to make you happy.” Bonnie insisted. “I’m fine. Promise.”

“I _am_ happy, you big dork.” Marceline replied. “You don’t need to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

“Just…I know, but I really want to do this for you.” Bonnie said. “Just _let_ me, okay?”

“Alright, but after we’re doing something else, okay?” Bonnie nodded as they headed towards the ride, taking hold of Marceline’s hand. Marceline picked up on how much Bonnie was shaking and sent her a reassuring smile. “Hey, it’s okay. You want to get off?”

Determined, Bonnie climbed onto the ride and pulled her harness down, shaking her head and swallowing the lump in her throat. “Nope. I can’t wait to go on this ride.”

Marceline just shrugged and sat down in the seat next to Bonnie and pulled her own harness down. She found Bonnie’s hand and squeezed it. “I know you’re nervous, but thanks for coming on this, dude.”

Bonnie sent Marceline a shaky smile. “You’re welcome, I -,”

She was cut off by the ride shooting off. Bonnie’s grip on Marceline’s hand tightened and the pink haired girl let out a loud scream in surprise and screwed her eyes shut – however, once they’d gotten past the big drop, she opened her eyes and let out a sigh of relief as the car slowed down. She let her grip on Marceline’s hand slacken, and she looked over to see the dark haired girl smirking at her.

“What?”

“You’re adorable.” Marceline stated, squeezing Bonnie’s hand. “How did you find the ride?”

“It wasn’t too bad, I guess.” Bonnie said. “It _was_ pretty scary, though.”

Marceline – who didn’t think it was that scary at all – simply nodded. “Yeah, but you made it. I’m proud of you.”

Bonnie squeezed Marceline’s hand and smiled. “Thanks. Can we maybe put a hold on the scary rides for now and do something more my speed?”

“Sure.”

Bonnie smiled, climbing out of the ride and helping Marceline up. Marceline sent her a smile and grabbed onto Bonnie’s hand. Turning to Bonnie’s friends, who were all climbing out of the ride, she said, “Bonnie and I are going for a walk.”

“We’ll catch up with you guys later!” Bonnie called out as Marceline quickly pulled her away from the ride. “Want to go and get some food?”

“No.” Marceline shook her head. “I’m going to be totally cheesy and fall into conventions and try to win you one of those stuffed animals from over there.”

Bonnie looked over and smiled when she saw a little stall where if you knocked all of the tin cans over, you won a stuffed animal. “You don’t need to do that.”

“Dude, I want to.” Marceline protested. “I mean, you’ve never had a stuffed animal. So, if I win you one, it’ll mean something.”

Bonnie just shrugged. Marceline had a valid point. “Okay. This should be entertaining.”

Bonnie _thought_ it would take Marceline a while to win her the toy – a little teddy bear with golden fur – but the dark haired girl knocked all the cans down in seconds and victoriously threw her hands in the air, shouting “Yes!”

Bonnie grinned as Marceline excitedly passed her the teddy bear. “Thank you.”

“What’re you going to name it?”

“Hm…I’m not sure. I’ll need to think about it.” Bonnie said. “It’s an important decision, you know.”

“It is.” Marceline nodded in agreement, a small smile playing at her lips. “Very important.”

Bonnie smiled and boosted herself up on her tiptoes to kiss Marceline. “You’re a cutie. Let’s go on another ride!”

Marceline allowed herself to be pulled along by Bonnie, an idiotic smile on her face.

 _So this is what it’s like to be happy, huh_? Marceline thought.

* * *

 

Bonnie was concerned.

She knew she probably had no right to be, and that there was a logical reason behind why she was worried, but she didn’t want to admit it to herself.

Marceline had barely eaten any of her burger, and had shared most of her fries with Bonnie, and Bonnie was seriously worrying – she’d barely seen Marceline eat anything throughout the day.

Bonnie sent Marceline a reassuring smile before she spoke. “Are you going to finish the rest of that burger?”

Marceline shook her head. “Nah, I’m full.”

Bonnie chewed on the inside of her lip. “Please finish it? For me?”

“I’m full. Honestly.” Marceline insisted, but at Bonnie’s puppy dog eyes, she picked up the burger and took a few more bites.

Bonnie triumphantly smiled. She felt like getting Marceline to finish the burger was a small victory. “Thank you.”

Once Marceline had finished forcing down the burger, she asked, “Why did you want me to finish it?”

“You don’t eat that much.” Bonnie pointed out.

 _Fuck,_ Marceline thought, _she noticed_. “I eat.”

“Not that _much_.” Bonnie repeated. “And food is important. I care about you. I don’t want you to go dying on me from malnutrition or something.”

“I’m _fine_.” Marceline snapped. She really didn’t want Bonnie prying into things like this.

Bonnie was taken aback by the sudden bad mood. She held her hands up in defence. “I’m just looking out for you. Calm down.”

“Just don’t bring it up again, okay?” Marceline was seemingly calmer, but Bonnie was still a little worried. Marceline picked up on this, and added in a soft, gentle voice, “Hey, I’m sorry. Let’s not ruin a good day and just drop it, okay?”

Reluctantly, Bonnie replied, “Okay.”

Marceline awkwardly fiddled with her shirt. She quietly murmured, “I figured out what we’re going to do for our date. You know, when we get home.”

“Really?” Bonnie was thankful for the subject change, “What is it?”

“Well, I was thinking about taking you to a concert.” Marceline replied. “Something chilled, like The Ready Set or something.”

“Okay.” Bonnie nodded enthusiastically. “Awesome. I’d like that.”

Marceline smiled. “Cool. I’ll work on getting tickets and stuff when we get back.”

“Do you need me to do anything?” Bonnie asked.

“Nope. I’ll sort it all.”

“You’re the best.”

“Don’t you know it?”

* * *

 

** Friday 20th June 2014 **

Marceline groaned, stirring her McDonald’s coffee with a plastic spoon. “I hate shopping so _much_.”

Bonnie squeezed her girlfriend’s hand in reassurance and opened her mouth to reply, promptly shutting it again when she saw a very bored Fionna look up from where she was sat at the end of their big table. The blonde’s eyes shone with curiosity. “Same here.”

“I don’t get why people enjoy it.” Marceline shrugged, looking to Bonnie. “You hate it, don’t you?”

“With a _passion_.” Bonnie countered. “I’m just putting up with it because it’s only for a few hours. Then we’re heading home. Think of it as your last chance to soak up some British culture before you leave.”

“I don’t need to soak up anymore British things.” Marceline stated, crossing her arms in defiance. “I was born here, I’m as British as it gets.”

“You haven’t been here for twelve years. You’re more American than you are British.” Bonnie said.

Marceline scoffed, and said in an impeccable English accent, “Fuck off, Bonnie. That is an _appalling_ accusation.”

“Fine, I’ll admit that accent was faultless, but still…” Bonnie murmured. “I like your normal accent.”

“I thought different accents were supposed to be attractive?” Australian, this time.

“How many of these can you do?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“I don’t know. Only a few.” Southern, Texan accent.

“Stop it.”

“Make me.” Russian accent.

Bonnie scowled and poked Marceline in the side. “Seriously! I really want to kiss you and shut you up, but my friends would probably all die from shock.”

“All the more reason to do it.” Marceline shrugged. Bonnie smiled – Marceline’s usual accent was back – but then frowned when she realised what Marceline had just said.

“Why do I like you as much as I do?” Bonnie wondered out loud. “You’re mean.”

Marceline cackled and sent her a toothy grin. “I’m _irresistible_.”

“And you’re annoying.”

“Whoa, _I’m_ the annoying one now?” Marceline raised an eyebrow. “Oh, how the tables have turned.”

Bonnie just rolled her eyes. “You’re being difficult. Why is it that whenever we’re around my friends you’re difficult?”

“I’m always difficult.” Marceline casually bit at her fingernails, “Besides, it’s funny to watch you get all annoyed. You’re cute.”

Bonnibel’s cheeks flushed pink. “Stop complimenting me. I get all flustered.”

“Yeah, I noticed that a while ago.” Marceline admitted. “One of my suspicions, actually.”

“Seriously?” Bonnie frowned. “Well, what else made you suspicious?”

“Honestly? The cuddling. I was a little confused when you asked me to do that after that time I let you cuddle me because you had a nightmare.” Marceline explained. “And you’d compliment me a lot and that confused me, too.”

Bonnie blushed. “I wasn’t _that_ obvious, was I?”

“Hm…for the most part, you were actually pretty good at hiding it.” Marceline said, before she leaned closer to Bonnie and lowered her voice. “Serious question; were you going to kiss me in the pool?”

Bonnie knew she was probably as red as a tomato. “Uh…yeah.”

Marceline grinned. “I fucking _knew_ it! I was actually going to ask you about that when we got back to the hotel that night, but then you told me you liked me and I forgot.”

Bonnie bit on her lip. “I couldn’t help myself. My attractive crush in front of me in a freaking _bikini_? I knew I wouldn’t make it through the night without kissing you. Or at least, trying to.”

Bonnie looked up, expecting Marceline to be smirking at her, but instead, was met with a soft smile. “Attractive?”

Bonnie nodded. “Yeah.”

Suddenly, Marceline was in Bonnie’s arms, hugging the pink haired girl as tightly as she could. Bonnie was taken aback momentarily, before she hugged Marceline back with almost as much force.

She heard a small whisper, “Thanks, Bonnie.”

* * *

 

“I’m bored.” Lady complained as they pushed their way through yet _another_ store that seemed to only sell clothes of size 8 and under.

Fionna shot her an incredulous look. “Really? I’ve been bored since we left the hotel.”

“Well, there’s nothing to do.” Lady responded. “All of these stores are the same.”

“You _just_ noticed that?” Marceline asked, before she realised she was taking part in a conversation with Bonnie’s friends – who, aside from Lady, she didn’t particularly like – and shut her mouth.

“Do you think – wait…” Lady’s gaze landed on Marceline, who was biting her fingernails. “I have an idea.”

Marceline looked up to see Lady smiling at her with an evil glint in her blue eyes. Instinctively, Marceline’s grip on Bonnie’s hand tightened, and the pink haired girl looked up. She noticed the look in Lady’s eye, too. “Um…why are you looking at Marceline like you want to cook her for dinner?”

“Because I just had an idea.” Lady repeated.

“Which is?” Marceline warily asked.

“We’re going to give you a makeover.”

Both Fionna and Cake were highly amused by this suggestion. In fact, even Bonnibel found it a little funny – the thought of Marceline wearing anything other than black skinny jeans and band t-shirts was so alien to her that she found it quite comical.

Marceline’s eyes widened so much that Bonnie thought they were going to pop out of her skull. “Oh, hell no. No way in fucking _hell_. Tell them, Bonnie.”

Bonnie just smirked. “Well, it would pass the time, and it would be funny.”

“No. This is not happening. I refuse to let it happen.” Marceline crossed her arms in defiance, turning to Bonnibel. She leaned down and said in a hushed voice, “If you let them go through with this, I’m breaking up with you.”

Even though Bonnie knew she wasn’t serious, she took Marceline’s hand and looked up to Lady. “If Marcy doesn’t want to, she doesn’t have to.”

“But it’ll be _fun_!” Lady argued, sounding like a little kid who wasn’t allowed any candy.

“Yeah, for you.” Marceline replied. “For me, it’d be more traumatising than anything else.”

“It wouldn’t be a full makeover, obviously,” Lady tried to compromise, “I’d just do your makeup and then we’d pick out some girly clothes to make you try on in the changing rooms.”

“Again, not happening.” Marceline said, before she nodded to Fionna, “Why can’t you give that one a makeover. She’s not exactly girly.”

Fionna held her hands up in defence. “Don’t get me involved!”

“Actually…you hold a good point, Marceline.” Lady said, looking over to Fionna with the same evil glint in her eye. “Fionna, you’re going to get a makeover first. Maybe that will convince Marceline that it won’t be so bad.”

While Fionna objected, Marceline leaned down to Bonnie and whispered, “Spoiler alert – it won’t.”

Bonnie chuckled and swatted the dark haired girl away. “Shush. Don’t let them hear you, or Lady will become twice as persistent.”

“Either way, it’s not happening.” Marceline stated. “I can be very stubborn. You know that from experience.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Bonnibel said, taking Marceline’s hand in hers again. “Still, at least humour them. I want you guys to be friends.”

“Hey, I’m friends with Lady, Finn and kind of Jake, even though he scares me.” Marceline responded. “And maybe that Gumball dude, too. That’s progress. You should be proud of me – I’m the mean antisocial thug and I’ve made friends with like, five nerds this year.”

“Five?” Bonnie frowned, counting her friends off on her fingers, “You only mentioned four.”

“I couldn’t miss the biggest nerd, could I?” Marceline lightly jabbed Bonnie in the side with her elbow, and the pink haired girl squirmed away.

“Stop that, you know how ticklish I am.” Bonnibel complained. She looked up at Marceline and smiled. “I really want to kiss you right now, you big dork.”

“Well, we could always opt for some time alone. Go for a walk. You know, or something along those lines.” Marceline replied, the implication obvious.

“Lady probably won’t approve. She needs your beautiful face to give you a makeover.” Bonnibel responded. “A makeover that probably won’t happen and one that you don’t _at all_ need.”

Marceline chuckled, squeezing Bonnie’s hand. “I never know how to respond when you just casually compliment me like that. I’m not used to it.”

“Well, you should be used to it.” Bonnibel responded, gently pulling Marceline along by their hands towards the changing rooms, where Lady and Cake had picked out a bunch of girly, feminine clothes for Fionna. “I mean, I have a super gorgeous girlfriend. I’m going to compliment you.”

“You have so much more game than me.” Marceline admitted. “Like, me trying to flirt is…awkward, at best. Usually I just creepily stare at someone if I think they’re attractive. If we hadn’t have made friends I’d probably just stare at you like a total nerd all the time.”

Bonnibel just rolled her eyes. “I can’t flirt for the life of me, Marceline. This is my first relationship and I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.”

Marceline laughed, before she sent Bonnie a reassuring smile. “That makes two of us.”

“Well, let’s navigate this unchartered territory together, then.”


	33. thirty-three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie goes to the arcade with her friends.

** Friday 27th June 2014 **

When Bonnie was interrupted by her phone ringing in the middle of her experiment, she honestly didn’t think it would be Fionna calling her, but she picked up her phone anyways. “Hello?”

 _“We’re going out to the arcade and LSP told me to invite you_.” Fionna said. _“You in?”_

LSP _wanted_ Bonnie there? Either LSP had suddenly become much more accepting, or there was something weird going on. Bonnie suspected it’d be the latter. “Hold on, let me get ready. I’ll meet you guys there in an hour, okay?”

 _“Okay_ ,” Fionna replied, _“She said to make yourself look nice_.”

 _To go to the arcade_? _Weird_ , Bonnie thought. “Okay, I guess. I’ll see you guys in a bit.”

_“Later, Bubblegum.”_

Bonnie hung up and put her phone down on her desk, quickly packing up her science equipment and noting down where she had gotten to in her experiment. Then, she walked over to the mirror and took in her appearance, frowning at how…messy she looked. Her pink hair was tangled and shoved up into a casual bun to keep it from getting in the way during her experiment. She was wearing her reading glasses and lab coat, and she was completely makeup-less. _Yup,_ Bonnie thought, _this is going to need a lot of work_.

She untied her hair from the bun it was in and moved over to her dresser, picking up her hairbrush and attempting to brush out the tangles. Then, she grabbed her phone and sent Marceline a text.

**_Bonnie (1:32PM): Hey. This might sound weird, but what do you think makes me look attractive?_ **

Marceline replied almost instantly.

**_Marceline (1:32PM): you always look pretty, but I’d say your eyes – that’s just personal opinion though because I have a thing for blue eyes_ **

**_Bonnie (1:33PM): I mean clothing wise, not just casual looks. Like, if I was to wear an outfit, what would you think suits me best?_ **

**_Marceline (1:34PM): anything tbh you’re fucking gorgeous_ **

**_Bonnie (1:34PM): Aw, thank you! Seriously, though. My friends want me to look nice to go to the arcade._ **

**_Marceline (1:35PM): they want you to look nice to go to a fucking arcade what the fuck is wrong with your friends_ **

**_Bonnie (1:35PM): Shush. Don’t be mean and answer my question._ **

**_Marceline (1:36PM): well I think you look good in that pink sundress with that pink cardigan if you know what I’m talking about_ **

Bonnie stepped over to her closet and opened the door, pulling out the pink sundress. She searched around for the cardigan, finding it on a separate hanger. She laid the outfit out on her bed and then texted Marceline back.

**_Bonnie (1:37PM): I’ve taken it out of my closet. Thanks, Marceline. :)_ **

**_Marceline (1:37PM): you’re welcome, dork :)_ **

**_Bonnie (1:38PM): What are you doing right now? Watching TV?_ **

**_Marceline (1:39PM): hanging out with Bongo and Guy and we’re going to meet Keila in a few_ **

**_Bonnie (1:39PM): Well, I won’t keep you from your friends any longer. I’ll talk to you later, Marcy. :)_ **

**_Marceline (1:40PM): later, princess ;)_ **

Bonnie smiled down at the text conversation and then quickly changed her clothes. She went back over to the mirror and nodded in approval at her reflection. She was satisfied with her appearance – all she needed to do was put makeup on.

She still had no idea why her friends wanted her to look nice – admittedly, she was a little wary, but decided to shrug it off and see what would happen.

Maybe she’d get a nice surprise.

* * *

 

When Bonnie got dropped off in the centre of town, she realised she had absolutely no idea where the arcade actually was. She didn’t think her friends had shown her it when they’d taken her on a tour of town back when she’d first moved, and she couldn’t recall making a visit with Marceline, either.

Aimlessly, Bonnibel wandered around town, walking straight down the centre of town, looking left and right, hoping she’d see a huge sign pointing towards the arcade. After about ten minutes of strolling around by herself, she pulled out her phone and sent Marceline another text.

**_Bonnie (2:16PM): I’m really sorry I keep bugging you, but I kind of realised I have no idea where the arcade is. Help me? x_ **

Bonnie slid her phone back in her pocket and found a bench to sit on. She decided pointlessly walking around wasn’t going to get her anywhere – in fact, she’d probably end up getting herself more muddled up and ending up in someone’s back yard.

Bonnie played with her fingers and waited for Marceline to respond, before she pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked it in case she’d missed anything. She hadn’t. Since Marceline didn’t respond straight away, Bonnie assumed her girlfriend was busy and opened her text conversation with Fionna and typed out a message, asking for directions to the arcade.

She was about to press send when her phone buzzed. She smiled – Marceline had responded to her.

**_Marceline (2:18PM): oh my god you loser_ **

**_Marceline (2:19PM): where are you?_ **

**_Bonnie (2:19PM): Sat on a bench. I’m near the bookstore._ **

**_Marceline (2:20PM): okay I’ll be two seconds_ **

**_Bonnie (2:20PM): You don’t need to come and get me! Just give me the directions and I’ll be fine, promise. Besides, LSP is apparently with my friends. You don’t want to go near her, do you?_ **

**_Marceline (2:20PM): I’m literally just at the music store give me two fucking seconds jfc_ **

Before Bonnie could even type out a response, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Marceline. The dark haired girl sent her a soft smile and said, “You really don’t know where the arcade is? You’ve lived here for half a year, Bonnie.”

“Yeah, because I’m totally the type of person to regularly visit an arcade.” Bonnie shot back, standing up. The pink haired girl tucked her phone back in the small pocket in her cardigan.

“Well, I figured with your circle of friends you’d have gone there by now.” Marceline responded.

Bonnie felt her cheeks heat up when Marceline took her hand and weaved their fingers together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t they all play video games like 24/7?” Marceline pointed out, “I mean, that’s what I got from hearing you guys hang out and stuff.”

“Hearing us hang out?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow and shot Marceline a quizzical look.

“You know, when Marshall invites all of them round. I _do_ live in the same house as my twin brother, remember?” Marceline smirked.

“You listen in on us hanging out?” Bonnie chuckled in amusement. “I thought you didn’t care about my friends.”

“Oh, I don’t.” Marceline quickly responded, although Bonnie didn’t exactly believe her. “I’m just listening in to figure out their weaknesses so I can use them against them later in life.”

“Yeah, _okay_ ,” Bonnie rolled her eyes, and before Marceline could retort with a sarcastic remark, Bonnie changed the subject, “So, when are we going on that date, huh?”

“When there’s a decent gig on.” Marceline answered, putting her free hand on the small of Bonnie’s back to lead her around a corner, “It’ll be soon, okay? I’ve just got to sort some stuff out.”

“Alright.” Bonnie shot Marceline a warm smile and squeezed the dark haired girl’s hand. “I look forward to it.”

They came to a stop in front of a fairly big building. The doors were closed, but Bonnie could hear loud music coming from inside, and through the windows she could see various game machines.

“We’re here.” Marceline’s voice cut Bonnie out of her mental analysis of the building.

“We are.” Bonnie supplied. She searched for her friends, spotting them through a window. They were all surrounding a machine, and from what she could see, Finn was playing Marshall at some sort of racing game. “Well, thank you for coming and helping me. I know you were with your friends and stuff.”

“Don’t worry about it, Bonnie. All I was doing was waiting for Keila to finish her shift.” Marceline assured.

Bonnie dropped Marceline’s hand after giving it one last squeeze and motioned to the building. “I should go. I’ll see you.”

“Later.”

Bonnie turned around and headed for the doors of the arcade. She got about halfway there before she stopped and ran back over to Marceline, who was already walking back in the direction they came. She grabbed the dark haired girl and spun her around, boosting herself up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to Marceline’s lips. She wrapped her arms around Marceline and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Couldn’t leave without doing that. Bye.”

Marceline let out a soft laugh, “Go hang out with your fellow dorks. I’ll be on standby if you need me.”

“Thanks, Marcy.” Bonnie called back as she jogged towards the arcade doors.

Bonnie pushed the doors open and headed over to her friends, who all seemed to be at the climax of the game they were watching Marshall and Finn play. As Bonnie walked over to them, she noticed it was some sort of racing game – both Marshall and Finn were sat on chairs that had steering wheels on and were racing against each other.

“Kick his ass, Finn!” Bonnie heard Fionna shouting every few seconds.

She walked over and tapped Lady on the shoulder. “Hey. What’s up?”

“You made it! We were wondering when you’d get here,” Lady said, before turning to the group and announcing, “Hey, Bubblegum is here!”

“Dude, what took you so long?” Jake asked her, not taking his eyes off the game.

“I didn’t really know where the arcade actually was, so I texted Marceline and she showed me.” Bonnie explained.

Lady smirked a little, and Bonnie found herself rolling her eyes, “Your GF showed you, huh? No wonder you took so long.”

“I took so long because I spent around ten minutes walking around town in no particular direction. Marceline got me here in like, five minutes.” Bonnie stated, although she could see the doubt in Lady’s eyes.

“Why didn’t you invite Miss Sarcasm to join us?” Jake asked.

Bonnie could tell he was confused by her and Lady’s interaction, but she wasn’t about to explain that her and Marceline were dating in front of her friends. _That_ would be awkward. “She was already here because she was with her friends. I would’ve invited her if she wasn’t busy.”

Lady was about to ask something else, but she was cut off by a roar of cheers from the rest of the group who were still watching the game. Bonnie turned to see ‘Player One wins!’ plastered across the screen.

“In your _face_ , bro!” Finn fist pumped the air.

Bonnibel smiled, making her presence known to the blond boy, “Well done, Finn.”

Finn’s giant grin only got wider. “Thanks, Bubblegum. When did you get here?”

“Just a few minutes ago.” Bonnie said. “I caught the tail end of your game. Marshall, you need to practice.”

Marshall held up his hands in defence. “Hey, I’m used to my sister grabbing my controller and kicking me. I barely get any practice.”

As Finn stood up from his seat, Bonnie sat down. She dug around in her cardigan pocket and found a dollar, holding it up. She rose a challenging eyebrow. “Want a game?”

He smirked. “Sure. Don’t be so confident you’ll win.”

Bonnie shrugged as she put the dollar into the machine. Marshall held his controller at the ready as Bonnie flicked through the possible races. “I won the last time we played video games. I beat Marcy once, and she kicks your ass every time.”

“Yeah, but this game is different, so I have a -,” He cut himself off as he looked at the screen – the race had already begun, “Hey! You started without me.”

Bonnie smirked, chuckling when she heard Fionna cheer, “Go Bubblegum!”

She didn’t keep her eyes off of the screen – she didn’t even let her friends’ shouts distract her. Admittedly, she felt a little bad for Marshall and went a little easy on him; Finn was the only one cheering for both of them. The heat of the arcade was distracting, however, and she felt herself break out into a sweat during the second lap, bashing into a few of the computer-driven cars for good measure.

She still crossed the finish line first, and Marshall groaned and stood up. “That’s it, I give up! No more video games. I’m done.”

“Calm down, man.” Jake said, “You beat me all the time.”

“Yeah, but _Bonnibel_ just beat me.” Marshall exclaimed.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. “There better not be some underlying sexism there. Your sister’s spidey-senses will go off and she’ll be here in two seconds, tops.”

“I don’t mean it like that.” He insisted. “It’s just that, you’re you. You don’t really play video games, but I do, and you still beat me.”

“I used to play Mario Kart all the time with my little cousin back in New York.” Bonnie explained. “It’s probably from that.”

“How often is ‘all the time’?” Marshall questioned.

“Virtually every day. I used to stop by my Aunt’s place after school and hang out there for a bit.” Bonnie explained. She never used to do it that often, until she fell out with _her._ After that, she’d had nothing to do after school and decided to drop in and babysit so her Aunt could take a few hours for herself.

An easy smile rested on Marshall’s lips, and for a second, Bonnie was stunned by how alike he and Marceline looked. They both had the same smile – although Bonnie found it a lot more attractive on Marceline. “I feel better now.”

As the group moved onto another game, Bonnie caught up with Fionna. “Hey, I thought you said LSP wanted me here?”

Fionna nodded. “Yeah, she did.”

“Then where is she?”

“She said she had to go and get something.” Fionna said, rolling up her sleeve and checking her watch, “That was about a half hour ago. She’ll be back soon, I guess.”

Bonnie was still rather wary of what the other girl wanted her for. She let out a heavy sigh. “Okay.”

* * *

 

“Hey, everyone!”

They were in the middle of watching Jake battle it out with Lady on Dance Dance Revolution, when Bonnie heard the familiar nasally voice from behind them. She, along with Fionna and Gumball, spun around to see LSP approaching with someone weirdly familiar.

As he came closer, Bonnie recognised his brown hair and that ‘sexy’ smirk which just seemed awkward and forced to her. When he spoke, it hit her.

“Hey, nice to see you again.”

It was Braco. Braco, the guy who tried to hit on her in the music store a few weeks back. This couldn’t end well.

Bonnie forced a smile as he stood next to her. “Uh…hi.”

“So, your friend here told me we’re going to finish up here and go to the movies,” Braco grabbed for her hand, and Bonnie quickly avoided him. He noticed, “Hey, there’s no need to be shy.”

Bonnie tried moving away from him and looked over to Gumball and Fionna, who shot her a sympathetic look.

She quickly dodged Braco and moved over to Fionna, harshly whispering, “Why didn’t you warn me?”

“I didn’t know she was going to bring a guy for you.” Fionna held her hands up in defence. “She knows you’re gay, so I really don’t know why she’s done this.”

Braco linked his arm with hers and almost _forcefully_ pulled her away from Fionna. He smiled at her, flashing his perfectly whitened teeth. “You know, when LSP told me that you were into me that day at the music shop, I didn’t quite believe her.”

 _That’s because I’m not into you, you idiot,_ Bonnie thought. “Oh, really. Well…LSP isn’t exactly known for talking fact.”

“But hey, here we are.” Braco motioned around them with his free arm. “On a date and all. Want to ditch your friends?”

Bonnie quickly wrenched her arm away from him and stepped back towards her friends. “No, thanks. And we’re _not_ on a date _._ ”

“Why did LSP tell me this was a date, then?” He pressed. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her behind a machine, away from the view of her friends. Bonnie really didn’t like that – she knew that Marceline wasn’t going to appear and punch this guy out, and she probably couldn’t fight him off if he got aggressive.

“I don’t know what she told you.” Bonnie tried staying calm, but kept her tone firm, “But this isn’t a date. You’re a nice guy, but -,”

“Why isn’t this a date, then?” Braco interrupted. “If I’m such a nice guy, give me a chance.”

“Sorry, I can’t.” Bonnibel apologised, tugging her wrist away from him. She walked away from him and closer to her friends – they were still a fair distance away, but they were in sight, which was comforting to Bonnie.

“Why not?” He persisted. Bonnie could tell by his tone he was becoming rather antagonistic and frustrated. She despised that – he wasn’t entitled to anything.

“I’m _gay_ , you idiot.” Bonnie announced, exasperated. “You can’t date me because I’m _gay_ and I have a _girlfriend_.”

He was taken aback – his eyes widened so much Bonnie wondered for a second if they were going to pop out of his skull. “You’re gay? You’re telling me I was set up with someone that’s gay?”

“Yes, you were, and sorry to break it to you, but I’m taken.” Bonnie crossed her arms in defiance and moved back over to her friends, standing over by Fionna.

Braco followed her and shot LSP an irritated look. “You told me she was into me. You didn’t say she was _gay_.”

LSP looked from Bonnibel to Braco, but she didn’t try to defend herself. Instead, she just ran in the opposite direction, leaving Bonnie and her friends dumbstruck.

Fionna nudged Bonnie. “You go after her. Ask her why she did this. We’ll explain to this Braco guy what the situation is.”

Bonnie nodded and walked off in the direction LSP went in. She didn’t run – honestly, she couldn’t be bothered finding out why LSP tried to set her up. She just wanted to go home and tell Marceline what had happened so they could laugh about it; the dark haired girl always managed to make Bonnie feel better.

She exited the arcade and walked out of the street she was in. She turned a corner and saw the other girl sat on a bench, head in her hands. Bonnie cautiously sat down – she didn’t know what LSP would do to her for ruining the blind date. “Uh…hey.”

LSP looked up, her brown eyes lit up in surprise. Bonnie could’ve sworn her eyes were a little wet. “Bubblegum?”

“I’m not here to yell at you or anything.” Bonnie assured. She held her hands up in defence and tried to make herself look as relaxed as possible, “I just want to know why you set me up with him. You know that I’m gay.”

“I was trying to help.” LSP murmured. Bonnie noticed the girl wasn’t meeting her eyes. “I figured if you met a nice guy maybe you wouldn’t be gay anymore.”

Although Bonnie knew that was absolutely crazy and nothing could ever change her sexuality, she knew LSP meant well. “Listen…I’m not going to wake up one day and not be gay. I don’t need fixing. Meeting some guy isn’t going to do anything to change that. I don’t get why you have such a problem with it.”

“I just…it’s just not something that…” LSP sighed, finally meeting Bonnie’s gaze. “I just don’t get it.”

“Well, think about it like this,” Bonnie calmly responded, “You feel a certain way about guys, right? Well, I feel that too – just with girls. I think what freaked you out is the thought that I would be attracted to you and every other girl I see, but it’s not like that at all. I have a girlfriend, and I’m not attracted to anyone other than her.”

“Is she in New York?” LSP questioned. Bonnie let out a little sigh; she should’ve known LSP would ask – the blonde was always finding new things to gossip about. Before Bonnie could say anything, she heard something.

“I’m sorry.”

Bonnie was taken aback. It was barely a whisper, but she heard it, and for some reason, that made things better. Not completely – Bonnie still wasn’t particularly keen on LSP – but at least it made things a little less awkward.

“You’re forgiven.” Bonnie replied. LSP looked shocked that Bonnie had heard her, but before she could say anything, Bonnie continued. “Come on, let’s go back to everyone else, yeah?”

As they walked back to the arcade, both girls were surprised by how comfortable they felt. Bonnie was used to a lingering awkwardness around LSP and an air of mutual dislike, but this was different. Bonnie smiled to herself.

With a little work, everything might just be okay.


	34. thirty-four.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie's family from new york comes to visit, and marceline is surprisingly good with kids.

** Wednesday 2nd July 2014 **

“Come _on_ , Marceline.” Bonnie complained, resting back down on her bed. “You lost the bet in England, so you have to do it. No take backs.”

“But…what if I suck or fuck up or something?” Marceline pouted, harshly bringing her pick down on the guitar strings, a few odd notes ringing out. “Then you’ll think I’m lame.”

“I won’t think you’re lame.” Bonnie assured, resting her hand on Marceline’s and comfortingly tracing patterns on Marceline’s pale hand with her thumb. “Trust me. I won’t even know if you mess up.”

“You will, though.” Marceline insisted. “It’d sound horrible and off key and I really don’t want to do this, do I _have_ to?”

“Yeah, you do.” Bonnie said, shooting Marceline a reassuring smile. Bonnie pulled Marceline’s hand up and put it to the frets on her Dad’s guitar. “Come on, _play_.”

Marceline’s fingers quickly danced across the frets and she played a short, fast sequence of notes, before looking up at Bonnie. “Done.”

Bonnibel rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “That’s not what I meant. Play and _sing_. A full performance. Come on!”

“I _really_ don’t feel confident doing this.” Marceline said.

Bonnie pulled her infamous puppy dog face and leaned in, kissing Marceline on the corner of her mouth. “Please, Marcy?”

Marceline let out a resigned sigh, bringing her plectrum to the top of the strings. “Fine.”

Bonnie couldn’t help but let out a little squeak of victory. “Yay!”

Marceline cleared her throat and then strummed the first chord. When Marceline started to sing, it was like the entire world stopped to listen in.

 _“Mayday situation overload_ __  
I'm restless, obsessed with your future  
And all my worries they don't bother you  
Collected, you render me useless  
But I carry on,”

Marceline stopped playing single chords and began strumming full bars, her singing becoming much more prominent.

 _“Right now, I think that you think that I'm_ __  
Half drunk, searching for something of substance,  
Casually dropping a line designed  
To keep you next to me  
I can't awkwardly craft in advance  
I know, that you wouldn't fall for that  
You say ‘Shut up and take my hand,’  
And we carry on,”

The chorus was where the performance really picked up. Marceline finally met Bonnie’s gaze with a small smile tugging at her lips, and Bonnie automatically grinned back encouragingly.

 _“I don't want to say goodnight_  
The city comes alive, when we're together  
Why can't Thursday last forever  
I don’t want to say goodnight  
I've never been so sure  
Just do it for the memories  
Do it for Baltimore  
And do it for me,”

As Bonnie listened to the chorus, she noticed how much control Marceline had over her voice – the dark haired girl could belt out lyrics and hit every note perfectly, without even thinking about it. Bonnie was still amazed that she could play the guitar to a song and not get distracted by it.

 _“Hot damn, look at me now I’m all_ __  
Caught up, riding the high of my good luck,  
Casually dropping a line designed,  
To keep you next to me  
I bet you never thought you would fall again  
So much for keeping this, just friends  
Shut up and kiss me now,”

In the pause between the next line, Bonnie quickly leaned in and pecked Marceline’s cheek, making the dark haired girl blush before she strummed the next note and continued.

“ _And we carry on,”_

 _“I don't want to say goodnight_  
The city comes alive, when we're together  
Why can't Thursday last forever  
I don't want to say goodnight  
I've never been so sure  
Just do it for the memories  
Do it for Baltimore  
And do it for me.”

Marceline let the last note ring out, before she put her pick down and, without meeting Bonnie’s gaze, whispered, “Was that okay?”

Bonnie’s face broke out into an even wider grin. “That was _perfect_.”

Marceline looked up in surprise, and Bonnie saw the look of shock written on the dark haired girl’s face. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Bonnie confirmed, shuffling so she was closer to Marceline. She pulled the taller girl closer to her so Marceline’s head was rested on her shoulder, and weaved her fingers through Marceline’s hair. “Perfect.”

“It wasn’t even like, a full song.” Marceline admitted. “But the rest of it is just the intro and chorus repeated and I couldn’t be bothered to do that.”

“Well, I still think it was flawless.” Bonnie responded.

Marceline picked at some notes softly as they sat together, both thinking about what had just happened. “You’re too good to me.”

“Shush.” Bonnie was quick to reply, “You’re amazing. You just don’t see it, for reasons unknown to me.”

“But -,”

“Don’t argue with me.” Bonnie sternly interrupted, finding Marceline’s hand and playing with the other girl’s cold fingers. “If you do, there will be serious consequences.”

“What, are you going to science me to death with some fucking osmosis or something?” Marceline smirked, arching one of her _perfect_ eyebrows.

“I might.” Bonnie simply replied, “Maybe not with osmosis, though. Photosynthesis might do the trick.”

Marceline laughed, squeezing Bonnie’s hand. “Dork. I bet I could kick your ass.”

“A battle of science and music.” Bonnie stated, “I think science would win.”

“No, because you’d start some sort of psycho experiment and I’d just hit you over the head with a guitar and run away.” Marceline explained. “Therefore, music would win.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. “ _Yeah_ , whatever you say, Marcy.”

Marceline was about to shoot back a sarcastic comment, but was interrupted by Bonnie’s bedroom door swinging open and Bonnie’s Mom walking in on them. Lynn shot them a surprised look – Bonnie hadn’t exactly told her Mom yet and she and Marceline weren’t exactly sat in a very platonic manner. But, Lynn didn’t comment and simply turned to Bonnie. “Your Aunt and cousin are here. Go and say hello.”

“I…” Bonnibel looked over to Marceline, who had moved from being so close up to her and had returned to playing chords on the guitar and humming melodies. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

“Okay.” Marceline didn’t look up from the guitar and strummed a C chord. “Have fun with the relatives.”

“Thanks,” Bonnie replied as she headed out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She jogged down the stairs and put on a bright smile, “Hey, guys!”

Her little cousin, Gracie, excitably jumped up and pulled her into a bone-crushingly tight hug. “Bonnibel!”

“Hey,” Bonnie repeated, returning the hug with a little less force – she didn’t want to crush her little cousin. “How have you been?”

“Great!” She excitedly responded, “Mommy says we’re all going for a day out today! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“She did, did she?” Bonnie let go of her cousin and turned around to her Aunt.

Bonnibel’s Aunt Susan was a tall, well-built woman of around the age of forty, although she didn’t look it. Her long blonde hair was similar to that of Fionna’s, and she didn’t look a day over thirty due to how much she focused on exercise and staying fit. In fact, Bonnie’s Mom – her Aunt Susan’ sister – also had the blessing of looking younger than she was. Bonnie hoped that would be passed onto her.

“How have you been?” Bonnie asked, pulling her Aunt in for a hug. Even though she hadn’t left much behind in New York, she’d missed her family.

“It’s been lonely without you checking in after school and saying hello.” Susan replied, “Your Mom told me you’ve made a lot of friends.”

“Yeah, I have.” Bonnie’s mind immediately drifted to Marceline, and then she realised she’d left her girlfriend by herself. “Actually, I -,”

“Shall we go sit down? You can tell me all about your new friends.” Susan smiled, nodding towards the sitting room door.

Gracie grinned and tugged on Bonnibel’s hand. “Come on!”

Bonnie watched as her Aunt entered the living room, and she quickly pulled her hand away from Gracie. “Listen, I’ve just got something upstairs I have to do. I’ll be right back.”

Before anyone could complain, Bonnie quickly ran up the stairs two at a time and pushed open her bedroom door. She looked at Marceline, who had occupied herself by doodling little cartoon versions of her and Bonnibel on the cover of Bonnie’s notebook, which Bonnie had left on the bed. “Hey. How was your family reunion?”

“I wouldn’t call it a reunion.” Bonnie replied, “Look, my Aunt wants to talk to me about what’s new, so I might be a little while.”

“That’s fine. I’ll just be here, bored and alone. You’re the best hostess.” Marceline over-dramatically responded.

“Oh, shut up.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “You’ll be fine, right?”

“Bonnie, I -,” Marceline started, but was cut off by Bonnibel’s bedroom door flying open and Gracie running in.

“Bonnibel, my Mommy wants – oh…” Gracie trailed off when her gaze fell on Marceline – the usually eccentric kid was deathly afraid of people she didn’t know, and barely said two words to new people.

Marceline awkwardly looked from Gracie to Bonnie. In all honesty, little kids made her uncomfortable. They were always loud and unbearably truthful, and Marceline found it hard to hold back her swearing. “Who’s this?”

“My cousin, Gracie.” Bonnie explained as Gracie shuffled behind her and peered out at Marceline apprehensively. “She’s seven and still lives back in New York. Gracie, this is Marceline. She’s my friend.”

Marceline was a little confused as to why Bonnie hadn’t introduced her as her girlfriend, but shrugged it off and sent the kid a gentle – albeit awkward – smile. “Uh…hey.”

Bonnibel found it hard not to comment on how well Marceline was doing interacting with a little kid – Bonnie had expected Marceline to just ignore her cousin if they met – and instead just smiled gratefully. “Gracie is a little wary around strangers. She’s kind of quiet, isn’t that right?” She looked down at her cousin, who just nodded. “Exhibit A.”

Marceline just shrugged. “Well, I’ll be fine here if you want to go and give your Aunt the update of everything going on.”

“Alright.” Bonnibel took a still rather apprehensive Gracie by the hand and led her downstairs.

As they walked into the lounge, Gracie looked up to Bonnie. Curiosity shone in the young girl’s blue eyes, “Who was that girl?”

“I told you, she’s my friend.” Bonnibel replied.

Her Aunt – who had been made comfortable on the sofa and was now sipping on a cup of coffee – was suddenly interested. “You have a friend over?”

Gracie answered before Bonnie could. “She’s scary.”

“You think everyone is scary,” Bonnibel shot back, “Besides, Marceline is sweet. I promise.”

“Can I meet your friend?” Bonnie looked over to her Aunt Susan, unsure as to whether it was a good idea or not to have Marceline meet her family.

Bonnibel awkwardly shuffled, before shrugging. “I’ll ask her if she’s okay with it, but she doesn’t really like talking to people.”

Susan looked at Gracie with an amused smile. “That’s like you. Maybe you’ll make friends.”

Gracie shook her head with a determined look. “She looked scary. She had metal in her nose.” Looking up at Bonnie, her brow creased into a frown, “Why did she have that?”

“It’s a fashion thing.” Bonnibel explained, pointing to her cousin’s blond hair, which was clipped so it didn’t fall in the little girl’s face. “Like how you have your hair clipped back.”

Her Aunt cut in before Gracie could ask Bonnie another question about Marceline. “Would you and your friend like to come out with us today?”

Bonnibel just shrugged. “I guess it couldn’t hurt. I mean, we’re not really doing anything. I’m taking some science notes and she’s playing on Dad’s guitar.” Bonnibel edged towards the door. “I’ll go ask her.”

She jogged up the stairs again, and poked her head round her bedroom door. “Marceline?”

Marceline – who was in the middle of playing a song on guitar – stopped and looked up. “Yeah?”

“How would you feel about going out with my family for a bit?” Bonnie wasn’t expecting Marceline to say yes.

“Well, I guess that’d be okay.” Marceline set the guitar aside and stood up, smoothing out her black All Time Low shirt and adjusting the black beanie she was wearing.

Bonnie blinked in disbelief and stopped Marceline from walking past her by placing a hand on the taller girl’s shoulder. She didn’t believe Marceline had just said _yes_. “You’d seriously hang out with my family?”

“Well, I mean, it’s not like we have anything else to do.” Marceline nonchalantly shrugged.

Bonnie smiled. “Okay. Cool. Let’s go downstairs.”

Bonnie stepped aside and allowed Marceline to pass her, and then followed the dark haired girl down the stairs. Marceline picked up her black Vans and sat down on the second step, pulling them on. “Where exactly are we going?”

“I don’t know. Some outdoor place, most likely.” Bonnibel shrugged. She picked up her pink converse and sat down next to Marceline, lacing them up. “I know you’re not exactly a fan of the outdoors, but I appreciate you coming with me.”

“I’d rather spend the day with you than at home.” Marceline admitted. “It gets boring being by yourself all the time.”

Bonnibel grinned. “Well, I’m glad I can be of service.”

Marceline didn’t look up from lacing up her shoes. “Why didn’t you tell your cousin I’m your girlfriend?”

“Well, two reasons.” Bonnie said. She was rather surprised Marceline had asked – she didn’t think the dark haired girl picked up on petty things like that. “My Aunt Susan and Gracie don’t know I’m gay, and Gracie would probably tell both my Aunt _and_ my parents, who don’t know we’re together, and I want them to hear it from me.”

“Okay.” Marceline’s mood seemingly picked up, “Out of curiosity, when are you going to tell them?”

“Well…now, if you want.” Bonnibel weaved her fingers with Marceline’s and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“Seriously?” Marceline raised an eyebrow. “Dude, if you’re not ready for it, then -,”

“I’m ready.” Bonnie interrupted, shooting her girlfriend a reassuring smile. She leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Marceline’s pale cheek. “I want to at least tell my parents, but I want to tell my Aunt after she meets you and realises you’re the most amazing person on the planet.”

“I don’t think she’ll -,”

Bonnie cut in, putting on a high pitched voice and finishing Marceline’s sentence, “Think I’m the most amazing person ever.” Then, she rolled her eyes, playfully jabbing Marceline in the side with her elbow. “Shut up, you’re great.”

Marceline softly traced patterns on Bonnie’s hand with her thumb. “If you say so.”

Before Bonnie could object, her Mom quickly brushed past them and grabbed her shoes. Marceline stood, allowing Lynn a place to sit down and tie her shoes. Bonnie stayed seated. “Mom?”

“You’re going to tell me you and Marceline are together, aren’t you?”

Both Bonnibel and Marceline were taken aback. Spluttering, Bonnie asked, “How did you know?”

“Bonnibel, I’ve known since I saw you two cuddling the last time Marceline slept over.” Lynn explained, “And if I had a problem with it, I would’ve told you by now, so there’s no need to worry.”

“We weren’t together then.” Marceline said. “We’ve been together since the History trip.”

It was Lynn’s turn to be surprised. “You’re saying you _weren’t_ dating when you were all snuggled up together?”

Bonnie blushed in embarrassment. “No, but we are now. Does Dad think we’ve been dating longer than we actually have?”

“I may have mentioned something to him.” Lynn said. “We both approve, but you can tell him yourself when he comes in from work later, if you want. Are you planning on telling your Aunt?”

“I’m going to try and slip it in when I can. Maybe if she asks me if I have a boyfriend.” Bonnie said, before correcting herself, “ _When_ she asks me if I have a boyfriend.”

“What makes you so sure she’ll ask?” Marceline questioned as Lynn stood up.

Bonnie laughed, “She used to ask me virtually every day. She’ll definitely ask when she wants to catch up.”

“I can’t wait for you to go all red and get all awkward.” Marceline laughed. “It’s hilarious.”

Bonnie shot Marceline a mock glare. “You’re such a bitch.”

Marceline shot her a toothy grin, kissing her cheek. “A bitch that you have a huge nerdy crush on.”

Bonnie gently shoed Marceline away, “Shut up.”

* * *

 

“Aunt Susan, this is Marceline. She’s my friend. Best friend, actually.” Bonnibel said. She lightly pushed Marceline forward, and the dark haired girl put on a smile and did an awkward little wave which Bonnie found dreadfully adorable.

Susan put on a wide smile, although Bonnie could see the apprehension behind it. She knew why – Susan was similar to her Mom – and how Bonnie used to be – in how she judged people by looks, and Marceline was dressed in a lot of black and had piercings. “It’s nice to meet you, Marceline. You two met at school?”

“Yeah.” Marceline nodded, “In History class, I think.”

“Yeah, I sat next to her and wouldn’t stop annoying her until we made friends.” Bonnibel sheepishly smiled as she admitted that. “It worked.”

“Well, it’s nice to see that you’ve made some friends.” Bonnie could tell by her tone there would be some questioning later. She didn’t care. She was determined to change her Aunt’s opinion.

Bonnie felt someone brush up against her, and for a second, she expected to see Marceline next to her, but instead she looked down to see Gracie. “Hey, kiddo. What’s up?”

Gracie was still being quiet – she was terrified of new people, and Marceline wasn’t exactly familiar to her. “Will you play hide and seek with me later?”

“Sure. I heard the park we’re going to has a maze. I bet you can’t wait for that, huh?” Bonnie encouragingly smiled down at her cousin.

Gracie just nodded and gripped onto Bonnibel’s hand, so the pink haired girl looked over to Marceline, who was biting her fingernails. Marceline caught Bonnie’s gaze and quickly moved her hands away from her mouth. “What?”

“Don’t bite your nails.” Bonnie chided, rolling her eyes. “How old are you, six?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly mature.” Marceline shot back. “You shouldn’t have such high expectations of me. Besides, I have to have shorter nails – it’s easier to hold down strings on a guitar that way.”

“You know, I’m sure there’s some sort of limit on how many times you can use your musical talent as an excuse for things.” Bonnie pointed out.

“That limit does not exist.” Marceline replied, picking at her bitten down nails.

“Did you just reference _Mean Girls_?” Bonnie arched an eyebrow, smirking in amusement. At the pink hue on Marceline’s cheeks, her jaw dropped open and she added, “You did! Oh my God!”

“Shut _up_.” Marceline complained over Bonnie’s laughter. “It’s a good movie, okay? Who doesn’t love pre-breakdown Lindsay Lohan?”

“ _You’ve_ seen Mean Girls?” Bonnie asked in disbelief, “I can’t _believe_ you’ve seen Mean Girls.”

“Do I look like I live under a rock?” Marceline raised a questioning eyebrow. “Yeah, I’ve seen Mean Girls. Even _Simon_ has seen Mean Girls.”

“Oh my God. You. Mean Girls.” Bonnie murmured to herself as they climbed into the car, “I don’t believe it.”

Marceline just rolled her eyes and put an earphone in, holding one out to Bonnie. “You want to listen to some music?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Bonnie said, chuckling. As Marceline put her music in, she laughed to herself. Marceline watching Mean Girls – that was a hilarious mental image.

She was cut out of her thoughts when her Aunt spoke up. “Your friend is… _different._ I would’ve never expected you to make friends with someone like that.”

“Like what? Someone who is an _amazingly_ talented musician? Yeah, me too.” Bonnie snarkily responded, looking over at Marceline. The dark haired girl was drumming her fingers against her leg and oblivious to their conversation.

“I’m not trying to be mean, it’s just…she’s much different to Bea and -,”

“ _Don’t_ mention her.” Bonnie interrupted. “And that’s why I like Marceline. She’s accepting.”

“I’m not saying anything bad about her,” Susan insisted, “I’m simply pointing out that I’m a little wary of her because of the whole…rocker look.”

Bonnie was about to counter that point, but Lynn spoke up. “I know what you mean, Susan. I thought that as well, but one night Bonnibel went to a party without telling me and her drink was spiked. If it wasn’t for Marceline, I don’t know what would’ve happened to her.”

Bonnie let a triumphant smile settle on her face. “Yeah, see?”

“You went to a party?” Susan shot Bonnie an incredulous look, “How many new friends did you make, exactly?”

“Not too many. I only went because I’d cancelled on them a few times before and felt bad about it.” Bonnie explained. “It’s not like I got drunk or anything.”

“Good. A pretty girl your age around drunk teenage boys? Not good.” Susan clucked her tongue in disapproval. “So, has a boyfriend come with these new friends?”

 _This is it_ , Bonnie thought, _this is my chance to tell her_. “Well, I’m in a relationship -,”

“What’s his name? Is he cute?” Susan bombarded her with questions, “How old is he? What’s he like?”

“Aunt Susan,” Bonnie took in a deep breath and shot her Aunt a smile, “I’m gay.”

She wanted to laugh at the look of shock on her Aunt’s face. Susan froze, and was staring at Bonnibel as if the pink haired girl had just conjured up an elephant from thin air; which it felt like she had. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Bonnie was taken aback; she really wasn’t expecting that reaction. “I…well, I’ve had bad reactions before, and I just…didn’t want to – you know, ruin things.”

“I’m family, Bonnibel. I’ll love you no matter what.” Susan assured, “So, who’s this girlfriend of yours?”

“The antisocial thug over there.” Bonnie nodded over to Marceline, who was staring out the window with an adorable thoughtful expression on her face; the dark haired girl was biting down on her lip, and her brow was creased in concentration.

Susan seemed almost embarrassed of the comments she’d made about Marceline earlier. “Oh. Well, she does seem very nice.”

“She is.” Bonnie said.

The look of adoration on Bonnie’s face delivered a perfectly clear message to Susan; that her niece was content.

* * *

 

Lynn and Susan sat down on a table outside a little café. “We’re going to sit here for a little while and order drinks. Can I count on you two to keep Gracie occupied?”

Bonnie nodded, looking around the garden-like area they were in. There was a huge grass field area, and to her far left, Bonnie could see a maze. There was an area that was walled off, accessible through an arch; they’d explore that later. “Of course. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Bonnibel?” Gracie tugged on Bonnie’s hand, “Can we play hide and seek now?”

Bonnie chuckled, nodding. “Sure,” She looked up at Marceline, who was in her own little world – probably daydreaming about different instruments. “You in?”

“Hm?” Marceline snapped out of her daydream and looked down at Bonnie.

“Gracie and I are going to play hide and seek. Are you going to be joining us?” Bonnie repeated.

“Mm…okay.” Marceline nodded, “You want me to do the seeking?”

“That’d be awesome, thanks.” Bonnie smiled and kissed Marceline’s cheek, “Count to twenty.”

With that, the pink haired girl broke out into a run with Gracie tightly gripping onto her hand. Marceline turned away from them and closed her eyes, slowly counting to twenty. Then, she spun around on her heel and walked in the direction she’d seen Bonnie run off in, rolling her eyes at the flash of a pink sneaker behind a hedge.

She walked over, and as she peered over, she saw Bonnie and Gracie kneeling behind it. Softly, she murmured, “Boo.”

Bonnie stood up, helping her little cousin up. “How’d you find us so quickly? You didn’t cheat, did you?”

Marceline arched an eyebrow; Bonnie seemed to be really getting into the game. “I swear I didn’t cheat. Your bright pink shoes were sticking out from behind the hedge. Plus, it was a pretty weak hiding spot to begin with.”

Bonnie crossed her arms in defiance. “Oh, yeah? Let’s see you do better. C’mon, Gracie – we’re going to count.”

Marceline darted off before Bonnie could even start counting. The pink haired girl screwed her eyes shut and counted to twenty, and then looked down at Gracie with a smile. “Alright, let’s go find her.”

As they walked across the grass, Gracie looked up at Bonnie with a frown. “Do you and Marceline kiss? Like, on the lips?”

“Yes, we do.” Bonnie replied, “Because she’s my girlfriend.”

“Do you love her?” Gracie pressed.

Bonnie smiled. “I love her a lot. I don’t know if I’m _in_ love with her, but I do feel very strongly for her and I’m happy.”

“Are you going to marry her?”

“We’ve been dating for two weeks,” Bonnie laughed, “I haven’t planned that far ahead.”

“Okay.” Gracie said, “Do you like her more than that other girl you were friends with?”

Bonnie gulped a little – any mention of _her_ made Bonnie uncomfortable. “Yes, I do.”

“Me too.” Gracie casually responded. “She actually lets you play games with me. That other girl didn’t and always made you go off with her.”

“Yeah.” Bonnie murmured. “Keep looking around for Marceline – we’ve got to beat her, yeah?”

Gracie enthusiastically nodded. “Yeah! We’re going to win!”

Bonnie’s head whipped round and she smirked when she saw a flash of black duck behind a wall, “I think I’ve found her.” She jogged over with Gracie and shouted, “Gotcha!” but Marceline was nowhere to be seen.

“You didn’t find her.” Gracie said.

“I could’ve sworn I saw…” Bonnie trailed off when she heard a familiar snicker, and she followed the pathway behind the wall and leaned around the corner to see Marceline smirking. “Hah, got you!”

“I still beat your record of five seconds.” Marceline replied, walking over to join them.

“Oh, shut up.” Bonnie lightly poked Marceline’s side.

Bonnie felt a tugging on her wrist and looked down to see Gracie. “Can I hide on my own now? _Please_?”

Bonnie sighed, “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Gracie pouted. “But _Bonnibel_! I really can! I’m seven, I’m a big girl.”

“We’ll ask your Mom.” Bonnie compromised, “If she says it’s okay, then you can.”

“And you’ll come and find me?” Gracie questioned.

“Yep.” Bonnie confirmed, linking her free hand with Marceline’s. “Marcy and I will come and find you.”

“Alright.” Gracie nodded.

They approached Lynn and Susan, who were sipping on cups of coffee and catching up. Gracie was the one to interrupt them, “Mommy? Can I hide by myself? We’re playing hide and seek.”

Susan looked a little conflicted, but let out a resigned sigh at Gracie’s big puppy dog eyes. “Okay, but don’t go too far.”

Gracie’s face nearly split in two from her huge grin. She looked up at Bonnibel, “Start counting!”

Bonnie turned away from Gracie and motioned for Marceline to do the same, before she started counting. In perfect synchronisation with her girlfriend, she counted to twenty, before tugging on Marceline’s hand. “Come on. She can’t have gone far.”

* * *

 

“Marcy, I’m really starting to freak out.” Bonnie stated as her head whipped from side to side. It felt like they’d checked every possible hiding place in the area, twice.

“Hey, don’t worry.” Marceline squeezed Bonnie’s hand in what she hoped was a comforting way. “We’ll find her. I promise.”

Bonnie sent a forced, worried smile the dark haired girl’s way. “Thanks. Is there anywhere we’ve missed?”

“Well, I doubt she’ll have gone in the maze over there,” Marceline nodded towards it, “But I can go check in there. You keep looking around here and if you find her, call me.”

Bonnie quickly pulled her girlfriend in for a hug. “Thank you.”

Marceline sent the pink haired girl a smile and took off in a run towards the maze – the second she’d entered it and was out of Bonnie’s sight, she stopped and took a moment to catch her breath. Then, she proceeded to navigate her way around, keeping her hand touched to one of the tall, prickly bushes that made up the walls – apparently, if you did that, you’d definitely reach the centre.

Marceline softly hummed a random song to herself as she trekked around the maze, pausing momentarily to let a lady with a stroller pass her. She’d always liked walking around by herself – it was comforting and she could let her thoughts carry her wherever.

She thought about Bonnie – the pink haired girl was always so sweet to her and Marceline was still shocked when she thought about how Bonnie actually liked her back; in her opinion, Bonnie was much too good for her. Bonnie was put together and handled everything so well and seemed to always be in control of everything; Marceline, on the other hand, was not. Bonnie would always be so much better than her.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard sniffling. She ducked past a guy and his kid and followed an empty pathway, turning a corner to reveal a path with a dead end. She saw Gracie at the very bottom, sat down. The kid looked to be crying, and hadn’t seemed to notice Marceline’s presence.

“Hey.” Marceline slowly approached the little girl until she was stood in front of her.

Gracie looked up, her eyes widening. _Was that terror_? Marceline asked herself. She felt a little bad – she didn’t want the kid to be afraid of her. Marceline lowered herself so she was kneeling in front of the girl; she didn’t want the height difference make her seem more intimidating. “What are you crying for, huh?”

Marceline noticed that Gracie gulped before answering, “There was loads of people. They scared me.”

Marceline put on the most comforting, friendly smile she could muster, holding out her hand. “I’m going to get you back to Bonnie, okay?”

Gracie stared at Marceline’s hand, which was extended towards her. Eventually, the blonde shook her head. “You’re scary.”

“I promise you I’m not.” Marceline responded, “Come on, Bonnie’s really worried about you. I bet you if we get back there quickly we can convince your Mom to get us some ice cream.”

She noted how the kid perked up at the mention of ice cream. Gracie pulled herself to her feet and nodded, murmuring, “Okay.”

Marceline stood up and led the way out of the passage they were in. As they were about to go back into the main area of the maze, a rather loud family walked past, and when Marceline turned back to Gracie, she was around ten feet behind Marceline.

Marceline walked over and smiled down at her. “What’s wrong?”

“They’re all so big.” It was barely a whisper in response, but Marceline heard it.

“Tell you what,” The dark haired girl crouched down to Gracie’s height, “I’ll give you a piggy-back, and then you’ll be the biggest person here. Would that make you feel better?”

Gracie’s face broke out into a grin almost as big as the one she’d worn earlier. “Yeah.”

Marceline let the little girl clamber onto her back, and as she stood up, supporting the kid with her arms, she was surprised by how light she was. Then, Marceline began her trek back out of the maze, with Gracie clinging onto her.

Once they’d found the exit and left the maze, Marceline noticed a pink dot running towards them in the distance and smiled, instantly knowing it was Bonnie. The pink haired girl sprinted over to Marceline, with a relieved smile on her face. “Oh, Gracie, I was so worried about you!”

Gracie was preoccupied, “Marcy said I might be able to get some ice cream.”

Once Marceline had finished helping Gracie down to the ground again, she was met with a stern look from Bonnie. “You promised her ice cream?”

“I didn’t _promise_.” Marceline responded, “I merely suggested the _possibility_ of ice cream to get her to come with me.”

Gracie looked up Bonnie, “I’m going to go and ask my Mommy.”

Before Bonnie could object, Gracie was darting across the grass towards Lynn and Susan. The pink haired girl’s gaze moved onto Marceline, and she let an easy smile play at her lips. “Thank you. For finding her, and all.”

“It was nothing, Bonnie.” Marceline played it off.

“No, it wasn’t. She actually _talked_ to you – she doesn’t do that with people she’s just met. You must’ve been really good to her.” Bonnie said, adding as an afterthought, “You know, I never figured you’d be good with kids.”

“Yeah, well it’s either act like my Dad does to kids or act like my Mom.” Marceline shrugged, “You know who I prefer.”

“And your Mom was a teacher.” Bonnie stated, “I guess the apple really _doesn’t_ fall that far from the tree.”

“That’s probably the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” Marceline murmured. “I mean, comparing me to my Mom…I _hope_ I’m making her proud and stuff and it’s nice to hear that from someone who isn’t…well, me. I’m sorry, that’s kind of heavy, I -,”

Bonnie cut Marceline off with a kiss. “Don’t apologise,” The pink haired girl found Marceline’s hand and smiled, “Now come on…ice cream awaits.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in case you couldn't tell;  
> aunt susan = susan strong  
> gracie = goliad  
> bea = BMO


	35. thirty-five.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline's dad turns up.

** Friday 11th July 2014 **

Bonnie had just put her reading glasses on and opened the book in her lap when her phone rang. Quickly, she grabbed it from her bedside table and answered the call, “Hello?”

 _“Bonnie?”_ Marceline murmured down the line, “ _Can you just talk to me for a little while?”_

Bonnibel shuffled around in her bed, closing her book and placing it on her bedside table. “Sure, what’s up? You sound upset.”

“ _I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about it,”_ Marceline said, “ _Just tell me something happy, like, a story or something.”_

“Well,” Bonnie chuckled to herself as she thought back, although she was still a little concerned about Marceline, “Earlier today – I can’t believe I did this, to be honest – I put too much of a certain chemical into a mixture of another, and the reaction was _much_ bigger than I’d predicted due to the larger quantities. It ended up going everywhere.”

 _“You fucked up doing science?”_ Marceline questioned, “ _That’s as rare as the sun forgetting to come up_.”

She still sounded rather down, and Bonnie quickly pressed, “Seriously, what’s wrong? I’m worried about you.”

 _“I just…”_ Bonnie heard a heavy sigh from down the line, _“My Dad is here and he kept asking me all these different things and I started to get freaked out and he crowded me and I had a panic attack.”_

Bonnie immediately sat up and threw her bedsheets off. “Do you want me to come and spend the night? You know, just so you have some support?”

 _“You don’t need to do that_ ,” Marceline said, _“Just…talk to me. Say happy things and make me feel better like you always do.”_

Bonnie smiled, albeit a little weakly – it hurt her to hear the shaky, brittleness of Marceline’s voice. “Alright. How about we plan our summer together, yeah? Think about all the awesome things we’re going to do together.”

 _“Okay. Yeah.”_ Marceline’s voice was barely a whisper. She sounded so broken and small and Bonnie just wanted to run right over to her girlfriend’s house and make everything better.

“Alright. We could maybe go camping, if you’re into that stuff. Down by the lakes, or something.” Bonnie suggested, “Sleeping under the stars with my girlfriend sounds rather romantic to me.”

 _“I still feel all funny inside when you call me your girlfriend_.” Marceline admitted. Bonnie could imagine the adorable little blush on Marceline’s cheeks.

“A good funny?” Bonnie asked.

 _“An awesome funny_.” Marceline confirmed, _“Because I get reminded that I have you and I can kiss you whenever I want and that you’re the best person ever.”_

Bonnie felt a real smile tug on her lips; it seemed like Marceline was perking up. “Of course. Sometimes it hits me again that we’re dating and I get all giddy and excited. Plus, we get to go out on dates, too. We should go out to dinner or something.”

 _“I guess we could do that._ ” For some reason, Marceline sounded a lot less enthusiastic.

“Marceline, we can do anything. It doesn’t matter,” Bonnie supplied, “Just as long as I’m with you.”

 _“Yeah. You’re fun to be with_.” Bonnie let out a small sigh – just as Marceline was cheering up, something had made her more pessimistic.

Bonnie was about to change the subject of their conversation, but her bedroom door swung open and Lynn peered around. “Time to go to sleep now, Bonnibel.”

“Okay,” Bonnie said; she really didn’t want to get into a disagreement with her Mom. As Lynn left, she whispered down the phone, “My Mom told me I have to sleep now. Sorry.”

 _“It’s okay_ ,” Marceline sounded dejected, and Bonnie felt horrible.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come round?” She pressed – this was probably her last chance to ask.

 _“Positive_. _I’ll be okay, I’m just a little shaky.”_ Marceline assured.

“Alright. I’ll talk to you when I can.” Bonnie replied, “My phone will be right by my pillow if you need me.”

 _“Thanks, Bonnie. Night.”_ Marceline murmured.

“Goodnight.” Bonnie hung up her phone and – as promised – put it right by her pillow so it would definitely wake her up. She switched her lamp off and settled down in bed, getting herself comfortable.

Her phone rang again, and she quickly picked it up before her Mom could come in and tell her to keep quiet. “Yeah?”

There was a little hesitation down the line, before she heard, _“Can you come round?”_

Bonnie let out a light chuckle. “I’ll go and see if my Mom can drop me off. She might say no, because it _is_ nearly 11PM.”

 _“Alright,”_ Marceline said.

Bonnie kept the phone to her ear as she stood up and crept out of her room, lightly pushing her parents' bedroom door open. Her Mom was in there. “Hey, Mom? I know this is a super big ask and everything, but could you maybe drop me off at Marceline’s? She’s really upset and I don’t want her to be alone.”

Lynn – although initially sending Bonnie an ‘are you kidding me?’ look – nodded as Bonnie finished her sentence. “I guess I could. Have you got your stuff ready?”

Bonnie let out a little squeal in happiness and ran over to hug her Mom. “Thank you, thank you! I’ll quickly go and grab some clothes for the morning and we can set off.”

Bonnie dashed back into her room, saying down the phone, “She said yes! I’ll be ten minutes, maximum.”

 _“Okay. Thanks, Bonnie. I owe you one.”_ Marceline replied.

“You owe me _nothing_.” Bonnie countered, “I’m your girlfriend, I care about you. I’ll see you in a minute.”

“Bye, Bonnie.”

* * *

 

“Why does Marceline need you so much at this time of night?” Lynn questioned as they drove down the road towards Marceline’s house.

“She had a panic attack.” Bonnie explained, “I don’t know why, but it had something to do with her Dad saying some things.”

“I thought her parents were dead?” Lynn said.

Bonnie could see why she thought that – Marceline had told her that her Mom was dead, but she’d never mentioned anything about her Dad to Lynn. “Her Mom is. Her Dad is alive but she doesn’t live with him. Apparently he just focuses on his work. They don’t get on.”

Lynn pulled the car up outside of Marceline’s house, and Bonnie put her hand on the handle of the car door. She turned to thank her Mom for dropping her off, only to see Lynn staring at her, her expression serious. “Listen, Bonnibel…I know that you’re a good girl and you’ve never shown any interest in it before, but…don’t ever let Marceline take advantage of you in a sexual way, and don’t ever do anything you’re not ready for. I -,”

“Mom, Mom, stop,” Bonnie cut her Mom off with a light chuckle, “Marceline and I aren’t going to be doing anything like that. I’m asexual. I don’t have a sex drive whatsoever, and Marceline knows that.”

Lynn looked almost relieved, “Oh…well, even if you two do, make sure it’s 100% consensual and -,”

“Mom.” Bonnie cut in, “I already know. Besides, Marceline would never do anything like that without my permission. I promise. Can I please go?”

“Yes.” Lynn said, “Have a good night, Bonnibel.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Bonnie climbed out of the car and shot her Mom one last smile, before shutting the door behind her and heading over to the front door of Marceline’s house.

She knocked on the door three times in quick succession, hoping Marceline would answer the door speedily – she hadn’t bothered to get out of her pyjamas to come.

The door opened and Bonnie came face to face with a man she didn’t recognise. He had dark hair – similar to Marceline’s, which was neatly combed back and proper, and his eyes were so dark that Bonnie couldn’t tell where his irises ended and where his pupils began. The man was dressed in formal attire – a black business suit with a red tie; the only colour he seemed to be sporting.

He looked her up and down, and Bonnie felt rather uncomfortable under his judgemental stare. He spoke in a monotonous, flat voice, “Can I help you?”

“I…” She struggled to find words under the man’s intense stare, “I’m here to see Marceline.”

The man stepped aside and allowed her to pass through the doorway. Bonnie hurriedly slipped past him and slipped her shoes off.

“She’s upstairs,” The man said. He was staring at her with a curious glint in his dark eyes, “Are you a new friend of hers?”

“Uh…yeah.” Bonnie nodded. She decided not to tell the man that she and Marceline were together – she didn’t know what reaction she would get. “Bonnibel. Pleased to meet you.”

She held out her hand, and the man shook it. Bonnie noticed his firm grip. “Hunson Abadeer. I’m Marceline’s father.”

Bonnie was glad she hadn’t told him about her and Marceline’s relationship; from what she understood, he wasn’t exactly supportive of gay relationships. She slowly edged towards the stairs under his intense look. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” Hunson responded, “If she’s moody, I’m sorry. I simply tried to convince her to come and stay with me for a little while so she can learn a little about the family business, but she started yelling. Very immature.”

Bonnie didn’t comment on that, “I’m going to go see how she is.”

Before Hunson could reply, Bonnie scampered up the stairs and straight into Marceline’s room, closing the door behind her. At the sound of the door shutting, the dark haired girl glanced up from where she was curled up in her bed. A soft smile rested on Marceline’s lips. “Hey.”

Bonnie noticed almost immediately that Marceline’s cheeks were streaked with tears and her eyes were still watery. The pink haired girl sat down on the edge of Marceline’s bed and smiled down at the other girl. Bonnie comfortingly ran her fingers through Marceline’s incredibly soft charcoal hair, pushing it from her face. “Hey. Are you feeling okay?”

Marceline nodded and patted the spot next to her. “Cuddle me.”

Bonnie burrowed herself under the covers and pulled Marceline as close to her as possible. She looked down at her girlfriend and felt her heart break a little – she’d never seen Marceline look so small and broken before. The dark haired girl was curled up, clutching onto Hambo as if he was her lifeline. Her cheeks were still stained with tears, and she was shaking like a drunk.

“Your Dad is kind of intense.” Bonnie commented.

“Tell me about it.” Marceline murmured. “I take it you met him?”

“Yeah, he answered the door.” Bonnie said, “He kind of frightened me. He was all…business-y and seemed sort of… _cold_ , I guess.”

“Yup, that’s him.” Marceline barked out a bitter laugh. “Believe it or not, we actually used to get along before my Mom died.”

“What do you mean?” Bonnie questioned, hastily adding, “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.”

Marceline shook her head. She didn’t know why Bonnie thought she wouldn’t tell her things – they were girlfriends, they weren’t supposed to have secrets. “I trust you. Before she died he wasn’t as…work driven, if you know what I mean. He actually had time for me and Marshall, he used to read us bedtime stories, look after us and he was actually… _there_. I loved him as much as I loved my Mom but after she died and my mental health got all screwy I just turned into a problem he couldn’t solve, so he just gave up. He stopped caring about me and turned to work as a coping mechanism. Ever since then he’s been like you said – cold. He claims he cares about me but if he did he wouldn’t try pressuring me into things.”

“Maybe he cares in his own way.” Bonnie suggested. “Maybe he thinks he’s doing what’s best for you.”

“What the _fuck_?” Marceline sat up and backed away from Bonnie. Her stare was accusing and angry and… _terrifying_. “You’re _defending_ him?”

“No, no, no,” Bonnie held her hands up in defence and calmly – although she was terrified of what an angry Marceline would do to her – continued, “I’m just saying that might be what _he_ thinks. I’m on your side, Marcy. Always.”

“ _Don’t_ lie to me.” Marceline snapped back. “I trusted you and you’re defending him.”

Marceline gritted her teeth, and Bonnie noticed the dark haired girl’s clenched fists. Slowly, Bonnie edged over to Marceline and carefully put her hand over the top of Marceline’s tense ones. Gently, she traced patterns with her thumb over Marceline’s knuckles, and leaned in and pressed her lips to Marceline’s forehead. “Come on, calm down. You’re okay. I’m with you, alright?”

She tentatively brought Marceline’s head to her shoulder and pulled the tense girl in for a careful hug. Although Bonnie was still worried that Marceline would lash out, the fact that she hadn’t already was promising.

“Please leave.” The sound of Marceline’s voice was muffled by Bonnie’s t-shirt. “ _Please_. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Bonnie let go of Marceline and stared deep into the dark haired girl’s eyes. “No. I don’t want you to be left alone and I know you won’t hurt me. You could _never_ do that, and I know it.”

“I can’t control myself when I get mad.” Marceline murmured. “You know that. Leave.”

“I’m not leaving.” Bonnie pulled Marceline close to her again and rubbed comforting circles on the dark haired girl’s back. “I’m going to help you calm down.”

Bonnie carefully laid them down and pulled the blankets of Marceline’s bed over them. She kept one arm around Marceline and fished around under the covers for Hambo. Her hand wrapped around the stuffed toy’s leg and she carefully placed him in Marceline’s arms.

“Thank you.” Marceline breathed. She snuggled closer to Bonnie, despite her previous pleas of being left alone. “How are you doing this?”

“Doing what?” Bonnie questioned, “Calming you down? I don’t know. I just know that you couldn’t hurt me even if you tried and I want to make you feel better.”

“You’re incredible.” Marceline met Bonnie’s gaze and awkwardly smiled. “I’m sorry. I just…overreacted. It sounded like you were siding with my Dad.”

“I wouldn’t side against you. I’m on Team Marceline, you goof.” Bonnie beamed down at her girlfriend.

Marceline pushed herself up in bed and kissed Bonnie. “Thank you for not giving up on me, Bonnie.”

“I can give you 100% assurance that will _never_ happen.” Bonnibel responded, “I care about you, you numbskull.”

“Not sure whether to be _happy_ you care, or offended because you just called me a numbskull.” Marceline looked up and acted like she was thinking hard. “A little bit of both, I think. I care about you too. Bitch.”

Bonnie chuckled and touched her lips to Marceline’s forehead, “Get some sleep, Marcy. I’ll be here all night if you need me.”

“Thanks, dork.” Marceline got herself comfortable, throwing a protective arm over Bonnie, who was holding her. Bonnie shivered a little as Marceline pressed her lips to her neck. “See you in the morning.”

“Goodnight.”

* * *

 

** Saturday 12th July 2014 **

The two girls were jolted awake by Bonnie’s phone ringtone cutting through the relaxing silence. Bonnie shot upright and fumbled around in the bed, trying to find her phone in the darkness of the room.

Groggily, Marceline asked, “Who the fuck is ringing you at this time?”

“I don’t know,” Bonnie responded, pushing the covers off the two of them. “Help me find my phone?”

Marceline groaned and pushed herself up switching her bedroom lamp on. She leaned over Bonnie and grabbed something from the floor. Quickly, Marceline answered the call and passed the phone to Bonnie. “There.”

The dark haired girl sat back against the headboard of her bed and watched as Bonnie spoke. “Hello?”

 _“Bubblegum?”_ It was Jake on the other line. He didn’t sound as upbeat and relaxed as he usually did – in fact, Bonnie could hear fear and worry in his voice. _“Thank god, we need your help.”_

Although Bonnie didn’t know if she wanted to hear what Jake had to say, she kept listening. Marceline had her eyes trained on Bonnie, watching as the pink haired girl seemed to grow more and more concerned. “What’s wrong?”

Marceline couldn’t hear what Jake said next, but as Bonnie’s expression dissolved into something of sheer terror and fright, she didn’t particularly want to know. With tears threatening to spill and a crack in her voice, Bonnie shakily put the phone in her lap and turned to Marceline.

“Finn is missing.”


	36. thirty-six.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie go looking for finn.

**Saturday 12th July 2014**

" _What_?" Marceline questioned as Bonnie threw herself into Marceline's arms. Stunned, the dark haired girl rubbed comforting circles on Bonnie's back, kissing the pink haired girl on the top of her head. "Finn is _missing?_ "

Bonnie nodded into Marceline's shoulder. "Yes."

Marceline squeezed Bonnie tightly. She felt a lump form in her throat, and she bit on her lip and promised herself she wouldn't get upset, too. As much as she actually _liked_ Finn, she was going to stay strong for Bonnie – the pink haired girl needed that.

Marceline grabbed Bonnie's phone, which had been discarded as Bonnie had launched herself at Marceline. She put the phone to her ear and questioned, "Jake, you still there?"

" _Hello?"_ Jake sounded so broken and Marceline felt even worse. _"Who is this?"_

"It's Marceline. Bonnie's…uh…well, you know…kind of shaken up about everything." Marceline awkwardly replied, "Were you…did you want her for anything else or did you just need to tell her that?"

" _Well…Lady and I are going out to look for him,"_ Jake slowly responded, _"We called around everyone and Bubblegum was the first person to pick up_. _We were seeing if anybody else could help look for him."_

"Alright, we'll get dressed and look around." Marceline said, shooting a comforting smile down at Bonnie who looked up at her in surprise. "Any particular places you think he'd be?"

" _I…you'd seriously help us?"_ Jake sounded shocked, and Marceline couldn't refrain from rolling her eyes.

"Dude. This is not the time for 'oh you're actually nice'," Marceline said, before repeating, "Where do you think he'd be?"

" _The last time anyone saw him was this afternoon near Fionna's place. Bubblegum knows where that is."_ His voice was speeding up now. " _We've checked near all of our friend's houses and we're heading to his Dad's now."_

"Okay. We'll set off in a few." Marceline replied. "Are there any places he frequently visits? You know, in case he stopped by on his way home and then got side-tracked?"

" _I…uh, the arcade, maybe the store? I don't know, I can't think,"_ Jake was growing more and more frustrated, _"I'm passing you onto Lady."_

Bonnie moved off of Marceline and made her way over to her bag. The pink haired girl pulled out some clothes and began changing while Marceline kept her focus on the phone. "Lady?"

" _Hey, Marceline. You know your way around pretty well, right?"_ Lady asked, _"Just check places Finn might've cut through on his way home. Shortcuts and stuff."_

Marceline nodded. "Okay. Keep us posted if you find anything."

" _You too. Thanks for this."_ Lady said, before the phone went dead and Marceline stood up, walking towards her closet.

Marceline quickly pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans, and Bonnie anxiously perched herself on the edge of the bed. "What time is it?"

"Uh," Marceline paused as she pulled on her grey cat sweater. She glanced over at her dusty alarm clock – she hadn't touched the thing for years. "2:45AM," She responded, noticing how Bonnie's cheeks were glistening with wetness from crying, "Hey, we'll find him. Don't worry."

"How are you so calm about this?" Bonnie whispered, grabbing onto Marceline's hand as she dark haired girl pulled her bedroom door open.

Marceline raised an eyebrow. "I'm not. I'm upset too, I'm just trying to keep it together because I don't want to make it any harder for you."

Bonnie pushed herself up on her tiptoes and kissed Marceline. "Thank you."

"It's fine." Marceline assured as she led them down the stairs.

Bonnie stopped Marceline as the dark haired girl was tugging her shoes on. "Aren't you going to get your brother up?"

"He's at Gumball's." Marceline quickly responded. She grabbed her car keys from the side and checked her pockets to confirm she had her phone with her. "Okay. Let's go and find him."

Bonnibel nodded and rubbed her eyes – her sight was blurred by tears, but she tried her best to hold them back. She needed to be able to see to find Finn.

They left the house and jumped into Marceline's car. The car was jolted to life as Marceline quickly rammed the keys in and started it up, pulling out of the driveway and heading down the road. Bonnie noticed Marceline was careful to drive safely, although she was nearly pushing the speed limit.

"Where are we going first?" Bonnie asked, sniffling.

Marceline's right hand left the steering wheel and found Bonnie's, squeezing it. "The park. He could've cut through there from your friend's house to get home or something."

Bonnie nodded, wiping her eyes with the back of her free hand. "Okay. Have you got a flashlight?"

"There's one on my phone." Marceline replied, "And I have one in the side pocket of that door," Marceline nodded to the passenger side door.

Bonnie delved her hand into the pocket and pulled out a medium sized flashlight, flicking the light on. It worked. She turned it off but kept it in her hand. "Alright."

A thick, depressing silence fell over the car. Without the hum of other vehicles driving by and the sound of any other life, everything seemed heavier. Bonnie started to sniffle again and Marceline had to clench her jaw to keep herself together.

Eventually, the dark haired girl snapped and pressed her thumb down hard on the CD button. A soft, acoustic guitar began playing and Marceline noticed how Bonnie's sniffling quietened. "What song is this?"

"Missing You by All Time Low." Marceline said. Awkwardly, she bit on her lip before adding, "It's a cover Keila and I did a few weeks ago."

Bonnie finally understood why Marceline loved music as much as she did. In a situation like this, it was so comforting and relaxing and somehow made Bonnibel feel a little better about the whole thing. Especially when the vocals kicked in and Marceline began humming along.

Bonnie laid her head back and closed her eyes, trying not to think about Finn.

_Just focus on the music, Bonnie,_ Bonnibel told herself, _everything will be okay_.

* * *

They pulled up as close to the park as they could, and Marceline pulled her phone from her pocket and switched the torch on. She got out of the car and Bonnie did the same, flicking her flashlight on.

Bonnibel found Marceline's hand as they walked towards the park – she couldn't help being a little frightened. The way the moonlight illuminated the thin mist and the dark outline of the trees made the park look just like a scene from a horror movie. It didn't help that the swings were creaking as the light breeze pushed them back and forth.

Marceline picked up on Bonnie's apprehensiveness. "Hey, don't worry. It's just the park. You'll be okay."

"It just looks so…scary at night." Bonnie murmured, before she gulped and gripped tighter to Marceline's hand. "No. I'm sorry, I'm being childish, I -,"

"It's okay, Bonnie." Marceline said as she shone her flashlight towards a clump of bushes. "Besides, pretty much everyone in this fucking town is afraid of me, so if someone attacks us I'll just pull out some scary threats and we'll be okay."

"What if they try and fight you?" Bonnibel asked, looking through the trees beside the park and shining her torch through any gaps big enough for a person.

"Then I'd probably run away screaming, but you know…" Marceline shrugged as she pushed back a few branches so Bonnie could get a better view. "Let's just hope they don't."

Bonnibel's torch light ended up directed at the ground, and she looked up to Marceline with wide, scared eyes. "Do you think we'll find him?"

"It's a small town, Bonnie -," Marceline began.

Bonnie cut her off with a shake of her head. "Honestly. Do you _genuinely_ believe we have a chance of finding him before something horrible happens?"

Marceline led them further along the path, shining her flashlight towards any possible places someone could be stuck. "Honestly? I don't know, Bonnie. I mean, we don't even know where to look."

Bonnie felt tears pricking at her eyes, and she furiously wiped at them with the back of her sleeve. "Oh. Okay."

Marceline felt her throat close over at how shaky Bonnie's speech had become. " _But_ , it _is_ a small town. There's only two or three shortcuts he could've taken, and Lady and Jake are out looking for him too. If we're negative about it, we might as well give up and go home. We'll try our best, Bonnie."

Bonnie nodded, squeezing onto Marceline's hand. "I don't think he'd come here from Fionna's. She lives near the store, if there are any shortcuts around there he might've gone down."

Marceline hummed in agreement, but kept walking them down the pathway until they were past the park, taking one last look in bushes around the area. Eventually, the dark haired girl shook her head. "He's not here. Let's go."

Bonnie followed Marceline back to the car, and they climbed in. As Marceline started up the car, her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out, frowning. She had a message from an unknown number.

_**Unknown (3:17AM): Any luck?** _

Marceline turned to Bonnibel and showed her the message. "Do you know this number?"

"I think it's Lady." Bonnie said, reading over the number a second time to make sure. "Yeah, fairly certain it's Lady."

Marceline nodded, texting back.

_**Marceline (3:18AM): is this Lady?** _

_**Marceline (3:18AM): and no none so far, we've checked the park and we're going to go around the store in case he stopped there** _

_**Lady (3:18AM): Yeah, it is. We're near his Dad's place now + Jake pulled over to call Gumball to see if he can help look** _

_**Marceline (3:19AM): let us know if you find anything** _

_**Lady (3:19AM): We will** _

Marceline put her phone back in her pocket and pulled out of their parking space, driving down the road. "You want the music back on?"

Bonnie looked up in surprise, before nodding. Marceline could tell she was on the edge of tears and rightfully so – if she didn't want to keep herself together for Bonnie, she'd probably be crying too. Believe it or not, she actually liked Finn and the thought of him missing upset her.

Marceline pushed the CD button and the disk she and Keila had compiled came on again. Normally, she wouldn't listen to herself unless she was just checking her music over, but it seemed to be making Bonnie feel better.

"Is everything on this disk you?" Bonnie asked.

"And Keila." Marceline added. "Yeah. We made a cover disk. Nothing big."

Bonnie shot her a smile – although it was weak and watery, Marceline was comforted; it showed Bonnie wasn't feeling as hopeless as before. "I think it's great. Especially now."

"Thanks." Marceline hesitated, before adding, "We'll find him, Bonnie."

Although Bonnie knew Marceline couldn't guarantee it, she nodded. "Yeah, we will."

* * *

Marceline switched the car headlights off as they pulled up outside the store. The lights were on inside – the store was open 24 hours, although Marceline didn't think anyone really went in past midnight.

Bonnie was the one to get out of the car first, frowning at the empty parking lot. "Everything is so…lonely."

Marceline bit on her lip to conceal a sad smile, and felt tears prick at her eyes. _Yeah, Bonnie. Perfect metaphor for how I feel sometimes – an empty parking lot,_ she thought. "Let's go inside and ask whoever is at the desk if Finn came in at all. After that we'll look around outside, even though there's not really anywhere to look."

An icy gust of wind cut through the start of Bonnie's sentence, "is there?" was all Marceline caught.

"Huh?" The dark haired girl leaned closer to Bonnie.

"What are you going to do if Ash is there?" Bonnie repeated.

"I guess I'll just have to suck it up and ask." Marceline shrugged, taking Bonnie's hand. Even though the thought of dealing with Ash was the _last_ thing Marceline needed, she would handle it.

_For Bonnie_ , Marceline told herself, _do it for Bonnie_.

Bonnie was the one to push open the doors and walk in first, shooting Marceline a warning look when it _was_ Ash stood at the cash register, his stupid face wearing that _annoying fucking smirk_ that Marceline just wanted to punch right off.

"Abadeer." Ash greeted her. The smirk still hadn't left his face. "What brings you here? Come crawling back to me, huh?"

"Go fuck yourself, asshole." Marceline snapped. Bonnie shot her a pleading look, to which Marceline responded with a resigned sigh. Turning back to Ash, she said, "Look, we need to know if a kid came by here today."

"Lots of kids come by here. Why should I pay attention to a certain one?" Ash was just trying to piss her off, and Marceline clenched her jaw and gripped tighter to Bonnie's hand in the hopes that she wouldn't do something stupid. "Oh, did you get knocked up or something and lose your kid? Of _course_ you did. Whore."

_Alright, that's it._ Marceline went to punch him, but Bonnie kept a tight grip on the dark haired girl's hand. She looked towards Bonnie and the other girl stared at her with her innocent blue eyes, and Marceline felt the anger inside her melt away. "Just answer the fucking question, dickhead."

"What's in it for me?" Ash cockily raised an eyebrow and nonchalantly leaned against the counter.

"I'll spare you a kick in the teeth."

Bonnie was growing more and more frustrated – they weren't getting anywhere with this. She stopped Marceline and calmly responded, "Look, if you don't answer quickly, our friend might die. Nobody knows where he is and he's been missing for hours – the police won't do anything because it's too soon. Have you seen a blond boy with a white bear hat at all today?"

Ash sent her a malicious smile. "I might've."

Marceline turned to her, a hopeless look etched across her face. "Can I hit him now?"

"Go ahead."

With that, Marceline grabbed hold of the collar of Ash's shirt, and shot him a terrifying glare which Bonnie had forgotten she was capable of. "I'm going to ask you one more time," Marceline's voice was soft but much more threatening than her shouting, "Have you seen a kid with a white bear hat come by here?"

Bonnie smirked when Ash gulped – she wasn't going to lie, it made her feel much better seeing an asshole like him being put in his place.

"You don't scare me, Abadeer." Ash pulled away from Marceline's grasp and sent her a filthy look.

Marceline just rolled her eyes and gave it one last chance. "Are you going to answer the question or not?"

"No."

Marceline turned to Bonnie. "Come on. Let's leave this asshole to jerk off to the porno magazines behind the counter."

Ash scoffed. "Says the girl who's fucked everyone."

"Not you, though."

With that, Marceline stalked out of the store with Bonnie following closely behind. As they walked out into the cool breeze, Bonnie found Marceline's hand and sent her girlfriend a reassuring smile. She boosted herself up on her tiptoes and kissed Marceline. "I'm proud of you for dealing with him. It sucks he didn't answer, though. It might've saved time."

Bonnie was the one to take the lead after that, and pulled Marceline towards the car. They were nearly there when they heard a voice behind them.

"Hey, wait!"

Both girls spun around to see Ash jogging out of the store. Marceline's expression soured, whereas Bonnie just looked surprised.

The pink haired girl was the one to speak. "What are you doing?"

"You said this kid might die, right?" Ash's gaze flicked between Marceline and Bonnibel; he scowled back when he met Marceline's gaze.

Bonnibel shrugged, her heart breaking at the thought. Her eyes started to water again, and she gulped back a sob, "I don't know."

Ash glared at Marceline, before saying, "I'm not doing this for you, Abadeer. I still hate you."

"Likewise." Marceline snapped. "You saw Finn?"

"He came in at around 7ish." Ash said, "Bought a few candy bars. Looked kind of annoyed."

Bonnibel sent him a grateful – albeit awkward – smile. "Thank you."

Marceline held her glare, and Bonnibel didn't blame her. She knew how much Marceline hated Ash. "Why are you even helping? I thought your conscience was as tiny as your dick."

"As much as I hope you'll follow in Mommy's footsteps and off yourself -,"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. Before Bonnie could hold her back, Marceline had kicked him in the crotch. "Shut the _fuck_ up. Don't you _dare_ talk about my Mom like that."

Marceline stalked back to the car, and Bonnibel quickly followed behind her. Marceline jumped in the car and slammed the door, resting her head on the steering wheel. As Bonnie sat down, Marceline looked up and said, "Please stop me from running him over as we leave."

"Okay, I will." Bonnie sent Marceline a little smile. "Hey, we got what we wanted – apparently he came by here earlier. Now we've just got to think about where he might've gone from here."

"He looked annoyed," Marceline murmured to herself, "Do you know what he might've done to take his mind off of things?"

Marceline saw a spark of realisation in Bonnie's bright blue eyes, and the pink haired girl turned to her as if she'd just figured out the secrets of the universe. "The arcade!"

"It's closed now." Marceline pointed out, feeling a little bad when Bonnie deflated, "Hey, it's still a good idea. We can check around and look for any signs of him having gone there."

Bonnie nodded, the corners of her mouth twitching up into a half-hearted smile – a far cry from her expression before. "Okay. I just don't want to waste time we don't have."

"We won't be wasting time." Marceline assured. "It's a good plan. I mean, where else would he go to let off some steam?"

The dark haired girl started the car up and pulled out of the parking lot, driving them down the road. Bonnibel sighed and leaned back as far as she could go on her seat. "Marcy?"

"Mhm?" Marceline hummed in acknowledgement.

"Thank you." Bonnie murmured. "You don't know how much it means to me that you'd do something like this for one of my friends."

"You're my girlfriend, dude." Marceline nonchalantly shrugged. "I care about you and you needed me. Besides, you know I like Finn. I'd help even if you weren't my girlfriend."

Bonnibel smiled and reached over, putting her warm hand on Marceline's cold one. "Thank you. You really are great, you know."

"I'll never get tired of hearing you say that."

* * *

They jumped out of the car around the corner from the arcade, and Marceline immediately jogged towards a little alleyway down the side of the arcade. As Marceline disappeared, Bonnibel tensed up and spun around in an attempt to shine her light in the area.

The arcade was cut off from the rest of town; someone could easily jump out and abduct her and –

"Hey," Marceline reappeared by her side, her breathing a little ragged, "There's no sign that he came here and that's the only place he could've gone down unless he went into town, and even with my reputation I wouldn't want to go walking down town at night – too many drunk old guys coming out of bars and clubs."

Bonnie nodded. "Well, where else could he be?"

"You're the one who's his friend here, Bonnie." Marceline shrugged hopelessly, placing a hand on the small of Bonnie's back to steer her back to the car.

"You're his friend, too. I know you like to detach yourself from my friends because you're too cool or whatever, but he likes you, and you _did_ say earlier that you like him." Bonnie said, climbing back in the car.

Marceline was about to reply, but her phone began buzzing in her hand and she looked down to see Lady calling. She put it on speaker and said, "Hello?"

" _Hey. We got in contact with Fionna and she's coming out to help us look. We couldn't get hold of Gumball and we tried Marshall but he didn't answer either. She knows you guys are looking and I gave her your number."_ Lady explained. Before Marceline could get a word in, Lady continued, " _He was at Fionna's earlier – everyone was hanging out for movie day. Apparently he had something on his mind all day and he left early to go home and clear his head. Do you guys have any idea where he might've gone?"_

"We just checked around the arcade but we don't really know where else to go." Bonnie explained. "Where are you guys?"

" _Driving near Fionna's house – we're going to pick her up so she can help us."_ Lady explained, _"Let us know if you find anything else."_

From Lady's tone, Marceline could tell the blonde was becoming desperate. "Alright. And Lady? We'll find him. It'll be okay."

" _Thanks, Marceline_." Lady replied. _"I'll call you back in a little while to check up. Bye."_

"Bye." Bonnie said.

Marceline hung up, tucking her phone back in her pocket. Marceline's hands gripped onto the steering wheel and she looked to Bonnie. "Where to?"

"I don't know." Bonnie let out an exasperated, hopeless sigh. "Where would you go to clear your head? God, we're _never_ going to find him!"

"Clear my head…" Marceline murmured, before she realised something and sat up, jolting life into the car and driving down the road, pushing the speed limit. "I know where to go."

* * *

Marceline drove them further than Bonnie thought they could go and still be in town, until they pulled up at the bottom of a hill. There were small barriers which made it impossible for Marceline to drive up, and the dark haired girl shut off the car and turned to Bonnie.

"What're we doing here?" Bonnie looked around, trying to see what was up ahead but all she could see was darkness as the slope above her ascended – the rest of her surroundings were concealed by trees. "This looks like somewhere you'd dump a body."

"Up there," Marceline paused to point towards the hill, "Is where I go to think. Clear my head and stuff."

Bonnibel nodded and watched as Marceline climbed out of the car before getting out herself. She found Marceline's hand as they trekked up the slope together, her grip tensing as they came closer and closer to the top – she didn't know what she'd find up there.

She didn't expect what she actually saw. It was a cliff, with a few benches around five metres away from the edge. As Bonnie approached the middle bench, she was met with the sight of the entire town. To her right, she could see the school building – all the lights were shut off, as they probably would stay for the next two months – the store was still brightly lit, however the parking lot was still as deserted as it was when Bonnie and Marceline had been there a little while ago. The centre of town was the brightest; although storefronts weren't lit up, the outside of the few clubs and bars the town had were.

Bonnibel looked for the neighbourhood area and smiled as she spotted her road – two of the houses on the road had their lights on, however everywhere else was seemingly sleeping. It was surprisingly comforting.

Bonnie's heart jumped to her throat when she saw Marceline approach the edge. "Marcy, _get back_."

Marceline held a hand up in reassurance but continued to tentatively lean forward. "I'm fine. I just need to check something."

"Marceline, _please_ come back here." Bonnie begged. She was terrified her girlfriend might fall – so terrified that she was paralysed in fear; she was afraid that if she moved, she may cause a breeze that would knock Marceline off the edge.

"It's o – _whoa,"_ Marceline stumbled a little and Bonnie let out a little scream. Thankfully, the dark haired girl found her footing and knelt down, looking over the edge.

"Marcy, I'm begging you, please come back -,"

"Bonnie." Marceline sounded like she'd just heard the worst news in the world. "Could you pass me your torch?"

Slowly, Bonnie approached the edge and pressed her flashlight into Marceline's hands before quickly stepping back a few paces – heights made her a little uneasy.

Bonnie heard Marceline mutter, "Fuck," under her breath, before the dark haired girl slowly rose to her feet. "Call 911. Now."

Bonnie held her hands out for Marceline's car keys, and the dark haired girl threw them to her, finally stepping away from the edge; Bonnie felt a lot less unsettled, although she knew she'd be hearing bad news. "Is he…?"

"Yeah. He's down there." Marceline said – she sounded...unnerved. "Is your phone in the car?"

"Yes." Bonnie nodded. She felt her throat closing over and her mouth went dry. "Is he…" The last word came out as barely a whisper, "Dead?"

"I don't…" Marceline trailed off, quietly adding, "I can't tell. Just…call 911. I'll let Lady and the others know we've found him."

Bonnie nodded and sprinted towards the slope back to the car. As she ran, she felt salty tears rolling down her cheeks and she had to bring her sleeve up to her eyes every few seconds to stop her vision being blurred. Finn couldn't die. He just _couldn't._

* * *

Bonnie's head was pounding, and the red and blue ambulance lights blinding her weren't exactly helping. She had excused herself to the car as a shaky Marceline explained to the paramedics what had happened – Jake, Lady and Fionna were on their way up. Bonnie didn't know the rest; she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

She kept glancing up at the clock; seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. She just wanted to know if Finn was going to be alright.

Bonnie laid back as far as she could in the seat of the car, closing her eyes. _Just relax, Bonnibel,_ she told herself, _don't overthink things. Finn will be fine._

A gust of cold air hit her, and she opened her eyes to see Marceline sitting down in the driver's seat. Her eyes were bloodshot and although Bonnie knew she wouldn't admit it, she'd been crying. Bonnie sat up, shooting Marceline a hopeful look. "Well?"

Marceline pushed her hair from her face before answering. "I…it's too soon to tell if he's going to be okay. They think he fell over the edge and got knocked out on the way down."

"How is he not…you know." Bonnie murmured; she didn't want to say the word out loud.

"He got stuck between some rocks about 6 or seven feet down. They said if he'd have fallen a different way, he'd have been killed by the fall. He's breathing, but like I said, unconscious."

"Is that everything?" Bonnie asked. _Please be everything._

"Not quite," Marceline began slowly, "His right arm got carved up pretty bad. They said they might need to amputate it."

Bonnie couldn't stop herself. She broke. She let all of the pent-up emotions of the night out and just sobbed.

She felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her and her head was guided to Marceline's shoulder. Hiding her face in her girlfriend's neck, she took in Marceline's comfortable scent, trying to put herself back together again. Marceline rubbed comforting circles on Bonnie's back and murmured, "It's okay, Bonnie. Let it out and then we'll go home and get some sleep. Jake is going up to the hospital with Finn."

Bonnibel nodded and sat up, staring up at Marceline with wide, teary eyes. She was about to speak, when Marceline kissed Bonnie with such tenderness that made the pink haired girl melt. As they broke apart, Marceline said, "Try your best not to worry, Bonnie. Everything will work out."

Bonnibel wrapped her arms around Marceline and squeezed her tightly. "Thanks. Now come on," She murmured, pausing to kiss Marceline's cheek, "Let's go get some sleep."

Marceline slowly brought her thumb across Bonnie's cheek, wiping away any stray tears, before nodding. "Yeah. Let's go."

Bonnie didn't even make it back to Marceline's without falling asleep.

Marceline didn't blame her.


	37. thirty-seven.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie and marceline visit finn at the hospital

**Friday 18** **th** **July 2014**

"It's nearly been a _week_ and we still haven't heard anything about Finn." Bonnie paced back and forth beside her bed as Marceline softly picked at notes on her Dad's guitar.

"Relax, man. Jake and Lady will call you soon." Marceline assured. "They said they would."

"Yeah, _soon_." Bonnie emphasised, flopping down on her bed and laying out on Marceline's lap. She looked up at her girlfriend and sighed. "I'd hardly say a week is soon."

Marceline put the guitar to one side and her fingers weaved in and out of Bonnie's pink hair. "They're probably busy with all of the medical stuff. They'll call you when everything is less…hectic, probably."

Bonnie's gaze flicked up to Marceline and she let out a heavy breath. "I just…it's horrible, not knowing. He's my friend. I mean, if it was say…Keila in the hospital, you'd be super nervous waiting for news."

"If it was Keila in the hospital, I'd move into the waiting room." Marceline shot back. "She's practically my sister, Bonnie. Besides, I like Finn too. I know how you're feeling."

"Really? Because you're not acting like it." Bonnie snapped back. At the mixture of hurt and surprise in Marceline's crimson eyes, she relaxed and murmured, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

Marceline just hummed in acknowledgement of the apology and shifted uncomfortably. "Okay."

"Hey," Bonnie shuffled forwards and grabbed Marceline's calloused fingers, fiddling with them, "I'm sorry. I'm just stressed out; all this waiting has got me going crazy. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"Okay."

Bonnie frowned – the repeated answer didn't sit well with her. "You're mad at me."

"I'm not mad." Marceline quietly replied. Bonnie opened her mouth to object, but Marceline continued, "I'm just kind of… _annoyed_ , I guess. I mean," Bonnie watched as Marceline picked at a loose thread on Bonnie's duvet, "I've been trying to stay calm and everything for you, and then you tell me off for it."

"I _know_ that." Bonnie was quick to reply, squeezing Marceline's hand tightly. "Please don't break up with me, I'm sorry for -,"

Bonnie was stunned when Marceline interrupted her with a laugh. The dark haired girl laughed so hard that she ended up doubled over in the bed, laughing into her lap, which was covered in Bonnie's pink duvet.

Bonnibel sat back against the wall, a confused expression on her face, as Marceline had a fit of laughter next to her, wheezing out, "Oh my God!" between breaths.

"What's so funny?" Bonnie's perplexed, innocent tone of voice provoked more laughter.

"You seriously…" Marceline sat up, and upon making eye contact with her girlfriend, fought back another bout of laughter, "You _genuinely_ thought I'd break up with you over something like that? You are _so_ cute."

"Well…I mean, I…" Bonnie couldn't think of a good enough argument to justify her thoughts, "I guess I just jumped to the worst case scenario because you were annoyed with me."

Marceline waved a hand in dismissal, a light chuckle escaping her. "Hey, forgive and forget, right? It's all good. You're stressed out; I shouldn't hold you to things you say."

With that, Marceline held out her arms and Bonnibel fell back so that Marceline was holding her as the dark haired girl traced comforting patterns on her upper arm with her fingers.

Bonnie decided she really liked Marceline's hands.

Of course, she liked the rest of Marceline too, but she loved how her hands fit together perfectly with Bonnie's like a piece of a puzzle. Marceline's calloused fingers never failed to remind Bonnie that these hands were capable of making the most beautiful music imaginable. Bonnie loved Marceline's gentle touch tracing patterns along the skin of her arms as they cuddled, as they were doing now.

Bonnibel adored how Marceline's hands could make such beautiful things, and yet she chose to grace Bonnie with her touch. Of course Bonnibel liked all of Marceline.

But she _really_ liked her hands.

"Thank you." Bonnibel whispered into Marceline's neck, softly pressing her lips to the other girl's pale skin.

Marceline looked down at her with a frown. "For what?"

"For being…I don't know, really chill about things, I guess." Bonnie murmured. "It _has_ helped a lot, and I know I'm not exactly the most relaxed person on the planet, but just…thanks for helping, okay?"

"Don't get all sappy on me, Bonnie." Marceline feigned disgust and shuffled away from her girlfriend on the bed, "I might puke."

"Hey, don't act like you're not a sappy hopeless romantic." Bonnie teased, leaning in close to Marceline and continuing, "Ooh, Bonnie, you're so awesome I've had a huge nerdy crush on you this entire time, mm kiss me!"

At Bonnie's teasing, Marceline crinkled her nose in repugnance and pushed the pink haired girl off her. "Fuck off. I do _not_ sound like that."

"You so _do_." Bonnie giggled. "And you call _me_ sappy."

Marceline just rolled her eyes and scowled in annoyance. "Remind me _again_ why I like you."

"Because I'm 'rad'." Bonnie teased, kissing Marceline's cheek.

Marceline pursed her lips and shot Bonnie a faux look of irritation. "I _will_ break up with you if you don't shut up. Dork."

Bonnibel sent Marceline an eye roll and cuddled up to Marceline again. "Your threats stopped scaring me a _long_ time ago, Marcy. And _before_ you make some silly remark about how you'll 'bop me one', I need to ask you something."

Marceline smiled, "Shoot."

"Well…you know how my Aunt Susan and Gracie were here last month?" Bonnie paused for Marceline to nod in confirmation. "Well, my Aunt has been engaged for two years and the wedding is in August. She told me I can bring you as a date if I wanted to, so…"

Marceline smirked. Bonnie sighed; she knew that smirk. _That_ was the smirk Marceline wore when she was planning on being difficult. "That wasn't a question, _princess_."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and let a heavy breath of air out of her nose. "Will you be my date to my Aunt's wedding?"

Marceline's smirk broke into a real smile, then, and Bonnie felt her breath catch in her throat. Marceline found Bonnie's hand and gave it a tight squeeze. She wasn't going to lie; Bonnie's invite had meant a lot. "Sure I will."

"You will?" Bonnie's eyes widened a little in surprise; she'd suspected Marceline would just laugh at her and decline. "I didn't think you'd be the sort to go to weddings."

"Yeah? Well -," Marceline was cut off by the shrill sound of Bonnie's phone ringtone, which the pink haired girl had _clearly_ put on the loudest setting possible.

Bonnie almost launched herself off the bed to grab her phone from her desk, answering the call without even glancing at the caller ID. "Hello?"

" _Bubblegum?"_ It was Jake's voice down the line, " _Hey! I'm sorry we haven't called sooner, everything has just been kind of wild and intense since last week."_

Bonnie allowed herself to send Marceline a small smile – the dark haired girl had been right. "It's fine, Jake. Any news?"

" _Well, Finn has been moved from intensive care to a general ward, and they're allowing visitors that aren't family if you two want to come down and see him. He's awake."_ Jake explained.

"Uh…you two?" Bonnie questioned his choice of wording.

She could _feel_ his eye roll through the phone. " _I know you're with Marceline."_

Bonnie let out a guilty laugh and shrugged. "Yeah, I'm with her, but that's not the point of this conversation. How is Finn?"

" _He's…better than most kids would be after what happened."_ Jake let out a lengthy breath of air, _"He's pretty devastated because they...they had to amputate his right arm. Aside from that, he's fine."_

Bonnie nodded – she'd already known that might've been a possibility, although that didn't stop the little stab of worry in her chest. "Okay. We'll come up when we can, but Marcy is still in her pyjamas so it might take a while to coax her out of bed."

" _Alright, Lady and I will be up here all day so we'll see you guys when you come."_ Jake said.

"Okay, bye." Bonnie hung up the phone and put it down on her desk, turning to Marceline. "We can go up and see Finn."

"How is he?" Marceline asked. She made no move to get out of bed. Typical.

"He's okay. They had to amputate his arm." Bonnie said, "But aside from that he's okay."

Marceline nodded; she figured the kid would be pretty upset when they went up there. "Okay. Well, when do you want to go up and see him?"

"As soon as possible, preferably." Bonnie said. Marceline didn't move an inch. "Which means _now_."

Marceline arched an eyebrow and looked to Bonnie, a confused expression on her face – which Bonnie found absolutely adorable. "You want me to come with?"

"You were the one who found him. Of course." Bonnie said. "Without you, I don't know what would've happened to him."

Marceline awkwardly scratched the back of her neck and shrugged. "I mean, it's no big deal, but -,"

" _Marcy,_ shut up." Bonnie interrupted, rolling her eyes. "You virtually saved his life. It _is_ a big deal. Don't be all awkward about it."

"I…awkward is like, my middle name." Marceline rolled her eyes and pushed herself out of bed, heading towards her backpack which she'd left on the floor. "Besides, if it wasn't for you I'd never have even _talked_ to the kid."

Bonnie just shrugged and attempted to avert her gaze as Marceline got dressed. "If it wasn't for you being able to drive we wouldn't have been able to go out to look. There are a lot of factors, but when it comes down to it, you found him."

Marceline shrugged her comment off as she pulled her shirt on. "Whatever. Let's go."

"You haven't even brushed your hair." Bonnie pointed out.

Marceline pulled a hair tie from her wrist and tied her hair up. Bonnie pouted a little – she _still_ looked flawless. "There. Let's go."

* * *

Bonnibel found Marceline's hand as they made their way into the hospital upon noticing how tense her girlfriend was. "It's going to be okay."

Marceline seemingly snapped out of a trance and nodded. "Yeah. I just don't like hospitals."

"Why not?"

"They give me bad vibes." Marceline shrugged, "I mean, I spent a lot of time in a doctor's office as a kid. It just makes me kind of uncomfortable."

"Why did you spend a lot of time at the doctor's?" Bonnie frowned. She couldn't recall Marceline ever telling her that.

"Therapy for my panic disorder," Marceline admitted, "My Dad wouldn't let me go at first and it made me like, ten times worse."

"What do you mean?" Bonnie questioned.

"Well, when I first got diagnosed with panic disorder he basically refused to let me get any help in any way and just sort of figured it'd work itself out." Marceline explained. "Like, the doctor would offer medication to stop my panic attacks and he'd refuse, and it wasn't until about a year after my Mom died he let me actually get help for it."

"Oh. Okay." Bonnie nodded and squeezed Marceline's hand. "Well, if you get uncomfortable, I'll come outside with you."

"Thanks." Marceline replied, shooting Bonnie an awkward smile.

Lady met them in the main entrance of the hospital, smiling at them both. "Hey, guys. I'll take you to his room if you want to see him straight away. Jake's up there now."

"Okay." Bonnie smiled. "How is he doing with the whole arm thing?"

"He's reacting better than most people would, but he's still pretty upset about it." Lady explained as they made their way up a flight of stairs. "He should be happy to see you guys. How come you didn't bring Marshall?"

Marceline looked up and saw that Lady was staring at her expectantly. "Oh…uh, we were at Bonnie's place. I stayed the night there."

Lady smirked, "Stayed the night. Right."

Bonnie frowned and looked over at Marceline, who was rolling her eyes at Lady's comment. "What's so bad about that?"

Marceline shot her a look of pure adoration. "You are _so_ cute."

"What? I didn't do anything." Bonnie persisted, "What's so bad about Marceline spending the night?"

"Well, when couples usually spend the night together, it's because they're…you know…" Lady trailed off and allowed Bonnie to fill in the gaps.

Bonnibel shot her friend an incredulous look and vigorously shook her head. "Oh, no, we didn't do _that_!"

Lady couldn't stop herself from laughing – Marceline let out a little snicker before composing herself. "I can't believe it took you that long to get what I implied."

"I…I don't know how to react to that." Bonnie murmured. "I'm asexual, see. We won't be doing that."

Lady seemed a little taken aback, but didn't comment. Instead, Marceline spoke up. "So…how long is the walk to Finn, exactly?"

"He's just through here," Lady said, pushing open the doors to the ward Finn was in and walking them over to a different door.

Through a little glass window, Bonnie could see Finn on his bed and Jake sat in one of the two visitor's chairs on Finn's left. "He got his own room?"

"Yeah." Lady said. She held open the door and allowed Marceline and Bonnibel to pass through, before turning to Jake and motioning outside. "Come on, Jake."

He stood up and shot both girls a smile in greeting, before following Lady out of the room and leaving Bonnie and Marceline with Finn.

Bonnibel was the first to sit down, before she patted the seat next to her and stared up at Marceline. The dark haired girl sat and awkwardly played with her fingers. Bonnie was the one to speak up first. "How are you doing, Finn?"

He shuffled in the bed, shrugging his shoulders. "I could be better. Jake told me about everything you guys did. Thank you."

Bonnie saw his gaze flick over to Marceline, whose gaze was firmly directed to the floor. She decided she'd give Marceline and Finn some alone time. "I'm just going to quickly run and get some water. Do you guys want anything?"

Marceline looked up with wide eyes, "I'll come with you."

"No, I'll be fine on my own. You keep Finn company, alright?" Before Marceline could object, Bonnie shot up in her seat and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Great," Marceline muttered to herself, glancing up at Finn. Even though they'd talked before, she still didn't really _know_ him. "Uh…hey."

"Thanks for finding me, Marceline." Finn stated. He had been incredibly shocked when Jake had told him it'd been Marceline that had found him; he wasn't sure if she even liked him, or if they were friends. "How did you even know where to look?"

"We got told you went somewhere to clear your head. I usually go up there, so I just…I don't know, got lucky?" She shrugged, before shuffling uncomfortably in her chair. "Why did you go up there in the first place?"

He shook his head, but with a small smile on his face. Marceline frowned a little – it was _weird_ seeing him without his bear hat. "You wouldn't get it."

With an easy smile, Marceline shot back, "Try me."

Finn hesitated a little before explaining. "I…well, you see, my Dad kind of got on my nerves a little. He's always out gambling and he doesn't really seem to care about me at all. I spend enough time sleeping at Jake's that I might as well live there and he doesn't even notice. He just said some things that kind of annoyed me so I took a walk and I fell and…yeah."

He grew nervous at Marceline's silence. She just sat with a shocked, wide eyed expression on her face, her body completely frozen. She didn't even look to be breathing.

Finally, she spoke. "Your Dad ignores you too?"

"You get it?" He sat up in surprise, "I don't mean to like, sound rude or anything, but I didn't even know you like… _had_ a Dad."

"Of course I do. I just don't live with him." Marceline explained. "He ignores me for his work and then when he visits he criticises _everything_ I do."

Finn smiled; finally, someone understood. All of his other friends seemed to have perfect parents and he never really identified with that. "You don't know how awesome it is to have a friend who gets it."

Marceline was stunned at his choice of wording. _Friend?_ "I know, dude."

They sat back in a comfortable silence, and Finn honestly couldn't believe what had just happened. _Marceline Abadeer_ , who had a reputation for violence and swearing and was the most standoffish student their school had ever had the pleasure of teaching, had just _comforted_ him. Weird.

Bonnibel slipped back in the room and leaned down and gave Marceline a quick peck on the lips, passing her a chocolate bar. For a second, Finn was rather shocked, but then remembered they'd started dating and quickly relaxed.

"Did you two have a good talk?" Bonnibel asked as she unscrewed the cap on her water bottle, taking a sip.

"Yeah." Finn replied.

"So, how have you been coping with the horrible hospital food?" Bonnie asked with a comforting smile – she figured the best thing to do would be to get Finn's mind off the things that were upsetting him.

"Some of it actually wasn't too bad." Finn admitted, "Jake snuck me in a McDonald's breakfast the other day and Lady has brought me a load of candy from our other friends."

"When do you get out of here?" Marceline asked.

"Hopefully soon. They want to work on getting me a prosthetic before I leave." He said. Both girls noticed how he trailed off near the end of his sentence.

Marceline was the one to speak first. "Alright, well once you get it and you're used to using it, I'll teach you how to play guitar or something."

Finn's expression brightened. "Really? I didn't know you could play."

"Yeah, been playing since I was seven." Marceline nodded. "If you don't want to learn guitar I could teach you something else."

"What else do you play?" He asked.

Marceline casually shrugged. "Violin, bass, piano, keyboard, banjo, ukulele, harp and I'm teaching myself mandolin."

Bonnibel couldn't help but laugh a little when Finn's jaw dropped. "Uh…bass guitar sounds fun."

"Alright, let me know when you want to get started."

"Cool." He seemed cheered up, which made Bonnie smile – her girlfriend was so sweet. "I want everyone to get together once I get out of here – you know, to celebrate. Do you two want to come?"

Bonnibel nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like fun. Marceline?"

"As much as I like you guys, no." Marceline said. "Your friends make me uncomfortable."

"Why? They're all super nice." Finn questioned, looking to Bonnibel for reinforcement.

"I tell her that a lot, but she doesn't listen." Bonnibel said.

"Why not?" He asked.

Marceline heavily sighed before looking up at Finn. "I'm not promising anything, but I'll think about it. Maybe I'll crash for like ten minutes under the guise of stopping by to see Bonnie or something."

"Radical! You won't regret it, Marceline." Finn promised.

 _Yeah? We'll see about that, kid_ , Marceline thought.


	38. thirty-eight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie goes to a sleepover with her friends and experiences her first drinking game.

**Thursday 24** **th** **July 2014**

Bonnibel shrugged her lab-coat off and wiped a few droplets of sweat from her brow. She smiled down at her completed experiment and wrote down a few concluding notes in her science notebook – which was so full of annotations and extra sheets of paper that it was nearly falling apart. Bonnie was rather happy with herself; since it was summer, she could conduct as many experiments as she liked.

She cleared her lab equipment away, and when she moved over to her bed to check her phone, she had two messages. Two! Usually, she didn't get any messages – on a good day, she got one, usually from Marceline. She opened up the first message and smiled a little.

**_Marshall (3:16PM): yo, huge slumber party at my house tonight 2 celebrate finn getting out of hospital. u in?_ **

She then read the other message, and couldn't help but roll her eyes.

**_Lady (3:41PM) You hear about the slumber party we're having? It's at Marshall's, and you're coming, k? Marceline will be there ;)_ **

Bonnie chuckled. Typical Lady.

She replied to Marshall first – it was his house the party was at, so she figured she should prioritise his text.

**_Bonnibel (4:35PM) Sure, what time do you want me to come over?_ **

Then, she quickly typed a message back to Lady.

**_Bonnibel (4:36PM): I said yes to Marshall. And hush, you don't need to bribe me with my girlfriend's presence._ **

She then locked her phone and chucked it on her bed, turning to her chest of drawers. She pulled open her pyjama drawer and grabbed a pair of pink silk bottoms, before grabbing Marceline's rock shirt from under her pillow. She sniffed the shirt and smiled – it still had Marceline's intoxicating scent on it. Then, she tugged off the pink t-shirt she was wearing and pulled Marceline's shirt on, grabbing her purple hoodie from the hook on the back of her door. She smiled and sniffed the shirt again, before she zipped up her hoodie and returned to getting everything sorted for the night.

* * *

She arrived at Marshall and Marceline's house, hoping that her girlfriend would be the one to open the front door, but was met with the smiling face of Finn. "Hey, Bubblegum! How are you?"

"I'm good, Finn. You?" Bonnie politely replied, stepping inside. He was still a little scraped up – he had a fading black eye and his lip was split in two different places, and Bonnie could see the hand of his prosthetic right arm coming out of the sleeve of his blue hoodie.

"I'm feeling a lot better. I'm glad you came." He responded.

She kicked her shoes off and followed the blond boy into the living room, where all of her friends were sitting. She scanned the room – to her disappointment, there was no Marceline. "Hi, guys."

"You _actually_ came." Fionna shot her a look of mock surprise. "Can anyone else believe that she actually came?"

"I don't know," Lady said, smirking up at Bonnibel, "I mean, this Bubblegum-Bot is pretty impressive."

Bonnie just rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch next to Jake. "You guys are so annoying. I'm starting to regret leaving my house."

Marshall rolled his eyes at her. "Shut up. You're going to have fun. We're going to play trashy sleepover games and Simon is buying alcohol for us at the store."

Bonnie recoiled, an uneasy feeling in her stomach. "There's going to be alcohol?"

"Yeah," He nodded. "I asked for some beers and I think he's getting Marceline some vodka."

Although Bonnie really didn't want to partake in the consumption of alcohol, she couldn't help but imagine a drunk Marceline. That would be _hilarious_. "Speaking of your sister, where is she?"

"In her room." He informed her, "But you're not going to be antisocial with her yet. We have stuff to do."

"Yeah," Lady added, "And _you're_ not leaving until we're satisfied you've had enough fun. Then you can go and watch Netflix with your girlfriend."

Bonnie's eyes widened to the point they were about to pop out of her skull, and the rest of her friends – aside from Finn – were just as shocked. She couldn't _believe_ Lady had just said that, and judging by the look on her friend's face, she couldn't either. "I don't know what you're talking about. Marceline isn't my girlfriend."

Of course, she was lying, but she wasn't sure how the rest of her friends would take the news. She knew Fionna, LSP and Cake weren't exactly Marceline's biggest fans, and if Bonnie was dating Marceline, that might create a lot of awkwardness. Plus, LSP's presence wasn't at _all_ comforting – Bonnie knew she was probably writing a status about her and Marceline this second.

Marshall and Jake were probably the most shocked; they hadn't been told about Bonnie's sexuality yet.

"You're…but you're not gay." Marshall pointed out, looking around for confirmation. "You guys didn't know she was gay, right?"

Jake shook his head. "I didn't, but it makes sense. Sometimes I'd see you looking at her and think it was a little more than platonic, if you get me."

Bonnie quickly shook her head. "I _am_ gay, but Marceline and I aren't together." _Lie_.

Lady shot Bonnie an apologetic look, and Bonnie knew she was sorry. "Guys, relax, relax. I just said it as a joke because of how close they are."

Her friends collectively seemed to accept this as the truth, and Bonnie let out a deep sigh of relief. Everything was okay.

Unfortunately for Bonnie, LSP spoke up. She couldn't have just let it go, could she? "You told me you have a girlfriend."

 _Great_ , Bonnie thought, _should've known that'd come back to bite me in the ass_ , "I do, but it's not Marceline. You guys don't know her."

Bonnie sent a collective prayer to every single religion she could think of that LSP wouldn't push the matter – luckily, she didn't. Instead, Marshall spoke up, "Hey, now I know why you weren't attracted to me on your first day."

 _Because I'm attracted to your sister_ , Bonnie thought to herself. Even if Bonnie was straight, she wouldn't date Marshall - she liked Marceline for her personality, and the twins were _completely_ different in that aspect.

Fionna scoffed before Bonnie had a chance to respond, "No living thing in the history and the future of the entire earth will _ever_ be attracted to you."

"Hey, I've had girlfriends before. They were attracted to me." Marshall responded.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with the blonde one, there."

Bonnibel looked up and her face immediately settled into a smile; Marceline was stood against the door frame, looking over to her. Before Marshall could shoot back with a snarky comment, Bonnie spoke. "Hey! I was wondering why you weren't in here. I thought you said you'd join in with us."

Finn nodded. "Yeah, that's what you told me at the hospital."

"I said I'd _think_ about it." Marceline rolled her eyes. "And I did."

"And what did you decide?" Bonnie asked.

Marceline walked into the room and sat down next to Bonnie, putting her hand over her girlfriend's – it was subtle, but Bonnie was a little nervous of someone noticing. "I decided I want to hang out with you."

Bonnie grinned, pulling Marceline in for a hug. "Awesome. We'll have fun, I promise."

Marceline gave her a gentle squeeze back and whispered, "You know, for some reason I doubt that."

Bonnie rolled her eyes as her arms fell back to her sides, "You will. Even if you don't, I'll make you have fun."

"Forced fun? Sounds intimidating." Marceline sardonically shot back, before shuffling on the couch a little so she was closer to Bonnie, her hand tentatively resting on Bonnie's thigh.

Bonnie's cheeks turned a subtle pink and she cleared her throat and turned to her friends, trying to focus on anything that _wasn't_ the placement of her girlfriend's cold hand. "So…uh – you guys said we'd be playing games?"

LSP's face radiated happiness at Bonnie's subject change; more excuse to gossip, Bonnie assumed. A proud smile slowly worked its way onto the other girl's face. " _That_ was my idea."

Bonnie – who knew absolutely nothing about sleepover games and was still rather flustered with the rather frustrating position Marceline's hand was in – decided to continue the conversation. "Oh? And what sort of games are we going to be playing?"

"Never Have I Ever, Spin the Bottle, stuff like that." LSP's tone implied that Bonnie's scarce knowledge of sleepover games was some sort of travesty.

"Spin the Bottle with _you_ people?" Marceline crinkled her nose in disgust. "I'd rather set myself on fire."

Before anyone could respond, Bonnie put a hand on Marceline's shoulder and shook her head. She shot her girlfriend a pleading look, and murmured, "Marcy, please."

Marceline heavily blew air from her nose before giving Bonnie's thigh a soft squeeze – a gesture that gave Bonnie goosebumps. "Okay. I'll try my best to keep my sarcastic comments to myself."

Bonnibel sent her a grateful look. "Thanks." Then, addressing everyone else in the room, she said, "When are we going to start playing these games?"

"Once Simon brings the beers back." Marshall said, "He should be back soon, though – he left about ten minutes before you showed up."

Bonnie nodded, before stretching and cracking her knuckles. "Well, I'm sure we can pass the time by playing some Mario Kart. I'm in the mood to kick some butt."

"Turn the Wii on," Fionna said to Marshall. She turned to Bonnie with a smirk. "I bet I could beat you."

"Famous last words." Bonnie said, as a smug smile spread across her face. "But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Is that a challenge I hear?" Fionna questioned.

"It might be." Bonnibel replied as Jake stood up and picked up two of the four controllers.

He passed one to Fionna and one to Bonnie, and sank down on the floor near the TV next to Marshall. "I _really_ want to see how this plays out."

Bonnie laid down on the sofa and stretched so her legs were on Marceline's lap. She held her controller with one hand as Fionna got her remote synced up to the console. Bonnie made eye contact with Marceline and grinned, "You want to join us? I bet Fionna couldn't handle the extreme amount of cheating that occurs when you play Mario Kart."

Marceline scoffed, "I don't _cheat_. I just…get a little too enthusiastic."

"And throw your opponent's controller across the room," Bonnie finished, "Which I think probably classes as cheating."

"You know what?" Marceline pushed Bonnie's legs off her, "Since you called me a cheater, you don't get a footrest."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face ruined her faux irritation. Her gaze flicked from Marceline to the TV, and she selected her usual character.

(Naturally, it was Princess Peach.)

As if on cue, Marceline laughed, "Seriously?"

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Marceline bit on her lip to contain another bout of laughter before explaining, "You hate it when I call you princess, and then you pick the princess character."

Bonnie nonchalantly shrugged. "I like her. She was always my character when I played this game with Gracie."

"Is that one of your New York friends?" Bonnie glanced up to see Marshall shooting her a quizzical look.

Quickly, she shook her head. "No, she's my little cousin. I told you I used to go round to hers and look after her, right?"

He seemed to remember their conversation at the arcade and nodded. "Yeah, I remember what you're talking about now."

Fionna flicked through the races and landed on a specific one. Bonnibel rolled her eyes – Rainbow Road. Everyone _always_ chose this one when they wanted to beat her; the extra practice had given her the advantage.

As they began the race, Bonnie noticed that Fionna was similar to Marceline when she played video games – there was a _lot_ of shouting at the screen. At least no controllers went flying across the room. Bonnie, on the other hand, stayed as calm as possible, one hand steadily controlling her character on the screen.

Naturally, Bonnie won the race, but it was close – Fionna was close to overtaking her as she crossed the finish line.

As Bonnie won, she wore a triumphant smile and announced, "And I'm _still_ the champion."

"Has anyone ever actually beaten you at this game?" Fionna huffed as she gave her controller back to Marshall.

_"Come on, Bonnibel! It'll be fun."_

_"Bea," Bonnie let out a small sigh – video games weren't her thing, "You know I suck at games like this."_

_"Exactly," Bea responded, putting a controller on Bonnie's lap. She sent Bonnie a smile, and the pink haired girl's stomach did a backflip, "So I know I'll win."_

_"I really don't think I'll enjoy this." Bonnie insisted, putting the controller to the side._

_Bea pouted and Bonnie's knees went weak. "Please?"_

_After holding a defiant stare for a few seconds, Bonnie's face broke out into a smile. "Okay, fine."_

Bonnie came back to the present, and bobbed her head in confirmation, a sad smile on her face. "Yeah. It was a long time ago."

"Hey!" Marceline sat up, "I beat you one time."

"You threw my controller across the room." Bonnie pointed out, chuckling. "I hardly think that counts."

Marceline pouted and sunk down in her seat, muttering, "I still won."

Bonnie let a relaxed smile settle on her face and subtly laced her fingers with Marceline's rough, calloused ones. _Yeah_ , Bonnie thought, _Marceline is much better than she ever was._

* * *

 

"So…what's the point of this game, exactly?" Bonnie asked as she sat down in the circle between Finn and Jake.

To her surprise, Gumball was the one to explain. "Basically, you say something you've never done, and if someone else has done it, they drink."

Bonnie glanced down at the beer bottle in her hand; although she'd agreed to have one, she didn't want to end up drunk. "Alright..."

Marshall cleared his throat. "I'll start and we'll go round in a circle from me. Never have I ever…been in a car crash."

Bonnie's eyes flicked around the circle, and she saw Marceline drink from her glass of vodka. Her eyes widened and she reached across and grabbed her girlfriend's hand. "You've been in a car crash?"

"Yeah." Marceline casually responded. "I mean, I didn't get seriously hurt or anything, so it was no big deal. I was like, 9."

Marshall nudged her when she didn't continue. "It's your turn to say something you haven't done."

"I'm _thinking_." Marceline rolled her eyes and bit on her lip, before continuing. "Never have I ever intentionally done drugs."

Again, Bonnie's eyes scanned the circle. Nobody moved a muscle, until Marshall put his beer bottle to his lips and took a swig. Once he'd finished, he shrugged and said, "I've smoked pot before. Besides, you _have_ done drugs, Marce."

"Not _intentionally_." Marceline replied, staring down at her glass. She looked up to see everyone's eyes trained on her in curiosity. Bonnie had a feeling she knew what Marceline was going to say. "I accidentally ate a pot brownie when I was fourteen."

Fionna burst out laughing, "How did you _accidentally_ eat a pot brownie?"

"Well," Bonnie melted at the adorable smile on Marceline's face, which her girlfriend wasn't exactly doing very well at concealing, "It was the first party I'd ever been to and I didn't know that pot brownies were a thing. I just thought it was a regular brownie. I don't know, man."

"That is _hilarious_." Fionna laughed. "Alright…never have I ever been in a relationship before."

Bonnie frowned in distaste and looked down at the beer bottle in her hands. She took a small sip and cringed a little at the bitter taste, watching around the circle as other people drank. Excluding herself, the people who drank were Marceline, Marshall, Jake and Lady.

It was Jake's turn next. "Never have I ever had a crush on someone of the same sex."

Marceline downed the rest of her drink; Bonnie took another tiny sip of hers. Gumball also drank, and Bonnie felt horrible for him when Marshall didn't.

"Wait," Fionna spoke up, "Do you mean just _attracted_ to them or like a genuine 'I want to date them' thing?"

"Where you want to date them." Jake explained, before pointing at Marceline. "I get those two drinking," He gestured between Gumball and Bonnie, "But I didn't know you were gay. You had a boyfriend in freshman year."

Marceline raised an eyebrow and managed to convey the _perfect_ amount of annoyance on her face. "Bisexuality is a thing, dumbass."

Jake nodded – Bonnie saw the flash of fright in his eyes at Marceline's annoyed tone – and then looked between Gumball and Bonnibel. "What crushes have you guys had?"

Bonnie was the one to speak up first, "I had a crush on my best friend in New York. She ditched me when I told her."

"That sucks, dude." Jake consoled, before nodding at Gumball, "And you?"

Gumball looked like a deer caught in headlights – his eyes widened and Bonnie was sure he turned at least three shades paler. "I…I don't want to say."

"That's okay, man." Jake sent him an understanding smile, before nudging Bonnibel with his elbow. "It's your turn to say something you've never done."

"Um…never have I ever had sex."

Once she said the words, Bonnie's gaze subtly flicked up to Marceline, who had grabbed her vodka bottle and started filling up her cup. Once she'd filled it, she put it to one side, and Bonnie couldn't help but breathe a little sigh of relief. If they ever did do that, it would be Marceline's first time, too.

A lot of her friends _did_ drink, however. Lady, Jake, Marshall, LSP and Cake all took swigs from their beer bottles. Bonnie didn't ask questions; this was something she _didn't_ want the explanations of.

* * *

They went around the circle four or five more times and played a few rounds of truth or dare – which featured Bonnie being dared to make out with Gumball and Marceline being dared to chug two beers – before Cake switched the game and put her empty beer bottle in the middle of the circle. Bonnibel held out her beer bottle, which was still three quarters full. "Anyone want this?"

Marceline held out her hand – which wasn't exactly very steady. "I'll have it."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "You've drunk half of that vodka by yourself _and_ had two beers. I'm not assisting you in getting even drunker."

Marceline scoffed. "I'm not _drunk_. Half the bottle only has like 7 or 8 units. I'm barely even _tipsy_."

Bonnie just rolled her eyes and passed the beer to Jake. As much as she found the thought of Marceline drunk amusing, intoxicated people frightened her a little.

Finn was the one to lean forward and spin the bottle first; it landed on Fionna. The two leaned across and shared an awkward kiss, which a drunk Marshall wolf-whistled during – earning him a smack in the shoulder from Fionna.

Fionna then spun the bottle around until it landed on Bonnie.

Awkwardly, Bonnie gave Fionna a peck on the lips before sending Marceline an apologetic look.

(Did that count as cheating?)

Luckily, when Bonnie spun the bottle, it landed on Marceline, and she leaned forward and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to Marceline's lips – she didn't want to make anything too obvious.

Bonnie sat back down, a pink blush on her cheeks, and watched as Marceline spun the bottle – it landed on Lady.

Bonnibel felt a surge of jealousy as Marceline put her vodka down and kissed Lady. She knew she was being petty and she knew it didn't mean anything, but Marceline was _her_ girlfriend. But, when Marceline nearly fell backwards after kissing Lady and burst out laughing, Bonnie realised her girlfriend really wasn't as sober as she'd previously said.

Ignoring that the bottle was still spinning, Bonnie moved from her position in the circle and touched a hand to Marceline's shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm _great_ , Bonnie." Marceline was wearing an enthusiastic smile. "I feel light."

"You're drunk." Bonnie stated, entwining her fingers with Marceline's.

Marceline quickly shook her head and pulled Bonnie close to her, gulping down more of her vodka. "I'm not drunk! I'm just _happy_. Can't I be happy without people assuming it's because of alcohol?"

Bonnie let out a heavy sigh and took Marceline's vodka from her hand, which elicited a small whine from the dark haired girl which made Bonnie's stomach do a flip. "I think you need to take a break. Let's go get some water for you, yeah?"

Marceline let Bonnie help her up, and the dark haired girl held tightly onto Bonnie's hand as Bonnie addressed the rest of the group. "I'm going to get her some water. You guys continue the game while we're gone."

Bonnie then led Marceline towards the kitchen by the hand, the dark haired girl skipping along behind her. She sat Marceline down at the kitchen table and put her hands firmly on her girlfriend's shoulders. "Stay."

Marceline nodded, idly smiling up at Bonnie. "Okay."

Bonnie grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it up with water, turning to Marceline. Bonnie couldn't help but let out a little 'aw' at how Marceline was sat looking absolutely adorable, swinging her legs backwards and forwards and happily humming a melody.

Bonnie carefully pressed the glass into Marceline's palm. "Drink up."

Marceline nodded and obediently did as Bonnie said, before pushing herself up out of her seat and kissing her girlfriend; Bonnie's stomach did ten backflips in a row. "Thank you, Bonnie. Can we go back and play the game now?"

Bonnie let out a little sigh – she couldn't deny Marceline anything. She should've known Marceline was an adorable, happy drunk. "Okay."

Marceline jumped up in happiness and nearly fell over, steadying herself on Bonnie. Then, she headed for the kitchen door and knocked into the door frame, bursting into a little fit of laughter, "Fuck. There's a door there."

Bonnie felt her knees go weak at Marceline's innocent smile, and she grabbed her girlfriend by the hand and walked her back into the room. "Come on, let's sit down in the circle."

Apparently, 'sitting down' meant something different to Marceline – once Bonnie sat back in her spot from earlier, Marceline got herself comfortable on Bonnie's lap. Marceline gently wrapped her arms around Bonnie and pressed a kiss to Bonnie's neck.

Bonnie flushed bright red – especially because of her drunken friends' teasing – and tentatively pushed Marceline off her. Her heart was beating ten times faster and she had to calm herself down before looking down to an upset Marceline. "Why won't you let me kiss you?"

"That's just…a little _too much_ for in front of my friends, Marceline. They don't know." Bonnie explained, although she knew she was the only sober one in the room and that most of her friends were too drunk to care.

Marceline nodded and snuggled against Bonnie. "Okay. Sorry."

Bonnibel shot her girlfriend a soft smile and gestured towards the door. "Do you want to go up to your room?"

Marceline bobbed her head in confirmation and found Bonnie's hand. "Yeah, okay. Can we watch a movie?"

"Sure," Bonnie replied as she stood up, "Whatever movie you like."

The dark haired girl smiled before she stood up and nearly toppled over again, but Bonnie quickly supported her with her arm and let Marceline out of the room. Bonnie helped her girlfriend upstairs – it was much easier than helping Keila up the first time Bonnie had met the other girl – and pushed open the door to Marceline's room.

Bonnie closed the door and Marceline made her way over to the bed, staggering a little. The pink haired girl watched after her to make sure she didn't fall on her face or break something, before sitting down next to her girlfriend. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off when Marceline collided with her and pushed her down on the bed.

She felt Marceline kissing her almost violently, and Bonnie's fear of drunk people came back full force. She couldn't help it; they were reckless and unpredictable from her experiences, and she _really_ didn't like where this was going.

She roughly pushed her girlfriend off, and Marceline pouted at her but sat up. "Why ruin the fun? That was hot."

Bonnie shook her head and moved off the bed, leaning against Marceline's dresser. "You _know_ I'm not comfortable with things like that."

"What? Kissing?" Marceline moved off the bed and stumbled over to Bonnie. "You _always_ kiss me."

Bonnie shook her head and backed away from Marceline, "No, kissing that leads somewhere."

Marceline reached out and grabbed Bonnie's hand, pulling the pink haired girl closer to her. Bonnie wanted to break away from her – who _knows_ what Marceline could do – but then felt a pair of arms wrap around her and her head chin was guided to Marceline's shoulder. "I didn't want to do that."

"You just frightened me." Bonnie murmured into Marceline's shoulder. "I'm sorry for overreacting."

Marceline kissed the top of Bonnie's head and beamed. "Come on, let's have a slumber party!"

As Marceline dived back on her bed and did some sort of awkward backwards-roll towards her pillow, Bonnie couldn't help but laugh.

Maybe hanging out with her drunk girlfriend wouldn't be _so_ bad.


	39. thirty-nine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie and marceline go on a beach date.

**Friday 1** **st** **August 2014**

"Okay, where the hell are you taking me?" Bonnie asked, drumming her fingers on the dashboard of Marceline's car. "And why does it involve me bringing towels?"

"Because...it involves the use of towels. I would _totally_ ask you to bring them for no reason." Marceline sardonically shot back as she drove. "Think, Bonnie."

"We've been driving for like, half an hour. I don't think you can drive for half an hour in this town and still be…in town." Bonnie pointed out. She really wasn't keen on surprises, but she decided to trust Marceline. Whatever she had planned, Bonnie would go along with.

"Exactly." Marceline replied, "Because we're not going to be in town. We're going to the beach."

 _Okay, what?_ Bonnie thought. "Uh, Marceline…we live in _Minnesota_. There aren't any beaches."

"Actually," Marceline smirked as she began – knowing something Bonnie didn't always made her feel intellectual, "Where I'm taking you has sand and like…water. And you can get ice cream, so yeah. Beach. Sort of."

"So…this is a beach date?" Bonnie questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you're my girlfriend and we're hanging out." Marceline stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world – which, it was. "Thus, date."

"We hang out together loads. What makes this so different than the last time we hung out?" Bonnie pressed. She didn't really care all that much – she just found it adorable when Marceline blushed.

"Because the last time we hung out we were in sweatpants watching Netflix at your place. That's not really like…a date." Marceline explained, "I mean, this was intended to be a date, that wasn't."

"I thought our next date was meant to be a concert." Bonnie teased.

"There's nothing good on, though." Marceline whined, pouting. It took a lot of self-restraint for Bonnie to _not_ lean up and kiss Marceline senseless, "That idea is on hold. Once I get tickets to something cool I'm going to spring up on you by surprise and take you. But, I'm glad you brought that up."

"Why?" Bonnie questioned, before she guessed it and rolled her eyes. "You forgot to keep looking for concerts, didn't you?"

"Possibly." That was a yes, then. Typical. "But I'll check when I get home in case something comes up."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Of course you will. You'll have forgotten by the time we reach our destination. Which brings me to this - what are we doing today?"

"Well, I've got a picnic basket in my trunk, and you've got towels for us to sit on, so I guess just hang out on the beach, laugh at people who walk past, stuff like that." Marceline shrugged. "I don't know."

"Earlier you mentioned something about ice cream?" Bonnie prompted.

"Oh, how could I forget about the ice cream?" Marceline exclaimed in mock terror, "What a travesty. _Yeah_ , we'll get some ice cream."

"How do you even know about stuff like this?" Bonnie questioned, "I mean, I had no idea there were beaches here."

"I mean, they're not really beaches, they're lakes, but still." Marceline just shrugged, "Keila and I do a lot of exploring on a weekend when we get bored, and when summer comes we go to the city quite a lot."

"Ah, okay." Bonnie nodded, "Have you seen Keila much lately?"

"Not really." Marceline replied. For a second, Bonnie was worried it might be her fault – she didn't want to be the one to break up Marceline and Keila's friendship. She was about to explain how Marceline shouldn't spend all her time on her, but Marceline continued, "She's been working a lot lately. I saw her like two days ago, though."

"For a second I was worried it was my fault." Bonnie nervously chuckled, "I wouldn't want to break you and Keila apart."

"You never could." Marceline said. "Keila and I are…stuck together with some really intense superglue that can never be broken because the remover doesn't exist." Marceline paused and let out a little laugh. "That metaphor sounded much more profound in my head."

Bonnie giggled, leaning over and kissing Marceline's cheek. "I thought it was great."

"Well, you got the point." Marceline replied, "Basically, you never have to worry about breaking Keila and I apart. It won't happen, I assure you."

Bonnie smiled and breathed a little sigh of relief. "Good. I wouldn't want you or her hating me for wrecking your friendship."

"Bonnie, Keila doesn't have a hate setting. I'm the angry, mean one." Marceline rolled her eyes, however had an easy smile on her lips, "How could you forget?"

"Yeah, but you're not mean." Bonnie protested. "You're sweet. You just _pretend_ to be mean."

"Yeah, that was kind of my point." Marceline let out an awkward laugh, "But you get me. People _think_ I'm mean. Keila is nice to everyone. She knows about us, by the way. I hope that's okay."

"You can tell whoever you want." Bonnie explained. "Obviously when we get back to school, we'll have to keep it quiet until I'm ready for everyone to know I'm gay. At my last school I was ridiculed for it and I just worry."

Marceline – although a little upset she and Bonnie wouldn't go back to school as girlfriends – nodded in understanding and sent Bonnie a supportive smile. "Okay. Whenever you're ready, honestly."

"I'm _so_ glad I told you I like you." Bonnie bit on her lip to conceal the stupidly enormous grin on her face. "You're the best girlfriend ever."

"I'm glad you think I'm doing well," Marceline said, "Because I'm making everything up as I go along. I mean, with Ash we just sort of yelled at each other. You and I actually go out on dates and stuff."

"Did you kiss him?" Bonnie asked. She knew it was a stupid question, but she couldn't help but wonder how far Marceline and Ash actually went.

Marceline shuddered, "Tragically, yes."

"So…aside from me, how many people have you kissed?" Bonnie asked, "I know this sounds like a weird question, but I just want to know how inexperienced I am compared to you. Also, you're a really good kisser, so…"

Marceline chuckled a little at Bonnie's pink cheeks. "If you don't include games of truth or dare or spin the bottle, then just you and Ash. If you do include those, then I've lost count."

"Oh." Bonnie nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright."

"What about you?" Marceline asked.

"Well…ignoring the game of spin the bottle we played at the sleepover," Bonnie began slowly, "Just you. You were my first kiss, so…yeah."

"Wait, seriously? You never kissed anyone in like, kindergarten? You know, when you say you're dating someone in your class and then never talk to them again?" Marceline asked.

Bonnie shook her head. "Nope. I mean, I started to realise there was something different about me in middle school when everyone was suddenly interested in dating boys and I had no desire to. Before that, I'd never thought about it."

"Hey, I started noticing my sexuality in middle school." Marceline chuckled. "Good times."

"I don't think you've ever told me this story before." Bonnie leaned closer to Marceline, an intrigued look on her face.

Marceline laughed, "Okay, well in 7th grade I started realising that like, not everyone is straight – nobody had ever taught me about stuff like that and it kind of frightened me. Then I started worrying if I was gay, and I was attracted to some girls but also guys and it really confused me because I didn't know you could like both. Basically when I discovered the concept of bisexuality I felt a lot better, but because I'd never been taught about different sexualities I thought it was wrong."

"So you ended up really far in the closet?" Bonnie supplied.

"I ended up _so far_ in the closet that I resorted to being homophobic to assert my heterosexuality."

Bonnibel burst out laughing. "Okay, _you_? Homophobic? Really? You're like, the most accepting person I know."

"I told you middle school was a dark time." Marceline responded. "Anyways, in freshman year Keila came out as pansexual and I realised it was okay. Once I felt comfortable enough with myself, I came out too."

"I didn't know Keila is pansexual." Bonnie said, "But hey, the more queer friends the better, I guess. Didn't you say your brother…uh…has sex with anything with a pulse?"

"My brother's sexuality is kind of a grey area." Marceline explained. She and Marshall never really talked about things like that. "He's never said anything about the possibility of dating a guy but he's never said anything against it. So far he's only dated girls, though."

"For Gumball's sake, I kind of hope he's open to it." Bonnibel replied. She knew how much Gumball liked Marshall. The only way they'd know for sure is if he told Marshall how he felt, which Bonnie knew wouldn't be happening any time soon.

"Okay, serious question." Marceline said, "What are your friends' real names? I mean, he can't be called _Gumball_. Come on."

Bonnie laughed, "I'm fairly certain Cake's real name is Catherine. I don't know Gumball's, though. I'm surprised you don't know – you've known most of them since kindergarten."

"I don't pay attention to them." Marceline said. "In kindergarten my attention was diverted onto Keila and making friends with her."

Bonnie thought back to the pictures in Marceline's room – there were a few of Marceline and Keila as little kids, and the thought made her smile a little. "You were a cute kid."

"Thanks, nerd." Marceline smiled. "But I believe were is past tense. I still _am_."

Bonnie just rolled her eyes, "Jerk."

* * *

Bonnie had decided that Marceline was the best at organising dates; as much as her girlfriend tried to play it off, Marceline's date ideas always managed to go well, and Bonnie always ended up enjoying herself.

Currently, Marceline was throwing grapes in the air and attempting to catch them with her mouth. Yes, it was as cute as it sounded. So far, Marceline hadn't managed to catch one, and she was growing more and more frustrated as she threw grapes around.

Bonnie giggled when Marceline missed yet again. "Are you ever going to give up?"

Marceline shot Bonnie an incredulous look and almost violently shook her head. "No, I swear I can do it. I do it with popcorn all the time."

"Popcorn and grapes are different things," Bonnie responded, "And I really don't want you to choke."

"I'm not going to choke, I'm an _expert_ at this," Marceline replied. She grabbed Bonnie's hand and shot the pink haired girl a smile, "But, if you're so worried I guess I could give it a break."

Bonnie smiled and leaned over to Marceline, kissing her girlfriend. "Thank you. What's for dessert, anyway?"

"I have chocolate covered strawberries and then we can go and get ice cream and go for a walk." Marceline said, producing the box of strawberries from the picnic basket. She opened it up and picked up a strawberry, holding it up to Bonnie. "Open up."

Bonnie complied, and Marceline fed her the strawberry. Bonnie ate it, before leaning in and pecking Marceline on the lips. "You're such a romantic."

Marceline just smiled to herself; Bonnie's lips tasted like strawberries. "You make me happy. Very happy, actually."

"That was uncharacteristically nice of you. Who are you and what have you done with Marceline?" Bonnie joked.

Marceline lightly shoved Bonnie and rolled her eyes, "What happened to 'you're sweet', huh?"

"You _are_ sweet." Bonnie replied, before continuing with a smirk, "But you're also a jerk."

Marceline hesitated before replying. "Eh, I can live with that. Want to play a game to pass the time?"

"Can we do that thing where I ask you a question, you ask me a question, and so on?" Bonnie asked.

Marceline nodded and swallowed the strawberry she was eating. "Sure. You want to go first or…?"

"Yeah, alright." Bonnie creased her brow in thought before staring up at Marceline. "Do you prefer guys or girls?"

Marceline laid back on her towel and pulled her sunglasses over her eyes. "Hm…honestly? Probably girls. Guys have cooties."

"Seriously? Cooties?" Bonnie laughed, "How old are you, five?"

"Um, I think you'll find it's _my_ turn to ask the question." Marceline crossed her arms in defiance and shot Bonnie a mock glare. "Don't break the rules, Bonnie. TV or movies?"

Bonnie considered the question. "Well, personally I prefer a good book -,"

"That's not what I asked." Marceline interrupted her with a roll of her eyes, "Because I already know that, numbskull."

"If you'd let me _finish_ ," Bonnie shot back, "You would've gotten the answer. Television – the use of multiple episodes enables more content and it can go into more depth than a two hour movie. I like detail. Favourite album of all time?"

"Dude, you can't make me pick just _one_!" Marceline exclaimed, looking at Bonnie like she'd just grown another head. "That's like asking a mother to pick her favourite child. It'd probably be a tie between The Other Side by Tonight Alive and Don't Panic by All Time Low. Uh…can you speak any languages other than English and German?"

"I learned a little French a few years back but I'm not very good at it." Bonnie said, "I get it if you don't want to answer this one because I _did_ ask you before, but why are your eyes red?"

"Guess."

"That's not an answer." Bonnie said.

Marceline lifted up her sunglasses and shot Bonnie a smirk. "Well it will be, once you _guess_."

"You're so annoying." Bonnie laid back, exasperated. "Wait…you told me you didn't know. It was before we got really close, though."

"I was probably lying." Marceline replied, "Because I do know. And it's going to be funny watching you get all frustrated trying to get me to tell."

"Is it because of lack of pigment in your eyes? That would also explain why you're so pale." Bonnibel suggested.

"Nope." Marceline shook her head and put her sunglasses back on, "And I'm so pale because I don't leave the house."

"Come _on_ , tell!" Bonnie shot Marceline her puppy-dog face and hoped it'd work.

"Why do you even want to know? It's really not that interesting." Marceline insisted.

"It's _fascinating_." Bonnie corrected, leaning down and kissing Marceline's cheek. "Please? Come on, I'll make it worth your while."

"How, exactly?" Marceline sat up and raised an eyebrow.

Bonnie smiled – she had Marceline's attention. "I'll buy you some more guitar strings."

"You don't need to buy me anything, you fricking nerd." Marceline rolled her eyes. Bonnie had picked up on how recently, Marceline had stopped swearing as much. "You _really_ want to know?"

"Yeah." Bonnie enthusiastically nodded. "It's really interesting. I kind of almost asked you when I first met you, but now that I think about it, you'd have probably hit me."

Marceline laughed and shook her head. "No, I wouldn't have. I probably would have been super confused, though."

Bonnie just shook her head, "You're getting me off topic on purpose, Abadeer. Come on, spill the beans."

Marceline let out an over-exaggerated, heavy sigh. " _Fine_. I was in a car accident when I was like eight or nine – I think I mentioned this at the sleepover – and I took a pretty bad hit to the head. I don't remember all of the medical details but basically blood leaked into the irises and _voila._ I also broke my arm, which sucked because I couldn't play music for six weeks."

"Just out of curiosity," Bonnie began, "What colour were they before?"

"Green."

"Did it affect your sight at all?" Bonnie asked. "I know you need glasses, so…"

"No, the reason I need glasses is because I strained my eyes reading in bad lighting as a kid." Marceline explained, "All the time I spend on the computer doesn't exactly help, either."

"Okay." Bonnie nodded, "I was thinking it was something like this disease – I can't remember the name of it – but it gives people who have it purple eyes and like 20/20 vision, and you don't grow body hair if you have it. Only the hair on your head and like eyebrows and eyelashes, so no shaving is necessary."

"That's a real thing?" Marceline asked, "Whoa. Cool. I wish I had cool side effects like that – like laser vision or something. Dude, that'd be totally badass. I _wish_ I had laser vision."

"Would you use your powers for good or for evil, though?" Bonnie questioned, chuckling – Marceline was so cute.

"I'd probably be a supervillain." Marceline responded, "My catchphrase would be 'if looks could kill – oh, wait, they _do_ '."

Bonnie laughed, "What would your super evil name be?"

"Uh…probably something to do with punk rock." Marceline said. "And lasers, of course. I'd probably name myself after Third Eye Blind. No! Marceline the Laser Queen. That rhymes."

Bonnie smiled a little, before asking, "What do you think my supervillain name would be?"

Marceline burst out laughing, "Bonnie, you've never broken a rule in your life. You'd 100% be a superhero, and you'd science all the villains to death."

"Except for you." Bonnibel cut in. "I'd casually not turn up whenever you're out raising hell. What could my hero name be?"

"Well…science uses chemical elements, right?" Marceline started, "Elemento."

Bonnibel laughed. "Elemento vs. Marceline the Laser Queen. Sounds like a gripping battle."

"I'd be one of those stereotypical villains that captures the hero at the start and then describes every last detail of their evil plan as the hero figures out their way to escape." Marceline chuckled, "Except I'd do it in song. Kind of like – you know, Dr Doofenschmirtz from Phineas and Ferb? Like him."

"I could totally imagine you doing that." Bonnie laughed. At the mention of the Phineas and Ferb character, she imagined Marceline in a lab coat, and decided then and there she was going to somehow coax her girlfriend into trying on her lab coat one day because if her mental image was correct, Marceline would look _incredibly_ attractive in one.

Marceline stood up and held her hand out to Bonnie. "Well, come on, Elemento. We've got some ice cream to buy."

At the mention of ice cream, Bonnie grabbed Marceline's hand and allowed her girlfriend to help her up. She gently squeezed Marceline's hand. "You know, for a supervillain, you're very courteous to your dates."

"You like the bad girls, huh?" Marceline teased, leaning in and kissing Bonnie. Marceline's lips lingered afterwards the kiss, and she was so close that Bonnie could feel her smile. "I guess it's my lucky day."

* * *

"Does this smell weird to you?" Marceline held out her strawberry ice cream to Bonnie.

She pink haired girl leaned forward and sniffed it. "No, it – _hey!_ "

Marceline cackled at the look on Bonnie's face; as Bonnie had sniffed the ice cream cone, Marceline had pushed it forwards, and Bonnie was now wearing strawberry ice cream on her nose. "I can't believe you fell for that!"

"You're such a jerk." Bonnie shook her head, and then smirked at Marceline. "Come and give me a kiss and make it better."

Marceline shook her head. "Nope, I'm not a dumbass."

Bonnie quickly scooped the last little bit of her chocolate ice cream and wiped it on Marceline's face. "There, we're even."

Marceline snickered. "It's still funny that you fell for it."

"I don't know why I trust you around food." Bonnie bit on her lip to conceal her laughter. "I mean, there was the flour incident that time we made cupcakes together. And the time you wouldn't stop poking me with Twizzlers."

"I'm just having _fun_ _with food_ , Bonnie." Marceline held up her hands in defence. "It's not my fault you're such a fun-sponge."

"I'm _very_ fun, I'll have you know." Bonnie shot back as she cleaned the ice cream from her face with a napkin. "Just in an orderly fashion."

"You're _literally_ Monica from Friends." Marceline laughed, "Which is good, because I'm totally the Chandler."

"I'm surprised you haven't run out of pop culture references to make yet." Bonnie chuckled. She wasn't going to lie; she thought Marceline's comparison to Chandler and Monica's relationship was very charming.

"I'm just getting _started_." Marceline responded. "I haven't even referenced Buffy yet."

"I'm going to start tallying the references you make and presenting them in a table of evidence to show children what happens to you when you watch too much TV." Bonnibel stated.

"Did you just insult me in _statistics_?" Marceline put on a faux hurt expression and put her hand over her heart. "I feel betrayed."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Woman up, Marcy. And eat your stupid ice cream before it melts. And clean the chocolate off your face."

"I decided I'm not going to do that." Marceline stated. "I'm leaving your ice cream marks on my face to show the world how cruel you are."

Bonnie laughed and held back an eye roll, wiping the ice cream off of Marceline's cheek with a napkin. "There, all better."

Marceline licked her ice cream and then held it out to Bonnie. "You want some?"

Bonnie's blue eyes narrowed. "I don't trust you after what you just did."

Marceline just shrugged. "Whatever. I just figured you might want some after finishing yours."

Bonnie was determined to make Marceline finish the ice cream by herself as she'd noticed how little Marceline had actually eaten from their picnic – just a couple of strawberries and a sandwich – so she shook her head. "Nah. Besides, you've licked it."

"Bonnie, you realise my tongue has literally been in your mouth, right?" Marceline pointed out. "I highly doubt licking the same ice cream will do any harm."

Bonnie flushed red and licked Marceline's ice cream. "There. You finish it."

"I'm going to." Marceline responded as if it was obvious. "I just don't want to get a brain freeze."

"I finished mine ages ago and I didn't get a brain freeze." Bonnie muttered.

"Yeah, but your brain is probably harder to freeze because it's so big and sciency."

Bonnie blushed at the casual compliment. "Thank you. And you're smart too, you know."

Marceline just shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. You're basically a fucking genius, though. I take it you're going to college?"

"Yeah. I'm _hoping_ to go to NYU." Bonnie said, "What about you?"

"I have no idea, man. I'm just going to see how I feel in a few months." Marceline said. "If I did go, it'd be to do music, obviously."

"Yeah, I kind of figured." Bonnie smiled. "You should check out some places in New York. We could move in together."

"Seriously?" Marceline raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Okay, I'd like that, but talking about the future kind of freaks me out, can we like…not do that?" Bonnie hoped that moving in hadn't frightened Marceline off, "Talk to me about…you as a kid. I don't know much about little Bonnie."

"My childhood really wasn't very interesting." Bonnie slowly began. "I just sort of hung out with my family all the time because I didn't have friends – everyone else thought I was weird for being so interested in science."

"I kind of wish you'd moved here in kindergarten." Marceline said, "We would've been _best_ friends."

"We are best friends." Bonnie smiled and linked arms with Marceline. "Even though you're my girlfriend, you're still my best friend."

"The best relationships come from the best friends." Marceline murmured. "That's probably why this is so easy with you. I don't get nervous when I take you out on dates because I already know that you like me and that you're easy to be around."

Bonnie positively beamed and boosted herself up on her tiptoes to kiss Marceline. "Dating you is quite easily the best thing I've ever done."

Marceline grinned back. "Good to know, dork."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disclaimer - eye explanation is completely scientifically inaccurate.


	40. forty.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie have a sleepover at bonnie's grandparents' house before the wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: eating disorder (heavily implied/mentioned) and nudity (sort of)

**Friday 15** **th** **August 2014**

"So, remind me of the plan again?" Marceline asked as she sat down on the unfamiliar double bed.

"Okay," Bonnie nodded and began pacing the room, "So, basically, we're staying overnight here and then tomorrow we're getting up super early to drive to New York for the wedding. We're staying the night there in a hotel, you and me are going sightseeing on Sunday, then on Sunday evening we're driving back here and staying the night and _then_ we're going home."

Once she'd finished her explanation, Bonnie sat down on the soft bed next to Marceline. "If everything goes according to plan we'll be back home by Monday?"

"Yeah," Bonnie confirmed, "Also, I'm sorry in advance for any harassment you get at the wedding. My family aren't used to me being in a relationship. Or used to me being gay. They'll probably want to know stuff about you and I know you're not much of a talker but could you…maybe, _try_?"

"Who says I wasn't going to?"

Bonnie felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. She hadn't made Marceline upset by assuming things, had she? With a dry throat, she tried to make amends. "I wasn't trying to imply that, I just know that stuff is hard for you and I -,"

Marceline cut her off with a soft laugh, and Bonnie looked over to her girlfriend to see her looking down and shaking her head to hide her smile. Bonnie didn't understand why Marceline tried hiding her smile.

(It was pretty gorgeous)

"Stop rambling, oh my god." Marceline found Bonnie's hand and played with the pink haired girl's fingers. "I'll be nice to your family. You know me," Marceline bumped shoulders with Bonnie in what she hoped was a comforting way, "If you care about them, I'll try my best not to be a raging bitch."

Bonnie laughed and kissed Marceline's cheek. "You're not _so_ bad. You're just guarded. Once you get past the tough exterior you're a marshmallow."

Marceline feigned terror and asked, "I'm not going to get another friend calling me food-related nicknames, am I?"

Bonnie innocently batted her eyelids and shrugged as casually as she could. "Well, you told me to think of a creative nickname."

Marceline rolled her eyes in response. "I told you that in _February_. I think the moment has passed."

Bonnie smirked. "Whatever, Marshmallow."

"I have a question, _princess_." Marceline teased, laying back on the bed they were sat on. "If this is your grandparents' house, where the hell are your grandparents?"

"I think they're picking up my cousin from the airport. She's away at college and is flying here because it's cheaper." Bonnie explained, "She'll be staying here overnight and driving up in my grandparents' car with them tomorrow. And _don't_ call me princess"

"I'll call you what I want, _babe_. Do I have to talk to this cousin?" Marceline questioned, finding Bonnie's hand and pulling her down so they were laying side by side.

Bonnie's fingers instinctively weaved their way through Marceline's hair, "Not if you don't want to. We don't get along."

Marceline raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Superficial reasons." Bonnibel flippantly responded. Awkwardly, she shuffled a little closer to Marceline. "I usually outperform her academically, and she's kind of weird about the whole gay thing."

"I thought only your parents knew." Marceline said, "But if she's weird about that, then she's not worth it."

"Yeah, the rest of my family don't know, but she overheard me telling my Mom; of course, my family will all know tomorrow when I introduce you as my girlfriend. I just don't want to deal with my cousin because she's probably going to be extra bitchy because I'm allowed to have my girlfriend here but the entire family pretty much hates her boyfriend so he wasn't invited to the wedding." Bonnie let out a long sigh and traced patterns on the back of Marceline's neck. "Granted, he is a butt."

"Well, I'll pretend I don't know of this cousin's existence while she's here." Marceline leaned in and kissed Bonnie, and the pink haired girl's stomach did a flip; it always surprised her when Marceline initiated physical affection. "How does that sound?"

"It sounds like I'll get you all to myself." Bonnie smiled and tucked a loose strand of Marceline's hair behind her ear, revealing the intimidating black spike in her girlfriend's earlobe. "Which is why I'm looking forward to Sunday when we get to go around New York by ourselves."

"I will only participate if there's kissing involved."

Bonnie smiled and leaned in closer to Marceline, softly whispering into her girlfriend's ear, " _That_ can be arranged."

* * *

"Bonnibel, we haven't seen you for nearly _half a year_!"

Bonnie stood up from where she had perched herself on the stairs and was pulled into a tight, bone crushing hug. Before she'd moved, she used to think her Grandma gave the best hugs; now, she was second to Marceline. "Hey, Grandma. How have you been?"

"I've been fine. I've heard all about your special friend from your Mom." At that, Bonnie's cheeks began to glow a light pink, which deepened as her Grandma continued, "So, when do I get to meet him?"

Her Mom _hadn't_ told her Grandma that Marceline was a girl?

For a second, Bonnie debated just rolling with it until she figured out a better way to break it to her Grandma that she was gay, but eventually, the pink haired girl just shrugged and thought, _screw it_. "She's in the guest room I usually stay in with all of our stuff and the cat."

Stormo – who was named by Gracie – was Bonnie's grandparents' cat. He was a little white fluffy thing, and the second he had entered the guest bedroom, Marceline had completely ignored Bonnie for him. She'd expected that reaction; she knew how Marceline was with animals.

Bonnie's Grandma shot her a look which was a mixture of surprise and confusion. "She?"

"Yes, she." Bonnie promptly replied as her Grandad walked in. She shot him a smile, but continued talking to her Grandma. "I have a girlfriend, Grandma. Her name is Marceline, she's seventeen too but a little under a month older than me, and she's a musician. We met at my new school."

Surprisingly, her Grandma warmly smiled and said, "Well, she sounds very nice. I'd love to meet her in a little while."

With that, Bonnie turned to her Grandad and pulled him in for a hug. "How have you been, Grandad?"

Her Grandad gave her the usual long-winded update, and after around ten minutes of his rambling and being glared at by her cousin, Bonnie was looking for an excuse to leave. Eventually, the pink haired girl made the terrible excuse of needing to do her hair and then darted back to the guest room before her cousin could say anything to her.

She slipped back into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She turned to Marceline – who, typically, was still cuddling the cat – and smiled. "Hey. My Grandparents are back, so you can meet them whenever you're ready."

"So…never?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes and sat herself down next to her girlfriend. "Very funny. As much as you dislike meeting people, you're going to have to do it eventually."

Marceline ignored Bonnie's response. "I thought you said your grandparents ramble so you'd be a while."

"They do." Bonnie said, "I made the excuse of needing to do my hair to get away from them, which, admittedly, I do need to do. My bangs are too long, so I was thinking about putting them to the side, kind of like how yours is. Except, you know, yours is _meant_ to be like that and mine isn't. I'll figure something out."

Marceline let a small smile settle on her face. She thought it was absolutely adorable when Bonnie rambled. "I could cut them back in for you."

Bonnie let out an awkward chuckle and shook her head. "No offence, Marceline, but I don't think that's the best idea. You're not exactly a professional hairdresser."

"I cut my own hair." Marceline supplied, before shrugging, "But if you don't want to take me up on the offer, don't. I don't mind."

With that extra information, Bonnie's blue eyes lit up in interest. She wasn't going to lie, she _was_ rather jealous of how perfect Marceline's hair always seemed to be. "Well…if you've done it before, I guess I could let you try."

Marceline's face lit up, and she sat up and reached around the back of Bonnie's neck, pulling the other girl's pink hair from the hair tie it was in. "I'll do it as long as you're sure. I don't want you letting me because you feel like you have to."

"No, that's not it. I just…your hair is really nice, okay? And if you're the one that cuts it…" Bonnie trailed off, hoping that the implication at the end of her sentence was obvious.

"You're certain you want me to do this?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, a teasing smirk raising the corners of her mouth.

"One hundred percent." Bonnie firmly responded, nodding in confirmation.

"Okay," Marceline found Bonnie's hand and squeezed it, "Go and wash your hair and I'll cut it from when it's wet. I find it easier to do that."

Bonnie let out a little squeak in happiness and wrapped her arms around Marceline, hugging her with so much force that the two nearly fell back against the bed. Bonnie pressed a kiss to Marceline's cheek. "Thank you, Marcy! I'll be right back."

With that, Bonnie darted out of the room, leaving Marceline biting on her lip to hide her smile.

* * *

Bonnie was carefully washing the shampoo out of her hair when there was a knock on the bathroom door. Reflexively, she went to warn the person not to come in, but the door pushed open and Marceline slipped in. Suddenly, Bonnie was very thankful that she'd put bubbles in her bath.

Marceline closed the door and locked it, walking over to Bonnie, whose face had turned bright red in embarrassment. Completely unembarrassed, Marceline spoke. "So, I just met your Grandma and she like, automatically gave me a hug and then gave me some cookies. Apparently we have snacks for while I'm doing your hair."

Bonnie's hands immediately went up to cover her chest as Marceline sat on the floor by the bathtub. "Um, Marceline? I'm kind of…you know…I'm not really comfortable in this situation."

Marceline jabbed her thumb over her shoulder and pointed at the door. "You want me to leave?"

"Well," Bonnie let out a long sigh, praying to every religion she could think of that the bubbles in her bath wouldn't move, "I'm kind of in a bit of an… _awkward_ situation, and I think it might be best? You know, if I was left alone."

"You think I'm going to see you naked and get some sort of weird, sexual idea, don't you?" Marceline raised an amused eyebrow and softly laughed. "I just wanted to offer you some assistance in washing your hair. You know, so you can relax and all, because I know that being around family can be stressful and stuff."

Bonnie felt a little bad as Marceline stood up, and she carefully gripped onto the other girl's wrist before she walked away. "You _just_ want to wash my hair?"

Marceline held her hands up and nodded. "Promise."

"Okay," Bonnie nodded, although she _did_ still feel a little uncomfortable, and not because she was worried her girlfriend might do something.

The insecurity Bonnie felt back at the swimming pool in London resurfaced. Marceline had a _much_ nicer body than she did, and she didn't want her to see anything that might make Marceline any less attracted to her.

"Bonnie?"

Bonnibel snapped back into reality and looked up at Marceline. "Yes?"

"Have you done anything yet?" Marceline asked.

"Um, yes. Shampoo." Bonnie awkwardly responded, shifting uncomfortably as Marceline rolled up the sleeves of her black sweater and leaned over to grab the conditioner. Desperate to take her mind off of her insecurities, Bonnie quickly added, "Can you do it like how you do yours?"

Marceline frowned a little as she squeezed out a reasonable amount of conditioner, "What do you mean?"

"Well, your hair is always really soft." Bonnie explained, "Is there any way to make it like that?"

"I'll try my best." Marceline assured, before she carefully rubbed the conditioner through Bonnie's hair.

Admittedly, having Marceline wash her hair _did_ relax her, and Bonnie closed her eyes as her girlfriend gently massaged the conditioner into her scalp. As if Marceline had sensed how uncomfortable Bonnie had previously felt, she began humming soft melodies as she worked.

Marceline watched as Bonnie became a lot less rigid and tense, and allowed herself a smile as she finished rubbing the conditioner into Bonnie's hair. Marceline stuck her hands in the water and washed off the remaining conditioner, feeling a knot in her chest tighten when she saw Bonnie open her eyes and uncomfortably jerk away from her.

"Hey, it's okay." Marceline assured. "I'm not going to do anything."

"You just took me off guard." Bonnie muttered. She tried her best to speak up, but it seemed like her throat had closed over. "Um…why didn't you wash the conditioner out of my hair?"

"Because," Marceline moved back so she was sitting cross-legged on the floor; all the kneeling to reach Bonnie was reasonably uncomfortable, "Usually, I leave it on for like five minutes so it kind of…soaks in better? Probably not the right wording, but still. Yeah."

"Oh. Okay." Bonnie nodded in response, nervously eyeing the quickly thinning bubbles in her bath. "Just for five minutes?"

Marceline rolled her eyes. _Fuck it_ , she thought. "Bonnie, in case you didn't realise, a) I know you're asexual. I'm _not_ going to do anything to you, and b) I _don't_ care what your body looks like. You're absolutely gorgeous, and I can tell that you don't see it. If you weren't comfortable with this, why didn't you just tell me to leave when I offered?"

"It's not you." Bonnie quickly replied. She really didn't want this to turn into an argument; they'd nearly been dating for two months without any arguments, and she didn't want to ruin that now. "I _promise_ it's not you. You know how much I trust you."

"Then what _is_ it?" Marceline pressed.

"It's just…I hate feeling vulnerable, and that's how I feel right now…and I think back to things that have happened before when I've been vulnerable, like how Ricardio tried to…you know, and it scares me." Bonnie admitted. "It's not that I don't trust you, because I do. _So much_. I just remember bad things and think the worst."

The knot in Marceline's chest pulled itself tighter. "I'm sorry, Bonnie."

"It's okay." Bonnibel sent Marceline a weak smile and continued. "About the body image thing; I feel insecure about the way my body looks, especially in swimming costumes and unclothed. I'm not skinny, and I know that, and when I compare myself to people like you -,"

" _Don't_ say that." Marceline interrupted her. She shot Bonnie a serious look which was so out of character that Bonnie was taken aback. "Don't compare yourself to me. You're healthy, and you're beautiful. That should be enough."

"I know, but when I see people like you -,"

"What did I _just_ say?" Marceline raised an eyebrow and a bitter, exasperated laugh sounded in the back of her throat. "Bonnie, I've _never_ been a healthy weight, okay? You shouldn't compare yourself to me. It's not good."

Bonnie thought back to all the times she'd seen Marceline eat – honestly, there weren't many – and she felt a horrible cold sensation running down her spine. The lack of eating, the general avoidance of food, the stomach rumbles followed by 'I'm fine'. _No,_ Bonnie thought, _please don't let what I'm thinking be right_. "Marceline…do you have an eating disorder?"

Marceline stared at her hesitantly and then cleared her throat. "We should probably wash your conditioner off."

 _No. Tell me. Please_ , Bonnie thought, _please tell me you're okay._ "Yeah, we probably should."

Marceline took a deep breath and then leaned forward, helping Bonnie wash the conditioner from her hair. Bonnie noticed how shaky Marceline's hands had become, and she carefully pulled her hand out from under the water and grabbed one of Marceline's.

(She'd stopped caring about where the bubbles had moved)

"Are you okay?" Bonnie shot Marceline a pleading look, begging her to tell Bonnie the truth about everything, hoping that she'd disprove Bonnie's worries.

"Fine." Marceline rasped, pulling her hand from Bonnie's and continuing washing the conditioner from Bonnie's hair.

Bonnie didn't believe her, and Marceline _knew_ she didn't. She couldn't meet Bonnie's gaze; the look of genuine concern in her girlfriend's eyes made her feel guilty pangs in her chest.

 _Tell her,_ the one lucid part of Marceline's brain, the last coherent shred of thought she had left inside of her begged, _just tell her everything._

Instead, Marceline robotically continued washing Bonnie's hair, and the pink haired girl could've sworn she was close to tears with worry. "Marceline -,"

"I'm _fine_." The words were harsher this time, and Bonnie knew she should step off.

"I'm going to drop this." Bonnie carefully announced, watching as her girlfriend focused every ounce of her being on washing the conditioner out, "For now. But I want you to know that you can trust me with anything, and that I'll be there to support you when you decide to trust me with this. _If_ you decide to trust me with this."

She felt a few droplets of water dripping down the back of her neck, and realised Marceline had stopped trying to do her hair. Bonnie glanced up and saw Marceline staring at her so intensely that she couldn't tell what emotion the other girl was trying to convey.

Marceline bit on her lip, before she breathed out, "Thank you."

Although Bonnie was still immensely concerned, she felt a little better when she saw Marceline's body relax; albeit only a little bit.

As Marceline went back to calmly washing Bonnie's hair, the pink haired girl promised herself she would do whatever it took to help Marceline from her position.

(Which, admittedly, wasn't a very good position, but she'd try.)

* * *

"I can't believe you _actually_ let me do this." Marceline murmured as she trimmed Bonnie's fringe.

"You said you cut your own hair, so…yeah. I trust you to do well." Bonnie shot her girlfriend a reassuring smile; Marceline was still being a little quiet.

"I'm _so_ sorry if I fuck up." Marceline softly responded. "Where do you want me to cut it to?"

Bonnie found it a little hard to reply, as Marceline stuck her tongue out in concentration as she worked, and Bonnie's stomach did a backflip. "It's okay. Do it so it's like, eyebrow level."

Marceline nodded and continued trimming with a look of pure concentration on her face; Bonnie watched with a look of adoration. Bonnie let out a small sigh of content; she was so unbelievably lucky to have such an adorable girlfriend.

"I think I'm done." Marceline announced, standing back and putting the scissors down. "I don't know, I've never done this on another person before."

Bonnie shrugged nonchalantly – although she _was_ anxious to see how Marceline had done. "Okay. I trust your judgement."

"Your Grandma has a hairdryer, right?" Marceline asked.

"Yeah, I'll run and get it for you." Bonnie stood up and snuck into her grandparents' bedroom. She grabbed the hairdryer from her Grandma's dresser, and – resisting the temptation to look in the mirror – she made her way back into the bedroom and handed it to Marceline.

Marceline plugged it in, but before turning it on, murmured, "Bonnie?"

"Yeah?" Bonnie could tell Marceline was a little worried, and sent her a careful, reassuring smile.

"Could you maybe go easy on me?" Marceline questioned, "You know, if you don't like it."

A light-hearted laugh sounded in Bonnie's throat, and the pink haired girl leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to Marceline's lips; Marceline's stomach squirmed in the best way possible. "I'm sure I'll love it."

Bonnie could see the relief washing over Marceline's face. "Okay, awesome."

Marceline went to turn the hairdryer on, and Bonnie quickly grabbed her hand to stop her. "Hey, wait."

"What?"

Bonnie reached over to the plate of cookies her Grandma had given Marceline; Bonnie was the only one who had eaten any. She glanced up at Marceline, and although her girlfriend _seemed_ relaxed, Bonnie noticed the little flash of wariness in her eyes.

Bonnie split a cookie in half, and held out the bigger piece to Marceline. "Share this with me."

Almost immediately, as if it was some sort of automatic function programmed into her, Marceline shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

Bonnie inwardly cursed; her plan to get Marceline to eat something hadn't worked. She _knew_ it'd been a long shot, but she wasn't going to give up. The thought of Marceline struggling through something like an eating disorder alone made her feel as though she was being punched in the gut.

Stealthily, Bonnie switched her hands so she was holding out the smaller piece. "Come on, open up."

Reluctantly, Marceline took the half from Bonnie, and the pink haired girl felt a warm feeling spread across her chest. _She'd done it._

(She put making Marceline eat on her list of accomplishments for the day.)

But, when Marceline split her half of the cookie into another half and only ate the smaller piece, Bonnie felt her chest tighten. She picked up the second half of Marceline's piece, and held it out. "Open up."

Marceline shot her a pleading look and slowly shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

Bonnibel carefully put the piece down, and attempted to swallow the lump in her throat. "Okay. Dry my hair."

Marceline nodded and turned the hairdryer on, focusing everything in her on finishing Bonnie's hair. It was an arduous task; every single corner of her brain was screaming at her, _she knows, no matter what you say or do, she knows_. _She knows how fucked up you are. Why would someone as perfect as her want to date someone as disgusting as you_?

Bonnie felt Marceline's fingertips graze the skin on her neck and shivered as her nerve endings sparked. Marceline kept focused on drying Bonnie's hair, because _maybe if I just keep quiet and do stuff for her, she won't leave me._

Marceline kept the hairdryer on longer than she needed to, and Bonnie had to carefully take it off of her and switch it off herself. The pink haired girl placed it on the dresser and shot Marceline a sad smile. "Do you want to show me the finished look?"

Marceline shook her head and mumbled something along the lines of, "I need to brush your hair," so Bonnie grabbed her hairbrush from her backpack and offered it to her girlfriend.

"Thanks." Marceline sent her a weak smile and began brushing through Bonnie's hair.

Once that task was done, there was nothing left for Marceline to distract herself with, so she took Bonnie over to the mirror and half-heartedly gestured towards the pink haired girl's reflection and muttered, "Voila."

It's safe to say that Bonnie was amazed. She couldn't believe how well Marceline had done it; it looked exactly like she'd just come from the hairdresser's. Her bangs were cut so cleanly that Bonnie wouldn't be surprised if she showed up at a salon and Marceline was working there.

Bonnie let out a little squeal of happiness – momentarily forgetting all of her worries for the evening – and wrapped her arms around Marceline in excitement. "It's _perfect!_ Thank you!"

Marceline felt Bonnie's lips press against her cheek, and her heart seemed to stutter. "I…you really like it?"

" _Yes_ , I do." Bonnie met Marceline's gaze, and she flashed the other girl an overjoyed grin. "You did it really well. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Marceline was stunned that she'd actually managed to do it; she just assumed she'd screw up. That's what she did with most things.

"I'll buy you a chocolate bar tomorrow in thanks." Bonnie beamed; she hoped that was sneaky enough.

Thankfully, Marceline didn't seem to pick up on the implication behind her statement. "Okay. I seriously didn't fuck up?"

Bonnie laughed, although it _did_ upset her that Marceline was so surprised she did well. "Seriously. You did _perfectly_."

"Alright. Cool." Marceline nodded and weaved her fingers with Bonnie's. "Thanks for trusting me near your face with scissors."

"Of course I trust you."

Bonnie's face gleamed with positivity, and Marceline couldn't help but feel a little better, too.


	41. forty-one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie go to a wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings - eating disorder

**Saturday 16th August 2014**

"Why the hell am I doing this?" Marceline shifted uncomfortably on her seat in the car and smoothed out the black dress she was wearing; Bonnie was as surprised as anyone that Marceline had actually worn one and not a pair of skinny jeans and Vans.

Granted, Marceline _was_ still wearing her Vans, but Bonnie had decided it was a small compromise for her girlfriend wearing a _dress_. "Because you care about me and you didn't want me to go to my Aunt's wedding dateless."

Marceline huffed a little and turned to Bonnie, a light pink tint to her pale cheeks – which Bonnie had noticed had been there since this morning when she first put on the dress at Bonnie's grandparents' house. "I'm changing into skinny jeans the second this wedding is over."

Bonnie pouted a little; although she loved how Marceline usually dressed, seeing her girlfriend wearing a simple black dress made her knees weak. "Okay. I'll take you sightseeing tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, that'll be fun." Marceline nodded, and leaned over in the car and kissed Bonnie's cheek. Then, she timidly looked up and said, "I know this sounds weird coming from me, but do I look okay?"

"You look _beautiful_ , Marceline." Bonnie beamed over at her girlfriend and played with a strand of Marceline's inky black hair. "You always do."

"Thanks." The blush on Marceline's cheeks deepened and she began fiddling with Bonnie's fingers. "You look gorgeous, by the way."

Bonnie smiled and gave her girlfriend's hand a squeeze. "You told me when I first got ready. I'm glad you like the dress."

Marceline watched as Bonnibel smoothed out the white dress she was wearing. Bonnie's hair looked amazing – and although Bonnie knew she wouldn't admit it, it was because of Marceline that it looked so great - and it was loosely tied back. Bonnie had put a lot of effort into her makeup – the pink haired girl _envied_ how Marceline only wore mascara and eyeliner and still looked flawless. "Honestly, Bonnie, you could wear a trash bag and I'd probably still be attracted to you."

Bonnie chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Thanks, I think. I'm honestly surprised you didn't try to come in your pyjamas."

"I _wish_ that was an option." Marceline responded, stretching a little. "I still don't get why we had to get up at like 4AM."

"Because it's a six hour drive from my grandparents' house to where the wedding is taking place, and the wedding ceremony is at 11:30." Bonnie explained, "We needed to get there in good time."

Marceline yawned in response. "So are you like, a bridesmaid or whatever?"

"Originally I was supposed to be one, but then we moved and I couldn't be there for all of the organisation and stuff, so I dropped out." Bonnie explained, "My Mom is still one, though. I'm kind of glad I'm not one, to be honest. The dress would've clashed with my hair."

Marceline snorted with laughter. "You _seriously_ have the problem with things _clashing_ with your hair? Wow."

"It's a real thing." Bonnie insisted, holding her hands up in defence. "You just don't get it because you have black hair and _everything_ goes with black. I mean, back when I was blonde I didn't have this problem."

"I didn't know your natural hair colour was blonde." Marceline stated.

Bonnie frowned. She could've sworn she'd told Marceline. "I thought I told you? I swear I've mentioned it before, but probably passively within conversation."

"Sometimes I forget you weren't born with pink hair." Marceline absently responded, "I mean, I've never seen you with any other hair colour so I'd probably be pretty tripped out if I saw you with any other colour. If that makes sense."

"I get it." Bonnie nodded, "But yeah, I'm a natural blonde. At first my parents didn't want me to do it because they thought it'd be a little too much, but I begged them and they finally caved. Kind of like your Dad with your nose ring."

"He didn't cave with that, I just went and did it anyway." Marceline responded, "Pretty sure I told you I did it to piss him off."

"Yeah, I remember that." Bonnie nodded. "I don't know, I guess dyeing my hair was my little teenage rebellion."

Marceline laughed; Bonnie's stomach flipped. "You think dyeing your hair is rebellious? Cute."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow and let out a little scoff. "What? I bet _you've_ never done anything rebellious. I bet you're all talk."

"The principal at our school _hates_ me. Why do you think that is?" Marceline smirked a little and sat back in her seat.

"I doubt he _hates_ you." Bonnie shot back, "But _why_ , what did you do?"

"Well, _actually_ , 90% of the staff hated me in freshman year." Marceline corrected, "But Keila and I had a reputation for pranks and we both ended up in trouble a lot. Literally _every time_ something bad happens the principal automatically assumes I did it."

"I _do_ think it's wrong for him to assume you did bad stuff just because you did a few years ago." Bonnie began, "But you shouldn't have done bad things in the first place."

"What can I say? Keila is a bad influence."

"So, in turn, _you're_ a bad influence on me?"

"Exactly. Turning you into a badass one step at a time."

* * *

Bonnie couldn't wipe the smile off of her face.

Although she was sat on a rather uncomfortable fold out chair, and ignoring the fact that the church hall they were in was freezing, she was happy.

Her Aunt Susan looked gorgeous in her white wedding dress, and Gracie looked adorable as a bridesmaid. Both her Aunt and her soon to be Uncle looked so content and Bonnie could feel everyone in the room radiating positivity.

Her fingers were wound tightly around Marceline's, and every so often she would glance over at her girlfriend and be reminded of how gorgeous she looked in a dress. Sometimes Marceline would catch her eye and send her a smile that made her nerve endings spark and her heart would stammer and her breath would catch in her throat and Bonnie would realise how much she wanted what her Aunt had; a happily ever after.

The size of Bonnie's smile multiplied by ten when her Aunt was finally married.

The photos were less enjoyable – after her Aunt had snapped a few photographs of Bonnibel and Marceline together, Marceline excused herself to the car until Bonnie had finished taking photographs with her family. Of course, she didn't leave without giving Bonnie a kiss on the cheek, which earned her a few stares from family members.

Once Bonnie was no longer needed for the photographs, she made her way to the car and looked through the window. Marceline was occupying herself with her phone, and Bonnie carefully knocked on the car window, her fist making little tapping sounds on the glass which were enough to gather Marceline's attention.

Marceline waved at Bonnie through the glass, before she pushed open the car door. She made no effort to move, but locked her phone and – to Bonnie's amusement – put her hand down her dress and put her phone in her bra. "Hey. Is the photoshoot over already?"

"Everything I'm needed for is over, yes. We can head in to where the food is going to be, if you want." Bonnie offered. She was praying Marceline would say yes – Bonnie had decided if Marceline didn't say anything to her about her eating today, she was going to confront her. She _needed_ to know if Marceline was okay; leaving the topic alone was killing her.

"Sure." Marceline stood up and closed the car door, holding the keys out to Bonnie. "Do you want to take these back to your parents, or…?"

"Nah, I'll hang onto them." Bonnie opened up the little purse she'd brought with her and put the car keys inside. Then, she found Marceline's hand and walked with her girlfriend through the empty parking lot.

Bonnie peered around to where the photos were being taken and smiled a little. Everyone looked so happy. Although she already knew she wanted to get married in the future, she wished she could have that.

She found herself asking, "Do you ever want to get married?"

Marceline made a noncommittal hand gesture, which was paired with a vague 'eh'. "I don't know. Maybe if I found the right person. Weddings are kind of boring though, so I might ditch to watch a Buffy marathon or something."

"What if – and this is only hypothetical – what if we got married? Would you want me to be disappointed at the altar if you ditched me for TV?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, hoping that she looked casual while asking. She didn't want Marceline to know that she was actually a little _worried_ about her answer.

"Well, for starters, we wouldn't get married in a church because neither of us is religious, so there wouldn't _be_ an altar." Marceline pointed out. "If it was you I was getting married to, I'd skip Buffy. I might retreat into a closet somewhere with my laptop later on in the day – you know how human interaction tires me out – but I'd do it for you."

Bonnie stopped in her tracks, and Marceline turned to see her girlfriend softly smiling to herself. Before Marceline could ask _why_ Bonnie had suddenly stopped, the pink haired girl spoke. "You'd ditch _Buffy_ for me?"

Marceline nodded, "Of course I would, I – _,"_

She was cut off by Bonnie giving her a tight hug, and Marceline honestly didn't understand why it meant so much to Bonnie.

(It was kind of hilarious.)

After a few seconds, Bonnibel felt Marceline's chest rumble with laughter, and she looked up to see her girlfriend trying to hold in her smile.

Innocently, Bonnie frowned. "What?"

"You're so _cute_." Marceline laughed harder. "I can't believe you're actually surprised I _wouldn't_ watch TV if we got married."

"Well, you ignore other important things for television." Bonnie pointed out. "You know, like homework, other schoolwork in general, human interaction, do I really _need_ to go on?"

Marceline just shrugged and let out a soft, light-hearted hum. "You know I get tired out around other people. It's just… _draining_."

Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand and traced patterns on her girlfriend's knuckles. "I agree. That closet you'd retreat into at our hypothetical wedding? Make room for me and bring some Criminal Minds with you."

"Criminal Minds?" Marceline raised a confused eyebrow. "You watch that?"

"You _don't_?" Bonnie shot back. At Marceline's head shake, she sent her girlfriend a look of mock disgust, dropping her hand. "I'm not sure you're the right girl for me, Marceline. Sorry. Until you educate yourself, we're on hold."

"Fuck off," Marceline rolled her eyes, "Binge watching session at your place when we get back?"

Bonnie grinned and kissed Marceline's cheek. "Sure. You can stay over so we can watch it until 3AM."

"Alright." Marceline nodded, before gesturing towards an entrance to a new building. "Are we going in here?"

Bonnie moved forward and examined the door. The paint was peeling off and the hinges were rusted and she'd expected the building to look a lot fancier – instead, it was made of pale brick and looked rather boring and dull; there was a lack of wedding decorations outside, and Bonnie became less certain this was where they were meant to be. "I think so."

Marceline pushed the door open for her and Bonnie ducked inside. Marceline followed her in, the door slowly shutting behind them due to lack of support. Bonnie stepped under a little archway and her face broke out into a grin.

The room had several tables set out – two or three for family, two for friends, and the top table for the main people in the wedding. Bonnie stepped into the room, her eyes sweeping over the decorations. There were banners on the walls, all reading 'congratulations' and there were several different flower decorations – one of Bonnie's Aunts was a florist – and the pink haired girl found little homemade boxes with bride and groom cookies in on each table; one which had been professionally decorated, and the other which looked very childlike – the icing was wobbly and some things were misplaced; her Aunt must have let Gracie do those.

Bonnie spun around to Marceline with a smile playing at her lips. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yeah. I guess." Marceline shrugged. Bonnie felt Marceline's arms snake around her waist, before she was pulled closer to the other girl. "I can think of things that top it, though."

Bonnie's cheeks suddenly felt a whole lot warmer, and she felt herself getting closer to Marceline. She didn't know if it was her moving or her girlfriend.

(Turns out it was both of them.)

Bonnie pushed herself up on her tiptoes to close the miniscule amount of space left between them, and she felt her fingers lock at the back of Marceline's neck as she kissed her girlfriend. For once, Marceline's hands were on her waist and _not_ tickling her – not that Bonnie was focusing on Marceline's hands more than she was focusing on her lips.

(Marceline's lips were the _only_ thing on her mind.)

Bonnie felt Marceline's teeth graze against her lip and she felt a small shiver down her spine as Marceline deepened the kiss and she could feel Marceline's heartbeat in her chest as their bodies pressed together and Bonnie felt every nerve ending in her body fizzle out.

Marceline took the small noise that vibrated at the back of Bonnie's throat as a good sign and when Bonnibel had a moment of courage in the spur of the moment and her tongue did – _oh god, that_ – Marceline felt her heart falter and her breath hitch in her throat.

They pulled apart – slowly – and their lips were still brushing when Bonnie murmured, "Making out in an empty room at a wedding. Sounds a little…overplayed, don't you think?"

Her eyes still closed and a blissful smile on her lips, Marceline breathily responded, "I don't care."

* * *

Bonnie engaged in petty conversation with her family, answering the usual questions like _how's school_ or _what are your grades like_ or _have you got a boyfriend yet_ , at which point she would correct them with the word girlfriend and point them to Marceline, _then_ having to answer a batch of new questions such as _how long have you two been together_ , _since when were you gay_ , and her older straight male cousin's favourite, _can I watch_ , which was all very tiring and Bonnie really didn't have time for it as she was too busy trying to monitor what Marceline was eating.

(Which wasn't much _at all._ )

Once she'd answered the same questions around a million times, she finally had some peace and turned to an awkward looking Marceline who was getting questioned by Bonnie's grandma; Bonnie knew how strenuous that could be.

"Hey, Marceline." Bonnie cut into the conversation, and at Marceline's thankful look, she knew her girlfriend had been getting bored with the constant questions. "Can I talk to you for a moment? It's important."

"Sure," Marceline flashed her teeth in a smile and turned to Bonnie's grandma. She sent the woman an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry – Bonnie says she's got something important to tell me."

"That's okay," Judging by her grandma's smile, Bonnie could tell she'd taken a liking to Marceline. Bonnie felt a triumphant little smile settle on her face; Bea would've never sat and had a conversation with her grandma.

Marceline spun around to Bonnie, and cast an enthralling smile in her girlfriend's direction. "What's up, Bon?"

Bonnie felt her stomach lurch – in a good way – at the new nickname, and sent Marceline a secretive kind of smile. "I figured you needed rescuing. I know my family can ramble."

Marceline waved a hand in dismissal. "It's fine. Must be where you get the trait from."

"I guess so." Bonnie nodded. Her gaze flicked down to Marceline's plate, and her throat closed over when she noticed how full it was. "But hey, I've got you away from conversation, so you can finish your food now."

Bonnie nodded down to Marceline's plate, and for a second the dark haired girl looked so helpless and lost that Bonnie wanted to do nothing more than hold her tell her it was okay, and she felt _horrible_ for passive-aggressively trying to get Marceline to eat but she just felt so powerless and she didn't want Marceline to suffer through anything alone.

"I…" Marceline's voice wobbled and she cleared her throat. She looked up at Bonnie and there were tears in her eyes and Bonnie carefully found Marceline's shaky hand and squeezed it comfortingly. After a moment of hesitation, Marceline nodded and picked up her fork. "Okay. Sorry."

Marceline's demeanour had changed from confident and happy to chastised and miserable in a matter of seconds and Bonnie felt sick; she felt like she was almost _punishing_ her girlfriend. She had to look away to hold herself together because she knew she was doing what was best for Marceline in the long run – even if Marceline didn't think so.

After a few minutes she heard the small clatter of cutlery on a plate, but she didn't look back until she heard a small, "Bonnie?"

Bonnie forced herself to meet Marceline's gaze, and her heart broke at the sight. Marceline looked like she wanted to cry and she looked so frightened and Bonnie wasn't sure if Marceline was frightened of _her_.

Bonnie took – what she _hoped_ – was a subtle glance at Marceline's plate, and a proud smile lifted the corners of her mouth. Almost double of what Marceline had eaten before was gone. True, the plate _was_ still rather full, but Bonnie was satisfied. She'd made a small victory.

When she looked back to Marceline, her girlfriend looked so scared and uncertain that Bonnie's smile shattered. She pulled Marceline into her arms and rubbed comforting circles on her back. Marceline hid her face in Bonnie's neck and Bonnie didn't want to think that Marceline was crying; but it was likely she was.

Bonnie brushed Marceline's hair behind her ear and whispered, "Thank you. I'm so proud of you."

"There's nothing wrong with me." Marceline shakily murmured, and Bonnie wasn't sure if Marceline was talking to her or trying to assure herself.

Regardless, the statement caused a stabbing pain in her chest and Bonnie nodded. "There's nothing wrong with you. You're okay."

Marceline pulled away from her, and Bonnie let her go. She watched as Marceline's fingers played with the hem of the tablecloth, and her heart ached for Marceline to feel better.

"So, what sort of things do you want to do tomorrow?" Bonnie tried keeping her tone positive and found Marceline's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Any specific places you want to visit?"

Marceline ignored her and focused on the tablecloth. She didn't look like she'd acknowledged Bonnie's question whatsoever.

Bonnie swallowed a lump in her throat, and traced patterns on Marceline's knuckles. "Okay. You don't want to talk. That's okay. I'm not going anywhere."

Marceline's thumb twitched, and Bonnie looked down to see her girlfriend link their fingers together. She relaxed; Marceline wasn't angry at her.

Marceline glanced in Bonnie's direction for a moment and the pink haired girl desperately tried to make herself look as reassuring and comforting as possible. _Please open up to me,_ Bonnie thought _, tell me what's going on, I'm begging you._

Unfortunately, Marceline looked away again, and Bonnie's face fell. Then, the dark haired girl dropped her hand and stood up, walking towards the door. Immediately, Bonnie jumped up and followed her, praying that Marceline wasn't going to do anything reckless.

Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief when Marceline went outside and sank down on the grass behind the building.

Bonnie followed her lead – hoping she wouldn't get grass stains on her dress – and sent Marceline a smile she wished was reassuring. "Please talk to me. I'm just trying to help."

"There's nothing to help me with. I'm _fine_." Marceline said. "Please just leave me alone for a while? _Please_."

Marceline finally met Bonnie's gaze and she looked so _humiliated_ that Bonnie felt a pang of guilt in her chest. _She'd_ done this. Choking back a sob, she hurriedly spluttered out, "Sorry," before getting up and running away from her girlfriend.

 _Had she ruined everything? Did Marceline hate her? Were they going to break up?_ Horrible questions ran through her mind as she found her own quiet spot and willed herself not to cry. Her breaths came out in short rhythmic spasms and she told herself to keep it together – she couldn't get upset and ruin her Aunt's day. She _wouldn't_ let herself cry.

(She cried. A lot.)

* * *

"Stop that."

Bonnie's head shot up to see Marceline awkwardly stood in front of her. Bonnie didn't hesitate; she ran forwards and pulled Marceline in for a hug, squeezing her girlfriend so tight she was worried she'd snap her in two. "Marceline! Are you okay?"

"Um…I'm not the one that's crying." Marceline's usual sarcastic tone sounded a little forced and half-hearted. Bonnie didn't blame her.

Bonnie guessed that Marceline didn't want to talk about what had happened, but she still felt _so_ guilty. "I'm really sorry I did that. Really. But _thank you_."

(And as much as she hated it, Bonnie knew she'd have to do it again.)

Marceline ignored her. "Come on. You need cleaning up. You look like a clown."

Bonnie let out a watery laugh. "Thanks. Meanie."

"Come on." Marceline led her to the bathrooms, and pushed open the door with her foot. She guided Bonnie inside; luckily for Bonnie, it was empty.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and her expression soured. "I really _do_ look like a clown."

Marceline found a cloth and dampened it, rubbing at the smeared makeup on her girlfriend's face. Marceline's hands were shaking and she was so gentle and Bonnie felt even worse – she'd hurt the most amazing girl on the planet.

Bonnie sniffled a little and felt a fresh wave of tears pricking at her eyes. "I'm sorry, Marceline. I'll back off."

To Bonnie's complete surprise, Marceline laughed. "Jesus, _stop_ apologising. You're so emotional. And I thought _I_ was a mess."

Bonnie carefully examined Marceline for a second. She appeared to be feeling much better, but Bonnie could tell from the apprehensive look in her eyes that she wasn't. Marceline didn't trust her.

"Stop acting like everything's okay and just _tell me_ what's going on. I'm worried about you." Bonnie sent Marceline a careful look, which morphed into a supportive smile when Marceline glanced at her in fright. "It's okay, Marcy. You can trust me."

"I…" Marceline's throat closed over and – _oh god, are those tears_? Bonnie considered taking it back, but she _needed_ to know. It was killing her. "I can't tell you. You'll leave me."

Bonnie hastily shook her head and pulled Marceline in for a hug. "I won't. I won't leave you, Marceline. I swear."

"You'll get weird about it and make me do stuff." Marceline murmured.

"Marceline, if I ask you something, can you promise me you'll give me a straight answer? I promise I won't make you do anything you don't want to do, okay? I _promise_." At Marceline's small, hesitant nod, Bonnie swallowed the lump in her throat. "You have anorexia, don't you?"

 _Please don't nod, please don't nod, please don't nod_ , Bonnie begged.

Marceline nodded.

Bonnie felt a knot tighten in her chest, and she pulled Marceline even closer to her. Her heart shattered when the first thing that came out of Marceline's mouth was, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise. It's alright." Bonnie whispered, kissing Marceline's cheek. "Why didn't you want to tell me?"

"Nobody knows." Then, Marceline's eyes widened, "Please don't tell Keila. _Please_."

Marceline looked so helpless and Bonnie wanted to cry. "I won't. I'll keep your secrets, you don't need to worry about that. Does anyone know aside from me?"

"Simon." Marceline mumbled, "He made me go to the doctor."

"Okay." Bonnie felt someone pull on that invisible knot in her chest, "Will you let me help you?"

Marceline nodded, and in a small, cracked voice confirmed, "Yes."

Bonnie allowed herself a small smile and found Marceline's hand, squeezing it. "That's good. I'll be here whenever you need help, Marcy. You don't need to suffer in silence."

Marceline nodded, and then cleared her throat and tried a smile – although it was awkward and forced and came out more like a pained grimace. "Alright. Can we get cleaned up and go back in?"

Understanding that Marceline probably didn't want to talk about it any further, Bonnie leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Marceline's lips. "Sure."

* * *

Bonnie unlocked the door to her Aunt's apartment with the spare key she knew was hidden on the top of the door.

(She had to get Marceline to help her reach it.)

Then, she pushed open the door and sent a happy smile to her Aunt, keeping a firm hold on Marceline's hand. "Congratulations!"

Susan pulled her in for a tight hug as her parents walked into the apartment with Gracie. "Thank you. Are you girls having a nice day?"

It was clear that this question was directed at both her and Marceline. Not wanting to let her Aunt down, Bonnie smiled. "Yeah, we are. The wedding was really lovely, right Marceline?"

"Yeah," Marceline nodded in agreement, "Thanks for letting me come along."

Susan sent her a warm smile, "Oh, don't worry about it. I know Bonnibel wanted to introduce her first girlfriend to the family."

Marceline sent Bonnie a smirk. "Oh _really_? _That's_ why I was invited, huh?"

Bonnibel flushed bright red and gave Marceline a gentle smack on the arm. "Shut up." Then, her face morphed into a serious expression and she murmured, "I need to talk to you."

Immediately, Marceline's apprehension returned. "What about?"

"Just…stuff." Bonnie turned back to her Aunt, and the vague reply made Marceline panic a little. "Is it okay if we go and talk privately somewhere?"

"You can use my bedroom." Susan responded, "Sorry about the mess."

Bonnie smiled gratefully and pulled a tense Marceline along, directing her to her Aunt's room. She quietly shut the door and pulled the small lock across – she didn't want Gracie or someone running in on them. Then, she walked Marceline over to the bed and sat her down in front of her.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Marceline was pretty sure that she already knew, but she didn't know if she'd like what Bonnie had to say.

"We need to set some ground rules." Bonnie said. She supportively squeezed Marceline's thigh and sent her a careful smile. "If I'm going to help you, I need to know things. I want to be able to set some rules so I don't say or do anything that would make you upset or uncomfortable like I did earlier. Okay?"

Marceline blinked in confusion. "You didn't want to tell me off?"

It was Bonnie's turn to be confused. "Why would I want to do that? Of course not! I just…I want to be able to help properly. Is that okay?"

Marceline nodded her head in bewilderment. Bonnie really wanted to help? "Yeah."

"Alright." Bonnibel smiled and found Marceline's hand. "Can you tell me what makes you uncomfortable? Let me know how to help you in the best way and tell me how you feel."

"Uh…" Marceline cleared her throat, a nervous tremor in her voice, "Well…don't…don't do what you did earlier. Please. You made me feel really uncomfortable and pressured into doing something I didn't want to do and it felt more like a punishment than help."

Bonnie tried to swallow her guilt and nodded. "Okay. That can be rule one. I'll never do that again. Anything else?"

"Um. I don't know." Marceline shuffled uncomfortably. "Please can you not… _force_ me to eat? Like…tell me I have to or guilt me into it. Or make me feel like it's my fault. I mean, I know it is my fault but -,"

"It's not your fault." Bonnie cut in. She squeezed Marceline's hand, "Is there anything else I need to know?"

Marceline bit on her lip. "Not that I can think of. Just be patient with me and try not to get all frustrated or mad at me when it's hard."

"Okay." Bonnie accepted everything, "I'll do all of this for you if you promise you'll let me help you _completely_. No secrets. I want to know if it's a bad day, I want to know if you don't think you can eat something. Stuff like that. If I ask you how much you've eaten, I need you to be honest with me. Okay?"

Marceline gave her a hesitant nod. "Okay. Yeah. I can do that."

"Good." Bonnie said. "And if there's anything else you want to make a rule about later, let me know. I just want to help."

Marceline took Bonnie off guard and pulled her in for a tight hug. "Thank you, Bonnie."

Bonnibel pressed her lips to Marceline's neck and squeezed her back. "You don't need to thank me. I just want what's best for you."

And judging by the look on Marceline's face, that meant a lot to her.

* * *

Bonnie tapped her foot to the music as she watched some of her family members on the dancefloor; her grandma and grandpa were dancing with one another – doing some sort of strange jive to the pop song that was playing. Gracie was dancing with Bonnie's Aunt Susan, and Bonnie tried not to laugh at her Dad's lame attempt at dancing; it seemed like her Mom was having the same issue.

(She let out a little snicker.)

Marceline sank back down in the chair next to her, bringing her beer bottle to her lips; Bonnie wasn't sure how she'd gotten hold of that. Marceline _then_ pushed a glass of Coke towards Bonnie. "Drink up."

Bonnie picked up the drink and took a small sip. Then, she nodded to Marceline's beer. "How did you get that?"

"Flirted with the bar tender. I think he knew I wasn't twenty-one, though." Marceline took another sip and put her drink back on the table. "How about we talk about how you're the only person in this room not having any fun?"

"I'm having fun." Bonnie shot back, although she knew it wasn't too convincing.

"Yeah, ' _in an orderly fashion'_?" Marceline teased. Then, her girlfriend's expression softened and she gave Bonnie's knee a gentle tap with her knuckles. "Come on, Bonnie. Don't let me ruin your day. Go dance or whatever."

"It's not because of you." Bonnie assured, squeezing Marceline's hand. "It's just…I feel so out of place around my family. They're all so close and then there's just me on the outside. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah." Marceline bobbed her head in agreement. "I mean, the only family I really have left aside from my brother is my Dad and he's not…you know, the best."

"Your Mom didn't have any siblings?" Bonnie frowned.

"She had a sister, but she lives in England and I only met her once when I was about three. I don't know if I have any cousins from her." Marceline explained. She _wished_ she had as big a family as Bonnie had; maybe that way, being without a Mom wouldn't be so lonely.

"Oh." Bonnie hummed in response, "I just feel like I'm the least important family member. We moved away and nothing seems to have changed."

"Don't say that." Marceline shook her head quickly, squeezing Bonnie's shoulder. "Gracie absolutely _adores_ you, okay? And your Aunt asked you to be one of her freaking _bridesmaids._ You're not unimportant."

Bonnie shot Marceline a grateful smile. She knew Marceline was trying to help and she appreciated that, but sometimes Bonnie had this feeling that if she dropped off the face of the earth, nobody would notice. "Thanks. I just…do you ever feel like if you disappeared, nobody would care?"

"All the time, Bonnie. At least, until I think of Keila, and you, and Simon." Marceline said. "Back when my depression was really bad, I seriously considered some stupid things, but then I thought about the people that I knew cared about me and it brought me out of it. And when I have bad days now, I just think about how upset it'd make you or Keila if something bad happened to me. That's a good way to get through it."

Bonnie paused. "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Marceline."

"No problem, Bonnie." Marceline shot her a smile, before taking another sip of beer and leaning back on her chair. "Alright, let's chill out with the deep conversations for now, yeah?"

"Aren't deep conversations good, though?" Bonnie challenged, "You can't have a healthy relationship without communicating with one another."

"They are, but one of us always ends up kind of unhappy afterwards. Usually me." Marceline explained, "So, I'm going to ask you the _important_ questions. What Hogwarts house are you in?"

Bonnie burst out laughing. "That classes as _important_? I don't know. What house would you put me in?"

"You're a Ravenclaw. Hands down." Marceline replied, "Because you're a _total_ nerd."

Bonnie rolled her eyes in response. "What house are you in?"

"I'm a Slytherin." Marceline shot Bonnie a proud grin. "I took like _three_ different personality quizzes to tell me that."

"Clearly your placement was accurate if you took _three_." Bonnie teased.

"Hey, you should be proud. Don't scientists do stuff multiple times for like, reliability?" Marceline shot back. "Technically, I'm a scientist."

"Alright," Bonnie held her hands up in defence, mock bowing, "I bow down to your scientific dominance."

"You bet your ass you do." Marceline muttered. "Even though I wouldn't have any clue what to do if I was told to do any form of science."

"Well, I – _oh my god,_ I love this song!" Bonnie exclaimed as the song changed. Bonnie leaned back with a happy smile on her face. It was Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran – Everything has Changed.

"You do?" Marceline smiled before holding out her hand. "May I have this dance?"

Bonnie blushed, taking Marceline's hand. "You may."

Marceline led her to the dancefloor, and Bonnie locked her fingers around the back of Marceline's neck. Marceline's hands settled on Bonnie's waist, and the pink haired girl's gaze flicked up to meet hers. "Do you actually have any idea how to dance?"

Bonnie laughed, shaking her head. "Nope. Do you?"

"No. Maybe we just move side to side or something." Marceline guessed, "I don't know."

"Well, we're going to have to get our act together for our senior prom, then." Bonnie teased, praying that Marceline wouldn't –

"You want to go to prom with me?" – question her about it.

Bonnie flushed a gentle pink, nodding. "Yeah. I mean, you're my girlfriend…I just sort of assumed we'd – you know what, don't worry about it. You don't have to go with me if you don't want to."

"No," Marceline did that incredibly attractive thing where she rolled her bottom lip under her teeth in thought, and Bonnie flushed even harder, "I want to. It'll be fun."

"Seriously?" Bonnie perked up, "You'd really go to prom with me? You _hate_ social gatherings. Especially ones with our classmates."

"Eh," Marceline casually shrugged, "Stuff like that is a little more bearable with you."

And when Marceline leaned down and kissed her, Bonnie couldn't help but agree.


	42. forty-two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie explore new york.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings; eating disorder and homophobic slur

**Sunday 17th August 2014**

"Why do I have to have my eyes closed again?"

" _Because_." Bonnie shot back, pulling Marceline through the streets and dodging past bustling crowds – which, admittedly, were thinning out. Bonnie assumed it was because they were near enough leaving the city.

"Because isn't an answer." Although Marceline's eyes were closed, Bonnie could _feel_ her rolling them. "If you don't answer me properly, I'll open my eyes."

"I wanted to show you something important to me, and I want it to be a surprise." Bonnie explained.

Her plan was to show Marceline where she used to spend most of her time on the weekends – aside from in her bedroom, doing experiments. Then, she would take Marceline to her old house, and then they'd do typical tourist things.

Marceline huffed as she blindly followed Bonnie. "How long will it take to get to this place?"

"Not too long. Probably about five minutes from here." Bonnie assured – she knew Marceline wasn't enjoying all of the walking. She'd complained multiple times about how they should just get the subway, but Bonnie didn't want to waste any of the money her parents had given her; she was going to make sure her girlfriend got a good lunch.

"And how important is it to you?"

"Very." Bonnie responded. "After Bea left me, I discovered it on a walk. It's like the cliff for you – it helped me clear my head."

"Bea?" She turned to see one of Marceline's perfect eyebrows arched up in that adorable, quizzical manner.

"New York girl. Ex-crush slash best friend." Bonnie clarified. She'd noticed it'd become a lot easier to talk about her, lately. Maybe it was because she'd stopped caring. Maybe it was because Marceline made her so happy.

(It was probably both.)

"Oh, that asshole." Marceline deadpanned. "Well, hurry up. My feet are starting to hurt."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but picked up the pace, "Aye, aye, Captain Abadeer. I'll make it quick."

This time, the eye roll felt stronger. "For all I know, you could be taking me out into the woods to kill me."

_Well, you're half right,_ Bonnie thought,"You know I wouldn't do that. Sure, you're a big jerk, but I like you too much."

Marceline snorted, and Bonnie looked back to see her nose crinkled in annoyance.

(God, it was adorable.)

"You're a real pain in my ass, Bonnie." Marceline muttered. "I swear, if I didn't have a huge crush on you, I'd kick your ass for calling me something as horrible as a _jerk_. You'd better hope I don't tell your Mom. She'll wash your mouth out for that sort of language."

_Me, the one using dirty language?_ Bonnie rolled her eyes. _Marceline_ was the one with the foul mouth. Not that Bonnie cared anymore - Marceline used the f word at _least_ ten times a day, so it had stopped fazing her.

Bonnie laughed, "Calm your overdramatic butt down. We're here."

"I can open my eyes?"

"Yep." Bonnie nodded in affirmative.

Marceline opened her eyes, and as though it was some sort of built in function Bonnie didn't know about, she laughed. "So I was right. You really _were_ bringing me out to the woods to kill me."

"Kill you? No." Bonnie stepped closer to Marceline, so close that their lips were brushing the tiniest bit and Marceline's brain went fuzzy. "Kiss you? Maybe."

Bonnie then took a step backwards and made her way over to a log – the remnants of a fallen down tree in a storm, Bonnie assumed. She turned to Marceline and patted the space next to her. "Sit."

Marceline made no effort to move and glanced around them. "What is this place? Like, how did you find it?"

"It's my special place." Bonnie explained as Marceline sat next to her on the log. "I found it a few days after the incident with Bea happened when I was on a walk and I couldn't stop coming back. It was a place that was just… _mine_ , you know? A place she couldn't hurt me. A place where I could just _think_."

Bonnie felt Marceline's cold hand touch hers; Marceline's thumb lightly grazed over her knuckles. "And you brought me here?"

Bonnie smiled, but didn't meet Marceline's gaze. "Yeah. You're special to me, too."

Bonnie glanced up, her smile doubling when she saw the pink tint on Marceline's pale cheeks. "You're quite possibly the most amazing human being in all of creation."

Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand before her fingers found their way to her girlfriend's temple, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Why do you say that?"

"You just _are_." Marceline shrugged, "You know when you see a landscape that's so beautiful and it's completely untouched by civilisation and it _is_ that way? Nobody has done anything to make it amazing. It just _is_. That's you."

Bonnie felt her stomach do an unexpected and completely uncoordinated backflip, and the constant rhythm of her heart skipped a beat. She leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss to Marceline's chapped lips. "I'm so lucky I have you."

Marceline flashed one of her rare, real smiles then – wide and toothy and absolutely adorable. She slung an arm around Bonnie's shoulders and gave her a soft squeeze. "What happened to me being a jerk?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but it wasn't _as_ effective as it could've been due to the huge smile on her face. "You _are_ a jerk. You're just…you're _my_ jerk."

One of Marceline's eyebrows quirked up, hidden behind her hair, "Should I take that as an insult or a compliment?"

"Maybe a little bit of both." The left corner of Bonnie's mouth curved up into a smirk that made Marceline's brain forget all of its basic functions and left her staring at her girlfriend like an overly-infatuated child. Which she kind of was. "More of a compliment, though. Shows I can handle your jerkiness and still want you around."

Marceline rolled her eyes. What was that, the fifth time today? "Sometimes I wonder why I decided to put up with you."

"Because you had a cute little crush on me the entire time." Bonnie teased, kissing Marceline on the tip of her nose, "I still don't get why you pretended you hated me, though. I would've been your friend."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I _never_ hated you?" Marceline shot back. Bonnie picked up on the pink hue to Marceline's usually pale cheeks. "I just...you were cute and I knew that you already had some sort of hold on me. I didn't want you figuring that out and using me." At the way Bonnie's teasing smirk crumpled, Marceline tacked on the end, "Not that you'd ever do that. I know that now."

Bonnie's expression brightened again and Marceline allowed herself a small sigh of relief. "I had a hold on you?"

Marceline raised an eyebrow, the effect of her eye roll weakened by the adorable smile on her face. "Is that not obvious? I took you home from that party with no persuasion, I gave you one of my freaking _shirts_ , I got rid of that stalker guy for you multiple times." She listed, " _Yeah_ , you had a hold on me. You still kind of do, so don't go abusing that power."

Bonnibel grinned, "I'll try not to. Maybe use you as my driver since I can't drive."

"Aren't I already your driver? I take you to school all the time." Marceline said, cutting Bonnie off as she opened her mouth, "You know what? Don't answer that. I don't need to know how whipped I am."

Bonnie laughed; one of her genuine, loud laughs that people at her old school would tease her for. "Yeah, okay. What sort of stuff do you want to do now?"

"You take me where you want, tour guide."

* * *

Bonnie rolled up the sleeve of her pink hoodie, checking her – surprise – pink watch. "It's 1PM if you want to go and get some lunch."

Marceline's grip on her hand tensed. Clearly she must've thought Bonnie was trying to imply something she wasn't. "I'm fine. I'm not hungry."

Bonnie felt a lump form in her throat; she didn't want a repeat of yesterday. She _never_ wanted another repeat of that. "Well, I am. Are you okay with McDonald's?"

Softly, Marceline replied, "Yeah."

Bonnie smiled and squeezed Marceline's hand in the hope of relaxing her girlfriend. "Okay. Come on."

Bonnie led Marceline down the street and towards the big yellow 'M' on the side of a building – McDonald's really weren't that hard to find. There was one on virtually _every_ street corner. It was a city - there were fast-food places everywhere you looked. From where she was stood now, Bonnie could see a McDonald's, Burger King, _and_ KFC.

Running across the road with a tight grip on Marceline's hand, Bonnie made her way over to the McDonald's. She pushed the door open and led Marceline inside, scanning the restaurant for a table - it was pretty hard. Since it was lunchtime, the place was packed. In fact, it seemed kind of cramped and smaller than it actually was, since practically every citizen of New York City had decided to come to McDonald's at the exact same time as them.

(Okay, maybe she was exaggerating a little.)

Finally, Bonnie spotted a free table for two by the window. Nodding to it, she told Marceline, "You go sit. I'll get my lunch."

Marceline nodded and unlatched from Bonnie's hand, and the pink haired girl headed over to the counter. Weirdly enough, she was rather happy there was a long line; she could figure out what she was going to buy Marceline for lunch.

_She likes chicken nuggets, right_? Bonnie asked herself as she scanned through the menu _, or a Big Mac_? _Or…why don't I know what she likes_?

She looked up and down the different lists on the cheerfully coloured menu, finally settling on getting Marceline a cheeseburger meal. She could've sworn she'd seen Marceline eat that before. Drinks wise, she chose lemonade for herself, and a Diet Coke for Marceline.

Truthfully, she _did_ feel a little guilty when she was ordering the meal; Marceline had looked rather uncomfortable even at the _mention_ of lunch, but Bonnie knew for a fact Marceline hadn't eaten at all throughout the day. She wasn't breaking any of their rules, right? At least she didn't think so. She wasn't doing this to passive-aggressively force Marceline to eat. She was just trying to help.

She made her way over to Marceline with the tray of food and began unloading it, putting the cheeseburger and fries in front of Marceline. Then, Bonnie focused herself on pouring her fries into her Big Mac box.

Marceline cleared her throat. "I told you I didn't want anything."

Bonnie reached her hand across the table and found Marceline's. She decided she would make her intentions clear; Marceline _had_ said she'd let Bonnie help her. "Look…I know you haven't eaten anything yet today, and you said you'd let me help you. I know I promised I won't make you eat anything – and I won't. All I'm doing is asking you to try, because I'm worried about you. You don't have to eat it if you don't want to. I'm not going to force you."

Bonnie held her gaze and watched as Marceline seemed to relax. "You're not going to make me eat?"

"I'm not." Bonnie assured. "I'd like it if you'd try, but you have a choice."

With that, Bonnie tucked into her Big Mac, and Marceline stared at her in amazement. Some sort of internal war was occurring in her head – Bonnie versus the bad thoughts. The bad thoughts swore at her, threatened her, and told her all the bad things that would happen if she ate. Bonnie gave her a choice.

Bonnie grinned from ear to ear when she saw Marceline unwrap the burger. "Thank you."

Marceline sent her an awkward smile and eyed the burger as if it was some sort of carnivorous animal, before she took a bite.

Bonnie tried focusing on her own meal, but found herself glancing at Marceline every now and again. She felt a rush of pride when she noticed her girlfriend had finished all of her fries and got through half of her burger. Marceline noticed her watching and asked, "Is that okay?"

"That's fine." Bonnie smiled, "You don't need to eat for my approval, Marceline. I just want to help you."

Marceline nodded, but was cut off before she could speak.

"Bonnibel?"

Bonnie felt her blood run cold. _No, please no._ _Please let it just be my imagination. She couldn't be here. There's hundreds of McDonalds' here. She can't be in this one._

Slowly, with a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach - was that fear? Bonnibel couldn't tell - she looked up and met the familiar brown eyes of the person that used to mean everything to her. She blinked, figuring that maybe she was just a figment of her imagination. She hoped she was.

After a few moments of taking her old friend in, Bonnie did her best to keep her voice steady and firm. "I have _nothing_ to say to you."

Bea just frowned. "I thought you moved away. What are you doing here?"

Bonnie mustered the best glare she could. "Did you not just hear what I said? I have nothing to say to you. Leave me alone."

"I -"

Marceline seemingly snapped out of a trance and shot Bea a _very_ terrifying glare which Bonnie was sure would get the message across that they wanted to be left alone. "Are you fucking deaf? Leave her alone."

Bonnie wanted to laugh as Bea cringed at Marceline's swearing.

Bea looked Marceline over, as though she was trying to figure out a complicated math problem. "Who is this?"

"Marceline." Bonnie stoically replied, "She's my girlfriend."

"Oh. You're still…" Bea trailed off, as if the word was poisonous or something – in her mind, it probably was.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "Gay? Yes, I'm still gay. The word isn't going to _kill_ you, Bea. Although, I shouldn't expect a bigoted bitch like you to be any more accepting than you were last year."

Again, another cringe. Maybe Marceline _had_ influenced Bonnie. "You're saying you _wouldn't_ freak out if you found out your best friend was trying to come onto you for your entire friendship?"

"That's not – I wasn't trying to _come onto you_." Bonnie exhaled and ran a hand through her pink hair in frustration. "Don't flatter yourself."

Bea let out a long sigh. "Look, I just came over to see how you were doing."

"You didn't care how I was doing when I actually lived here." Bonnie snapped. "Why is this any different? We haven't talked for nearly a _year_ , because of you. You don't have the right to talk to me now."

"I know I was wrong."

Bonnie was shocked - so shocked that Marceline may as well have transformed into a giant bat creature and she would've been less surprised. "What did you just say?"

"I was wrong to do what I did to you. I just…it was scary." Bea looked at her feet, and for a moment, Bonnie almost fell into the trap of forgiving her. She seemed genuinely sorry, but Bonnie was pulled back from the edge by Marceline. Thank _god._

"Okay, I don't mean to intrude on this _clearly_ meaningful conversation," Marceline began, "But how the _fuck_ is your best friend being gay scary?"

Bea looked Marceline over again with that calculating look – Bonnie felt herself become slightly agitated at the _judgemental_ way Bea was staring at her girlfriend. If _she_ was like that back when they were friends, then she was almost glad they didn't talk.

Marceline held her glare as Bea finally answered. "Well, how would you feel if your best friend had been sexualising you in her head when you've slept in the same bed, gotten changed in the same room? I didn't want to be a part of her delusion that we were 'dating' or something."

"She's _asexual!_ " Marceline exclaimed, "I'm sorry, did you even know her _at all_?"

Before Bea could respond, Bonnie grabbed Marceline's hand from across the table and sent her an attempt at a smile. "Hey. It's okay."

Bea sent Marceline a cocky, triumphant smile. "Thanks, Bonnibel."

"Oh, you interpreted that as me _defending_ you? No. That was me telling my girlfriend that she doesn't need to get involved." Bonnie calmly responded. "Give me _one_ good reason why I should give you the time of day."

"We were best friends for _two years_."

"Yeah, and then you called me a filthy dyke and told me I could never talk to you again." Bonnie shot back. She felt a little stab in her chest when she thought back to that day. She hated being seen as inferior, especially because of a trivial little thing like her sexuality. "You told me that if I so much as looked at you, you'd out me to the whole school. And then you went and did it anyway. What's your excuse for that?"

Bea stayed silent. Bonnie held her hard stare. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You don't have an excuse. You're just a bitch."

"I just told you I feel guilty about what I did, and you call me a…" She lowered her voice, "A bitch."

Bonnie wanted to laugh – Bea could call her as many homophobic slurs as she liked, but she couldn't say the word bitch? Pathetic.

Bonnie felt her resolve breaking. "You still didn't apologise though, did you?"

"I'm sorry." She didn't really sound all that sorry. More annoyed than anything else. "You were my best friend, and I do miss you. I just don't think you should make certain…" Her gaze flicked to Marceline, "choices."

"Asking my forgiveness while judging my girlfriend." Bonnie stated, "Yeah, that plan's not going to work out very well for you."

"What?" Marceline laughed, albeit a little bitterly. "Am I too punk rock and scary for her?"

"Probably," Bonnie nodded in confirmation, before turning back to Bea. "If you were implying being gay is a choice, you're very wrong. Last October when I told you I liked you, I wanted nothing more than to just be straight so you wouldn't leave, but I _can't_. I can't change who I'm attracted to. Unless you accept that, we can't be friends again."

"I don't think I can." Bea said. "I don't mind gay guys. It's just _weird_ when it's another girl. Especially when you have feelings for me."

" _Had_." Bonnie corrected. "I _had_ feelings for you. Now I only have feelings for Marceline."

Bonnie saw her girlfriend smile a little out of the corner of her eye, and it made her feel a little better about everything.

Bea pointed behind her, and Bonnie looked to see three of the girls who used to give her hell for being gay before she moved; her stomach turned. If they came over here, she was leaving. "I take it you're not going to forgive me, so I'm going to go back to my friends now."

Bonnie let out a long sigh, holding out her hand. "Give me your phone."

Bea handed over her phone, watching with a frown as Bonnie played about with it for a second. Then, the pink haired girl handed it back. "I put my updated phone number in. Call me once you educate yourself on how not every gay woman wants to date you."

With that, Bonnie turned back to Marceline to make it clear that the conversation was over. "Okay…bye, Bonnibel."

Bonnie kept her gaze trained on Marceline until Bea's footsteps faded. Then, she reached over the table and grabbed her girlfriend's hand. "Hey. Sorry about that."

"Who _are_ you? Damn, Bonnie. You're so fucking badass. You shot down her pathetic excuses in like _two_ seconds." Marceline grinned at her, before adding, "How come you gave her your number?"

"Well, I figure if she was being genuine and if she really _is_ sorry, she'll educate herself and call when she's ready." Bonnie shrugged. She missed Bea - they way they were when they were friends, but she was trying not to care. Seeing her was bringing back bad memories and she was trying not to care about how she was friends with her old bullies. It was hard when they were staring at her, probably gossiping behind her back, "If she doesn't, it's not the end of the world. I stopped caring a long time ago."

"Really? When?"

Bonnibel looked over her shoulder at where Bea was sat with her friends. They were still whispering. She tried not to think about how familiar this all was, tried not to care about how Bea had just ditched her for them. In fact, now that she'd thought about it, they'd probably dared Bea to come over. Thought it'd be funny to upset her one last time, while they still could.

She wouldn't let them break her.

Turning back to Marceline, she finally responded, "When someone ten times more amazing drifted her way into my life."


	43. forty-three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie hang out with their friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning - eating disorder

**Saturday 23** **rd** **August 2014**

"Keila. I can't reach it." Marceline complained as she reached her arm out for the TV remote, putting in no effort whatsoever to move from the comfortable position she was in, sprawled across Keila's couch with her legs over the other girl's lap. "I wish I was telepathic."

Keila rolled her eyes, leaning forward and grabbing the remote from the coffee table, "Well you're not. You're just lazy."

Marceline sent Keila a toothy grin, holding out her arm and making a grabbing motion with her fingers, "Give me the remote. I want to watch Friends reruns."

"I was the one who picked it up," Keila said, shaking her head, "so _I_ get to pick what we watch."

"That's not fair." Marceline pouted, "I was the one who decided to watch TV."

"You were also the one that was too lazy to move her ass to get the control." Keila reminded her, her eyes rolling skyward for what seemed like the _fiftieth_ time today. "So I get to choose," For good measure, she added, "and it's my house."

 _Keila 2, Marceline nil_ , Marceline thought, striking back with a scoff and the _totally_ fierce rebuttal, "Well, whatever."

Yet _another_ eye roll, "I'll pick something good. We basically have the exact same TV show taste."

"Aside from your Gossip Girl obsession." Marceline muttered under her breath, not intending for Keila to hear.

"Pretty Little Liars is basically a copy of Gossip Girl, so you can shut up." Keila smacked Marceline's calf for good measure, "Get your stupid legs off of me, anyway."

"No." Marceline folded her arms across her chest for emphasis, "I'll do what I want, thanks. You hold no authority over me whatsoever."

Keila scoffed, shoving Marceline's legs off both her and the couch, "I'm older so you have to do what I say."

Marceline moved her legs back onto Keila's lap with a smirk, "That might've worked on me when I was five, but it's lost its punch. Try harder."

Keila – realising that this was the only option – stood up completely, knocking Marceline's legs back onto the floor. Then she moved and sat around the other side of the coffee table, cross-legged on the floor, "There. Now you can't stick your feet in my face because you're probably too lazy to move."

Marceline laughed, spreading out on the couch, "That's true," She repeated the grabbing motion from earlier and nodded to her bass guitar, "Give me my bass, please."

Keila rose to her feet and walked over to Marceline, pushing her up to a sitting position with ease, "Come on, we're going to play music. We might as well do something productive."

Marceline groaned, but stood up and followed Keila into a different room, picking her bass up on the way. In fact, she didn't mind the idea of playing some music. She'd written a first draft of a new song the night before and wanted to work out the music.

Marceline put her bass in a free slot in Keila's guitar rack, gesturing to Keila's black Les Paul, "Can I?"

"Go for it," Keila picked up one of her other guitars and plugged it in, laying out on the floor and playing a quick, improvised riff to check that it was in tune as Marceline plugged her guitar in.

Marceline drew her pick against the guitar strings harshly, her finger barring the twelfth fret; a distorted harmonic rang out. She moved her hand up and down the fretboard, her fingers forming a D chord completely at random. Yeah, now that she thought about it, she wasn't feeling very musical.

"Dude," Keila turned to her from her spot on the floor, her white Fender Jazzmaster across her stomach, "I forgot I needed to change the strings on that. They're like the ones on your ESP - kind of dull."

"I know. I want to change the strings on mine, but I'm completely broke." Marceline groaned and put the guitar to one side, grabbing her bass from where she'd left it in Keila's guitar rack. "Spent the last of my cash on humbuckers for this."

"I still can't believe you turned an _axe_ into a bass guitar," Keila played a sequence of power chords before moving so she was sat upright. "That's pretty badass."

"I got bored." Marceline nonchalantly shrugged, twanging one of her thick bass strings. It let out a deep, melancholic hum. "Do you want to go somewhere?"

Marceline's fingers ran across the frets of her bass, and she looked up to Keila expectantly. Keila just sent her a stunned look as she leant her guitar against the couch. "Did _you_ just ask to go outside? Are you okay? Do you feel sick or something? You seem to have come down with a case of _insanity_."

Marceline laughed as she slid her finger up the A string of her bass. "Yeah, I did. I want to go to the _dreaded_ outdoors. It _is_ summer, so I figured we might as well."

Keila held her stare for a moment, before finally shrugging, "I guess we could go out if you wanted. Where to?"

Marceline bit on her lip in thought as she put her bass back in its case. "Um…I don't know. Where doesn't suck?"

"That's a pretty hard question to answer when you live here." Keila pointed out, holding her guitar by the neck as she carried it back to the guitar rack. "We could always go around town and make fun of people?"

Marceline grinned, "That's an excellent idea. I'll go get my shoes on."

As she headed to the door, Keila called out, "You're driving since you're the one that wants to go outside."

Marceline just rolled her eyes at her friend as she left the room.

* * *

"Do you guys like this colour?"

Bonnibel tried not to roll her eyes as Cake held out a navy blue outfit up to her torso. She was becoming more and more bored by the minute – shopping had always been an uninteresting activity to Bonnibel, and Fionna wasn't here, so she didn't have anyone to complain with.

She'd been debating texting Marceline for a while, but she knew she wouldn't want to join – they were in the company of LSP, and Bonnie knew they had trouble getting along.

(That was putting it lightly.)

"Hey, Bubblegum?" Lady snapped her fingers in front of Bonnie's face, and she jumped back in surprise, "Good, you've returned to earth. Cake asked you a question."

Bonnie looked over to Cake expectantly, hoping this would be quick. She was _really_ bored and had been hoping she could spend the rest of the day daydreaming or something along those lines. "Yeah?"

Cake gestured at the shirt she was holding, "Do you think this makes me look attractive?"

Bonnibel blinked in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?"

Cake rolled her eyes and smoothed out the shirt against her torso, "If you didn't know me and I was walking down the street wearing this, would you think I was attractive? I want the view of somebody who likes girls."

Bonnie's jaw opened and closed in a weak attempt at forming words. _Seriously?_ Robotically, she responded, "Yes, you look fine. Can we -"

"No, but would you date me?"

A knot formed in Bonnie's throat. That was the _one_ question she absolutely despised – if you said yes, they were creeped out. If you said no, they were offended. She couldn't win.

Slowly, she formulated her answer, "Whilst you are a very attractive individual, I wouldn't date you. You're not my type. That top is very nice, though."

Cake seemed satisfied with her answer, and Bonnie breathed out a sigh of relief. She made a lucky escape with that one.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out, smiling at the text.

_**Marceline (1:39PM): hey loser, you free right now?** _

Lady peered over Bonnie's shoulder at the text, rolling her eyes. "No, you're not."

Bonnibel pulled her phone to her chest to conceal the screen. "I know I'm not, but it _is_ pretty tempting to make an escape. I hate shopping."

Lady grabbed onto her sleeve and pulled her along, towards the dressing room – Cake was trying the shirt on. That'd take some time. Just _great_. "That explains why you're so spaced out."

"Can I go? I'll make up a good excuse." Bonnie offered.

Lady rolled her eyes, "You're _always_ with Marceline. She won't care if you say you aren't free. Give us some time, yeah?"

Bonnie dragged out a sigh. Hopefully that would convey her irritation to Lady. It's not that she didn't like spending time with her friends – she did – she just _hated_ shopping so much. Nothing to do with traipsing around crowded places until her feet hurt interested her. "Yeah. Sure. Just…try not to drag things out."

Lady smiled, "Sure. You'll get to see your girlfriend later, don't worry. We'll be done by probably around four. Maybe five, I don't know."

No, that wasn't good at all. That meant three, possibly _four_ more hours of shopping. She'd rather run a marathon on hot coals. " _Please_ can I go and see Marceline? You know I hate shopping."

"Text her and say you'll meet her later." Lady offhandedly responded. "We really want you to spend some time with us. I don't think we've seen you that much over summer. We're supposed to be best friends."

"I don't think you understand how _uninterested_ I am in shopping, Lady." Bonnie shot back. "I like spending time with you guys. If we were doing something else I probably wouldn't be considering going to meet Marcy."

Lady ignored her – Cake stood in the door of the dressing room wearing the shirt she'd picked up. She did a small twirl on the spot – which probably would've been more effective if she was wearing a dress – and asked, "What do you guys think?"

"I like it." Lady said, nudging a frustrated Bonnie in the side, "What do you think?"

"Yeah, very nice." Bonnie distractedly responded. She pulled out her phone and responded to Marceline's text.

_**Bonnie (1:41PM): I would meet you if I could. I'm with my friends and they won't let me leave even though I feel like I'm falling asleep with boredom.** _

Again, Lady was spying on her texts. "Cool it with the dramatics. If you're really that bored we can maybe convince Cake and LSP to do something else for a bit."

"Thank you." Bonnie sent Lady an appreciative smile – anything was better than shopping. Seriously, _anything._ Bonnie would sooner volunteer for The Hunger Games than go shopping.

She checked her phone as Cake and LSP loudly decided if they liked the shirt or not - they were so loud that Bonnie was certain the entire mall could probably hear their conversation.

_**Marceline (1:41PM): that sucks** _

_**Marceline (1:41PM): you guys are shopping, right?** _

She liked how Marceline could guess. She must've conveyed disinterest perfectly in her last text.

_**Bonnie (1:43PM): Yeah, we are. Sorry I can't meet you.** _

"Bubblegum, what do you think?"

Bonnie's gaze shot up from her phone and she frowned at LSP. Suddenly, it clicked that they were probably asking about the shirt. "Yeah, you should buy it. It's nice."

" _No_ ," LSP huffed, "We wanted to know if you would find her attractive now that she's wearing it. Like, if you didn't know her."

Oh, _great._ This again. Bonnibel tucked her phone back into her pocket and looked Cake over. "I still stand by my earlier opinion. It's a nice shirt. You should get it." _And then we can leave_.

They didn't ask her again – either her last answer was unhelpful or satisfactory. Bonnie didn't care, just as long as she never ended up in _that_ traumatic situation again. Either way, Cake ended up buying the shirt and they _finally_ left the cramped store. Thank god.

Once they were outside, Bonnie checked her texts again.

_**Marceline (1:44PM): that sucks, and it's okay, I'm with Keila and she asked if I wanted to invite you** _

_**Bonnie (2:01PM): Alright. Maybe I'll see you later. :)** _

_**Marceline (2:01PM): maybe you will ;)** _

Lady tapped her on the shoulder and smiled, "You'll be happy to hear this; we're going for lunch."

* * *

"Is Bonnibel meeting us?" Keila asked through a mouthful of McDonald's fries.

Marceline shook her head, staring down at her burger. Why did she even buy it? She didn't think she could eat it. She'd had enough at breakfast, right? "No. She's busy with her friends. Shopping."

"Lame." Keila commented, reaching a hand over and stealing some of Marceline's fries – she'd finished hers. Nodding down to them, she asked, "You don't mind, do you?"

Marceline shook her head, waving a hand in dismissal. "No. Go for it." Her stomach clenched a little. _No, I'm fine_ , Marceline thought, _perfectly fine_. "Do you want to stop by the music store at all?"

Keila shook her head, "Nah, I don't need anything. Do you?"

"Nope," Marceline said, twisting her straw in her strawberry milkshake. It rubbed against the plastic lid, creating that annoying squeak. "We could always call Guy and Bongo and see if they want to meet up with us."

"Nah," Keila dismissed her idea, "It's a girl's day. Let's go and get manicures and buy makeup and junk."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, attempting to stifle her laughter. "Do you even know what a manicure is?"

"I have _absolutely_ no idea." Keila responded, "It has something to do with your nails. I think maybe getting your toenails painted or something."

"Aw, you were so close." Marceline smirked, "It's getting your fingernails done."

"How do you even know that?" Keila asked, "You don't give a fuck about your fingernails. You bite them."

Marceline glanced down at her bitten-down fingernails, shrugging. "I don't know. Maybe too much time around Bonnie's friends has gone to my head."

Keila finished off Marceline's fries, "I don't get why you suddenly like them. They were _horrible_ to you."

"Only some of them." Marceline corrected her, "And I don't like the ones that were. I don't think I'll ever be able to move up to _dislike_ with LSP, let alone be _civil_ with her."

"I hate her." Keila muttered into her Dr Pepper. "Nobody fucks with you and gets away with it."

Marceline lightly nudged Keila in what she hoped was a comforting way. "Don't worry about it, man. I'm over it."

Keila sent her a doubtful look. She knew that wasn't true. "Yeah, okay. Sometimes I wish you'd graduated with me."

"If I'd have graduated with you I wouldn't have met Bonnie." Marceline pointed out. Even the thought of that terrified her. Life without Bonnie? No, thanks.

Keila sent her a teasing smile. Oh, great. Here comes the tormenting. "How is that going? You and her, I mean."

Marceline let out a sigh of content. She fixed her gaze on a little dent in the food court table they were sat at and smiled softly, "Great. Really, really great. Everything is just so easy with her, you know? She's amazing."

"I can't believe you actually told her you liked her." Keila laughed, "I would've paid to see that."

"She told me." Marceline said. "But then I asked her to be my girlfriend. And she said yes."

Keila made a weird, high pitched noise – some sort of squeal – and grinned. "That's adorable. You two are so cute."

Marceline rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

"Don't tell your friends to shut up, Marceline." Bonnibel collapsed into the seat opposite Marceline, "It's rude."

Keila and Marceline exchanged a confused glance, "You said she wasn't coming."

"She said she wasn't." Marceline responded, double checking her phone to make sure she'd read the message correctly. "What are you doing?"

"My friends and I are getting lunch and told me to find a seat. I did." Bonnie shrugged, "It's an excuse to see you, okay?"

Marceline sent an apprehensive look Bonnie's way. "Which friends?"

"Lady, Cake and LSP." Bonnie carefully responded. She expected the negative reaction. What she didn't expect was Keila's response.

"I hate her." Keila folded her arms and scowled, which shocked Bonnie a _lot_. Keila could scowl? Bonnie thought that was Marceline's thing. "If she comes over here I won't be held accountable for my actions."

Bonnie looked to Marceline. "I thought you said Keila didn't have a hate setting."

"I guess I was wrong." Marceline said, "I can understand this, though. I hate her too."

Bonnie didn't really have any arguments – from what she'd gathered, LSP had been mean to Marceline when they were kids, and she wouldn't tolerate anyone being unkind to her girlfriend. Instead, she nodded down to Marceline's untouched burger. "Are you going to eat that?"

Was Bonnie asking because she wanted Marceline to eat it, or because she wanted to have it for herself? Marceline couldn't tell, so slowly, she shook her head. "No. Do you want it?"

For a moment, Marceline could've sworn she'd seen a flash of disappointment in her girlfriend's eyes, and that was enough for the invisible knot in her chest to pull itself tight. "No, it's yours. You bought it."

"I'll have it." Keila offered.

 _Damn it,_ Bonnie inwardly cursed. She wanted Marceline to eat it. She couldn't stand seeing Marceline suffer. "No, that's okay. I'll take it if she's offering."

Marceline glanced down at the burger and gulped, sliding it over the table to Bonnie. The pink haired girl didn't want it and Marceline _knew_ that, but she couldn't bring herself to eat it. She'd had enough today. Cereal was enough. "Eat up."

Bonnie let out a heavy sigh, jumping when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced up to see Lady, "Hey. We've got our food and we're over there," She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder to LSP and Cake, before turning to Marceline and Keila, "Hi, Marceline. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to remind me on your name."

Keila warily stared at Lady. "It's Keila."

Lady sent her a warm smile. "Hi, nice to meet you officially. I'm Lady." Then, she patted Bonnie's shoulder, "Come on. Your food will go cold."

Bonnie stood up and made her way around the table, giving Marceline a quick hug. As quietly as she could, she whispered in her girlfriend's ear, "Please eat the burger. You seem hungry."

Bonnie subtly pressed her lips to Marceline's throat before she pulled away and sent Keila a smile. "Bye, Keila. I'll see you later, Marcy."

Marceline felt Bonnie squeeze her hand before following Lady over to her friends. Looking over at the burger with a heavy feeling of guilt resonating in the pit of her stomach, she pulled it towards her and forced herself to take a bite.

Then, she put it back down. _No,_ she thought _, I can't do this_. She pushed it over to Keila. "I'm not hungry."

She could _feel_ Bonnie's stare. She knew Bonnibel was watching her and it killed her. _You're such a disappointment, Marceline_ , she told herself, _Bonnie will leave you if you don't pull yourself together._ She didn't want to believe her stupid thoughts. She tried to convince herself that it was just the illness, that they weren't real, that everything was a lie. She really didn't want to listen to them, to feel like the things they told her were true.

Thing is, she knew they were right.


	44. forty-four.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnibel looks after a sick marceline.

**Monday** **25** **th** **August 2014**

"Bubblegum, I think your phone just went off."

Bonnie frowned, and instinctively, her hands went to her pockets. When she didn't automatically feel the rectangle shape of her phone against her thigh, she stood up and looked around Fionna's bed, finding her phone half hidden under one of the pillows.

She picked it up and pressed the centre button, lighting up her screen. An automatic grin spread across her face when she saw who the message was from.

_**Marceline (3:12PM): are you busy right now** _

_**Bonnie (3:13PM): Possibly. Why?** _

_**Marceline (3:13PM): well I'm sick and bored and lonely** _

_**Marceline (3:13PM): and I have lost use of my vocal cords which is making me sad** _

_**Bonnie (3:14PM): Aw, that's adorable. I'll be over in twenty. x** _

Bonnie slid her phone into her pocket and almost immediately felt it vibrate against her leg with another text.

Typically, Lady was rather interested in Bonnie's technological communications – for reasons unknown – and almost immediately began badgering her friend. "Who was that?"

"My Mom." Bonnie easily replied, "She wants me to go home and help her prepare dinner."

Lady's eyes narrowed like she was trying to figure something severely complicated out. Bonnie suspected Lady knew she was lying – it was no secret that Bonnie hadn't really wanted to partake in her friends' little sleepover the night before, and when she'd tried to escape earlier in the day, they'd made her stay for makeovers; Bonnie was currently wearing tragically blue eyeshadow and foundation that was much too orange to be her shade. "You're sure it was your Mom?"

"One hundred percent." Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation. "Am I allowed to go and help my Mom make dinner, or do I have to stay for some more fun activities?"

"You can go," Lady permitted, " _But_ you have to promise me you won't become a social recluse for the rest of the holidays."

Fionna snorted, "Have you _met_ her? I'm pretty sure that she's the biggest social recluse we've ever made friends with."

Bonnie flippantly shrugged, "Sure. If you want to hang out again soon and I'm not already busy, I'll gladly spend time with you guys."

Lady smiled – it was laced with triumph and…was that teasing? "Make sure you let Marceline know she's invited to these things."

Bonnie heard LSP make some sort of grunt which was a mixture between distain and annoyance. She ignored it; no use in starting an argument now. "I'm sure she'd love to hang out with you guys and get makeovers, but she's sick."

Bonnie saw a glint of suspicion in Lady's eye. "So, your best friend is sick and you're going home to help your Mom with dinner. _Right_."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but made no move to correct her friend. Instead, she jabbed her thumb in the general direction of the door. "I'm going to head off. See you guys later."

Fionna and Cake both hugged her goodbye; LSP, on the other hand, settled for a little nod and a smile in Bonnie's direction.

Before Bonnie headed out of the door, Lady pulled her in for a hug and whispered in her ear, "Have fun with your girlfriend."

As Bonnie pulled away from her, she rolled her eyes. "I'll see you guys soon. Text me."

* * *

Bonnie pushed Marceline's bedroom door open and her gaze immediately relocated itself to the lump under the blankets on her girlfriend's bed. She deduced that it was Marceline, and she allowed herself a small smile before she perched herself on the edge of the soft double bed.

Bonnie watched for a moment as the sheets rose slightly from the rhythmic rise and fall of Marceline's chest with each passing breath, before she wrapped her fingers around the corner of the duvet and gradually peeled it back to reveal her pyjama-clad, sleeping girlfriend. _God,_ she was so cute.

Marceline's lips were parted slightly, her hair a total mess. She was lacking in colour, but her cheeks were tinted pink and her face was free of any worry or stress or sadness. It was the most beautiful that Bonnie had ever seen her. She made a mental note to stop falling asleep before Marceline.

Although Marceline was usually pale, Bonnie noticed a significant loss of colour, aside from the dark shadows under her eyes; for a second Bonnie couldn't bring herself to wake her up, but as she placed a gentle had on her girlfriend's shoulder, Marceline jolted awake.

She sent Bonnie a smile and waved her hand, before pulling her phone up to her chest and tapping about on it. Then, Bonnie felt a vibration in her pocket and pulled her phone out.

_**Marceline (3:42PM): hey, thanks for coming** _

_**Marceline (3:42PM): I lost my voice :( whenever I get sick I get tonsillitis and it sucks** _

Bonnie let out a soft little chuckle, finding Marceline's hand. "You got that bug that's been going around, huh?" At Marceline's nod and upset, _extremely_ overdramatic pout, Bonnie continued. "That sucks. Do you want anything?"

Marceline just shrugged in response, tapping away on her phone again.

_**Marceline (3:44PM): what sort of things are you offering** _

_**Marceline (3:44PM): because if it's like…a new guitar I'll take it but if it's a pet spider I'm moving to a different state** _

Bonnie laughed at that; to be honest, she didn't really know what she was offering just yet. She hummed in thought, dragging her teeth across her bottom lip until it felt raw. Eventually, she just shrugged and went for the obvious. "I don't know. Chicken soup or something."

Bonnie was surprised by Marceline's enthusiastic nod – at her inquisitive frown, Marceline held up her forefinger before typing on her phone, probably in explanation. At least, that's what Bonnie was hoping for.

_**Marceline (3:45PM): my mom used to make me that as a kid when I got sick** _

_**Marceline (3:46PM): so yeah I'll take you up on that offer** _

"Okay. I'll be two seconds in the kitchen." She leaned down and pressed a kiss to Marceline's forehead, recoiling almost instantly; Marceline was burning up. Bonnie pressed the back of her hand to Marceline's forehead, "God, you're burning up."

Marceline shook her head, a mixture of confusion and surprise written on her face.

_**Marceline (3:48PM): why do you think I have so many blankets? I'm too cold** _

Bonnie put her phone down on her lap and sent Marceline a sympathetic smile. "Well, I'll be a few minutes with your soup."

The bed rose slightly due to the loss of the extra weight Bonnie was adding to it, and the pink haired girl quietly slipped out of the door and downstairs.

Marceline occupied herself with her phone while Bonnie was busy downstairs, playing as many pointless iPhone games she could think of – Temple Run, Two Dots, Plants vs Zombies, stuff like that.

She was in the middle of a _very_ intense level of Plants vs Zombies – three of the zombies had destroyed a bunch of her plants right before a giant wave of _other_ zombies, which was _very_ irritating – when Bonnie made her way back into the room.

Bonnie sat down on the bed again, handing over a mug. "There's your chicken soup. Eat up."

Bonnie's phone buzzed again.

_**Marceline (3:54PM): still unclear as to whether or not you eat or drink soup** _

Bonnie let out a little chuckle, before shrugging – she wasn't too clear on that, either. "I don't know. I think if it's in a bowl, you eat it, but if it's in a cup, you drink it. So…drink up, I guess."

_**Marceline (3:55PM): that's weird though like if I put a chicken nugget in a cup I wouldn't be drinking it** _

_**Marceline (3:55PM): fuck soup it's confusing** _

Bonnie laughed at the text, "You really have a way with words, Marceline."

_**Marceline (3:56PM): fuck yeah I do** _

Marceline put her phone down and took a sip from the mug, sending Bonnie a grateful smile in the hopes of expressing her thanks. She cringed a little as she swallowed it – it felt like hundreds of knives had been stuck into her throat and the soup itself was like swallowing needles; but, after she'd drunk around half the mug, she felt a little better – the heat seemed to soothe the pain a little.

"You want to watch some TV or something?" Bonnie asked, before digging around the bag she'd brought with her – she'd gone home to wash her 'makeover' off and pick up a few things to bring to Marceline's. After a few minutes, she pulled out her notebook and a textbook for advanced science. "We could start next year's syllabus if you want."

At Marceline's wide eyes and almost _violent_ head shake, she laughed. "Okay, fine. You pick something to do."

Marceline pointed to her notebook with a frown, and Bonnie followed her finger to where it read _Bonnibel Bubblegum_ , in her neat cursive handwriting; she'd had this book since freshman year, and it was filled with all of her important notes. Of course, it'd become rather tattered – Marceline doodling on it a few months previous hadn't helped.

Bonnie didn't understand why her notebook was so important. "What're you trying to tell me?"

Marceline rolled her eyes and picked up her phone again; _clearly_ , that was a stupid question.

_**Marceline (4:06PM): your last name isn't really bubblegum is it** _

Bonnie couldn't help herself; she laughed. Hard. She felt her phone vibrate in her hand a few more times – probably texts from Marceline asking what was so funny – but she didn't bother to look at them, because Marceline's question was just _too_ funny.

(It was kind of adorable, too.)

She only stopped laughing when she heard Marceline croak, "Bonnie."

She spun around, still a little amused but more concerned about Marceline's health, "Marceline, don't try speaking. You'll make it worse."

Her phone buzzed in her palm, and she unlocked it to read Marceline's response.

_**Marceline (4:09PM): but you didn't answer my question** _

Bonnie had to bite her lip to hold in another bout of laughter. "I'm sorry. It was just…cute."

_**Marceline (4:10PM): you're still not answering me** _

Somehow, Marceline managed to convey the perfect amount of annoyance. Bonnie could practically hear the sarcastic monotone behind it and feel the eye roll that was bound to have accompanied it.

"No, it's not really my last name." Bonnie _finally_ responded, biting back another bout of laughter. _God,_ was Marceline's question cute. "People just kind of assume it is because it's written on my books and stuff. They don't question it either, which is kind of weird. Maybe they don't want to offend me or something. I don't know."

_**Marceline (4:12PM): why is it written on your stuff then** _

"It was kind of an inside joke." Bonnie explained, "Back in New York, when I first dyed my hair pink – you know those girls Bea was sat with when we ran into her?" At Marceline's nod, Bonnie continued, "Yeah. Well, they started calling me Bubblegum to _offend_ me I guess, and Bea made it into a little inside joke to make me feel better about it. I guess it's just something I never really let go of."

_**Marceline (4:14PM): oh okay** _

_**Marceline (4:14PM): so what is your real last name** _

Bonnie had another attack of laughter. Her own _girlfriend_ didn't know her real last name. Hilarious. In fact, she didn't understand how Marceline hadn't found out any other way – they'd been sharing the same few classes since January. _Surely_ , Marceline payed attention to the roll call?

(Okay, that was probably a stupid thing to assume.)

Marceline just rolled her eyes and tried to look as irritated as possible, mirroring the look she used at school, that she so creatively named _school face._ In fact, that was kind of similar to the face she wore when LSP was within fifty feet of her; although that one looked significantly more pissed off. Either would do in this situation, Marceline decided.

Bonnie calmed down, and with a relaxed smile, she slung an arm around Marceline's shoulders. "It's Butler. My Dad's last name, which my Mom took when she married him back before I was born."

Marceline nodded in response and shuffled a little closer to Bonnie, typing out a response as she got comfortable.

_**Marceline (4:17PM): can I sleep on you? you're comfy.** _

Bonnie wasn't sure if _you're comfy_ was an insult or a compliment, but she knew she was kind of pudgy, so she took it positively and let it slide. She let a soft smile settle on her face, holding out her arms and wiggling her fingers as an invitation for a hug. "Sure you can. Come here, cutie."

Marceline sent her a smile, grabbing her blanket and putting it over the top of them both. Bonnie felt her phone buzz – _how_ Marceline had sent a text in that time, Bonnie didn't know. She assumed it read _I'm not cute_ or some other variation of that. In all honesty, Bonnie didn't get why Marceline tended to deny her when she said that – did Marceline _not_ own a mirror?

_**Marceline (4:19PM): night bonnie** _

(She was wrong. That was strange.)

Bonnie gave Marceline a soft squeeze. "Night, Marcy."

* * *

The first thing Bonnie registered was a pair of hands on her before her eyes shot open in panic; she relaxed almost instantly when she saw Marceline's face, outlined in the darkness of the room they were in.

Groggily, Bonnie sat up as Marceline turned the lamp on her bedside table on. "What time is it?"

Marceline gestured to her dusty alarm clock – it was 9:35. Somewhere under the covers, she heard the faint buzz of her phone, and patted around under the sheets until her hand came in contact with the cold device.

_**Marceline (9:36PM): I made you some chamomile tea and I can drive you home if you want** _

Bonnie's face broke out into a grin, "You made me some tea? You didn't need to do that, you're the sick one, _I_ should _-_ ,"

Marceline let out a soft, throaty chuckle and forced out, "It's fine."

Bonnie cringed at how crackly and hoarse Marceline's voice was – she knew that if her girlfriend kept talking, she'd probably make herself worse. "Don't talk. I don't want you to feel worse. The texting communication is perfectly fine."

Marceline sent Bonnie a grateful smile, tapping out a message on her phone.

_**Marceline (9:38PM): okay** _

_**Marceline (9:39PM): do you want me to drive you home** _

Bonnie quickly shook her head. "I don't want you to strain yourself. I'll walk."

Almost at light speed, Marceline sent her another message. She must've practiced texting that quickly – no normal human could do _that_. No way.

_**Marceline (9:40PM): if you walk I'm walking with you** _

Bonnie huffed in annoyance; even without use of her vocal cords, Marceline _still_ managed to be irritatingly stubborn. "Fine. You can drive me home."

Marceline smiled in triumph. "Awesome."

" _Don't_ talk!" Bonnie exclaimed in exasperation. "You'll make yourself worse. Do you _enjoy_ not listening to me or something?"

Marceline seemed to consider Bonnie's point, before shrugging carelessly.

_**Marceline (9:43PM): annoying you is fun** _

Bonnie rolled her eyes – god, _eye rolls_? Marceline really was influencing her. In fact, now that she thought about it, she'd been doing that a lot. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? "You're going to jeopardise your _health_ to annoy me? Well, at least you're committed."

Marceline sent her a teasing smirk, and Bonnie couldn't resist – she leaned in to kiss her girlfriend.

(Is it wrong she was offended when Marceline pushed her away?)

Her phone vibrated, and she looked down at the message, probably seeming upset – which, she was. At least, until she read the text.

_**Marceline (9:45PM): please don't do that I don't want you to get sick because then I'll feel bad for contaminating you with my gross sick person germs** _

Bonnie beamed, finding Marceline's hand and kissing the back of it. "There. I won't get sick, promise."

Marceline smiled and then pressed a mug of tea into Bonnie's hands. The pink haired girl grinned back in appreciation, slowly draining the mug – one hand on her cup, one hand linked with Marceline's.

Once Bonnie had gotten out of bed and smoothed out her clothes – that had become creased from lying in Marceline's bed – they headed outside and made their way to Marceline's car. – Marceline didn't bother getting out of her pyjamas and inwardly Bonnie thanked any source of high power she could think of; Marceline looked adorable in her grey sweatpants and oversized black hoodie.

As she started the car, Marceline sent Bonnie an apologetic look and put her phone on her girlfriend's lap; she knew Bonnie wouldn't approve of her texting while driving. Bonnie didn't mind; Marceline let her talk about her day, merely responding with little hums – although Bonnie _did_ get a soft laugh out of her when recounting the absolute _torture_ that was her makeover.

As Marceline's car pulled up in front of Bonnie's house, the pink haired girl leaned over and pressed a kiss to Marceline's lips. Truth was, she didn't care if she got sick.

Kissing Marceline was worth it.


	45. forty-five.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline, bonnie and friends go swimming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: eating disorder, depression (mention), anxiety/panic attacks (mention).

**Thursday 28** **th** **August 2014**

"You guys want to play pool tag?" Jake asked as he leaned over the side of the swimming pool.

Bonnie sat up and sent Jake an apologetic smile, "Maybe later – I'm just going to sunbathe with Marceline and Finn."

Jake sent her a smirk, "Sunbathing. Right. Also known as girl shopping for you and Finn and guy shopping for her."

Bonnie's face settled into a frown and she went to explain the concept of bisexuality to Jake, but Marceline swiftly interjected, without looking up from the book she was reading. "I'm _bi_ , you moron."

Jake pushed away from the side of the pool, his enthusiastic grin merely wobbling before it came back full force, "Whatever, dude. That's cool, I guess."

With that, he swam back over to Lady and the rest of the group.

"You know he's scared of you, right?" Marceline turned to her left and lifted her sunglasses from her eyes, frowning at Finn. "He is. He thinks you'll break his arm or something if he annoys you."

Marceline considered this for a moment, looking over at the burly, stocky boy in the pool. Jake had the build of a professional wrestler; broad shoulders, a six pack, biceps that were probably bigger than Marceline's head. "He could probably snap me in half. He's got _nothing_ to worry about, trust me."

Bonnie decided to change the subject before Marceline's insecurity around her friends resurfaced. "How come you aren't joining in with their game, Finn?"

The blond boy held up his prosthetic arm with a sigh. "Isn't it obvious? I don't want to swim with this."

Marceline rolled her eyes at him. "Take it off and go and have fun. I can tell you're bored and we're not exactly the most interesting people in the world. We'll watch it for you."

He put his left hand on it, hesitant. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Marceline responded, putting her sunglasses back on and turning back to her book. Bonnie tried not to roll her eyes. Sometimes her girlfriend could be so antisocial. Not that Bonnie was really one to talk - one time back in New York, she didn't leave her room for four days to study. She didn't sleep either; pulling three consecutive all-nighters was one of Bonnie's personal records.

Bonnie kept her attention on Finn in an effort to be comforting, as she had noticed how reluctant he was to take it off. "It's okay, Finn."

"But what if people stare?" His voice was quiet and scared, a far cry from his usual optimism. That's how Bonnie knew something was really, really wrong.

"Since when have you cared what people think?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow and sent him a comforting smile, at which he blushed, "Go and have fun."

Finn smiled back and took the prosthetic off, leaving it on his lounge chair. He tugged his t-shirt off, leaving him in just his swimming trunks, making his way over to the pool. "Thanks, Bubblegum."

As he jumped into the pool with a big splash, Bonnie sent him a knowing smile. "And Finn? Move on. I have a girlfriend."

"Damn right." Marceline muttered, not looking up from her book. Bonnie let out a little chuckle – half at Marceline's comment, half at how red Finn had become.

"I'm trying." He mumbled in assurance, before slowly swimming over to everyone else.

Bonnie shook her head with a smile on her face, before picking up her book – Darwin's theory of evolution – and leaning back on her lounge chair, tugging the grey shirt Marceline had let her borrow further down her body to cover her pink bathing suit.

She'd read about a paragraph of her book when Marceline spoke.

"I'm so fucking hot." Marceline complained - mostly to herself - pulling her t-shirt off to reveal her black bikini.

Bonnie fell her breath catch in her throat and her gaze flicked over to her girlfriend; Marceline's pale, toned stomach was revealed – probably the result of jumping around playing guitar and singing, which Bonnie assumed counted as exercise. She tried to ignore how prominent her girlfriend's ribs were by focusing on her _amazingly perfect_ hair; it was flawlessly messy, small pieces sticking up haphazardly as Marceline pushed her bangs from her eyes.

Eventually, Bonnie smiled. "I'm not going to argue with that."

Marceline turned to her with surprise written all over her face, before a smile crept its way onto her mouth. "Look at that, flirty Bonnie came out to play."

They heard a scoff from in front of them, followed up by, "Get a room."

Almost in perfect synchronisation, Marceline and Bonnibel rolled their eyes. "Shut _up_ , Marshall."

"Hey, I don't act all sappy around girls in front of _you_." Marshall folded his arms in defiance, "Don't do it around _me_."

Marceline's jaw dropped and she let out an amused scoff, "You have _got_ to be kidding me. You had your tongue shoved down your last girlfriend's throat every fucking second you could."

He just shrugged, his gaze flicking back over to the death match of a pool chase happening between Finn, Jake and everyone else. "She was hot."

"So is Bonnie." Marceline shot back, and the pink haired girl felt her cheeks go red as Marceline slung an arm around her shoulder. Marshall made a puking noise. "What? Jealous your sister can get more girls than you?"

At that, he laughed. Hard. "That's the best joke I've heard all week. Thanks for cheering me up, sis." After another bout of laughter, he asked, "Are you coming to play pool tag with us?"

"Nah." Marceline shuffled on her lounge chair, smoothing her towel out. "I'm just going to chill out for a bit."

"Okay," He nodded, his green gaze flicking to Bonnibel. He smirked at her, and she found herself feeling a lot more self-conscious; only Marceline was allowed to smirk at her, Bonnie decided. "Bubblegum? Pool tag?"

"No thanks, Marshall. I just don't feel like getting in the pool." Bonnie set him an uncomfortable, apologetic smile, attempting to make the t-shirt she was wearing cover her up more – instead it just made her feel a lot more humid. "Maybe in a little while."

"Alright, be boring with my sister if you want, but the offer is still open." He said – Bonnie watched him as he swam back to everyone and proceeded to dunk Fionna under the water. She wasn't going to lie; she laughed when Fionna bobbed back up looking like a drowned rat and smacked him.

"Go and join in with your friends, Bonnie."

Bonnibel swivelled round and looked to Marceline – her girlfriend was still reading her book and wasn't looking in her direction. "What?"

"I _said_ , go and have fun." Marceline sat up and pushed her sunglasses to her forehead, shooting Bonnie a knowing look, "If you don't feel comfortable getting into the pool, at least take that shirt off. You must be boiling."

"I'll only go in the pool if you go in with me." Bonnie wagered, "If I have to have fun, you do too."

Marceline rolled her eyes and laid back down, flicking her sunglasses over her eyes. "Someone has to watch the stuff. They're your friends, not mine – you go and have fun with them."

Bonnie let out a little scoff and rolled her eyes, "If they're not your friends, why do you care if anyone steals their stuff?"

"I don't." Marceline replied, "But you're not going to sucker me into the pool with _that_. Try harder."

Bonnie sat back in thought, looking up to the bright blue sky and chewing on her lip, "Okay. I bet I could beat you at marco polo this time."

"You probably couldn't." Marceline shot back, "Still not getting in the pool, though." Then her expression softened, "I know you're worried about your body, but you shouldn't be. You're gorgeous and once you're in the water, you won't be thinking about it because you're too busy having fun and engaging in endless nerdy activities."

Bonnie felt red creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. "I…thanks. Come with me?"

Marceline stared at her book in the hope of being stubborn, but her resolve cracked and she shot Bonnie a smile, "Fine. Come on."

Bonnibel grinned and stood up, hesitantly taking off the grey shirt Marceline had let her borrow. She _knew_ her bathing suit made her look a pudgy around the edges – and she _was_ pudgy around the edges – but she tried not to care and kept her gaze trained on Marceline as they walked over to the steps into the pool.

As they made their way into the surprisingly cold pool, out of curiosity Bonnie asked, "How come you don't really want to swim? You were fine with it in England."

Marceline let out a nervous laugh, "Outdoor pools make me uncomfortable. I think it's something to do with how open they are, which is weird because usually being in a closed space makes my panic disorder act up. To be honest, I'm not sure it's actually part of it; I'm just odd, I guess."

Bonnie considered this information, "Okay. Well, next time we can go to the indoor pool, yeah?"

Marceline smiled in appreciation. "Cool. Thanks. I will admit, the cold water is actually pretty nice."

Bonnie smirked, "So you _are_ glad I got you in the pool?"

"Mm…" Marceline looked away from her and hummed, "I guess you could say that, because I can do _this_ ,"

The next thing Bonnie knew, she was drenched with water – Marceline had _clearly_ gone out of her way to splash her as much as possible, so much that Bonnie was pretty certain their vacant lounge chairs were probably soaked.

With water dripping off the point of her nose, Bonnie glared as Marceline laughed. "You're _so_ getting it for that, Abadeer."

"Oh, yeah? You're going to have to catch me first, Butler." With that, Marceline dived under the water and quickly swam away from her.

Bonnie was hot on her tail, not as fast as she would've been – she knew Marceline was purposely splashing water back as she swam – but eventually launched herself forward and grabbed hold of Marceline's ankle and pulled her close to her, "Caught you."

Marceline sent her the infamous puppy-dog eyes, which Bonnie didn't have the talents of resisting. She _wished_ she did – Marceline would get away with a lot less than she usually did. "You did. Please don't dunk me."

Bonnie let out a reluctant sigh and rolled her eyes, "But you _deserve_ it."

Marceline pouted and Bonnie's insides melted – yep, this girl had a _total_ hold over her. Dammit. " _Please_? I'll give you kisses if you don't."

Bonnie flushed a bright pink – her face almost matched her bathing suit. "I'm not going to dunk you. I can't resist your stupid puppy-dog eyes. You're killing me, Abadeer."

Marceline smiled and in the water, Bonnie felt a pair of arms snaking around her waist, "Good to know they have a hold on you. I'll use them when I want you to do my homework for me."

Bonnie sent Marceline the best scowl she could – it was seriously hard to keep herself from smiling when Marceline was staring at her with that _gorgeous_ toothy grin of hers. "That's one thing that _won't_ be happening. Your homework is _your_ responsibility."

She felt Marceline's stomach softly shaking with laughter and frowned, "You're such a dork, oh my god. You're hilarious."

Bonnie couldn't help it – her resolve cracked, and she ended up laughing with her girlfriend. "Shut up. It's important that you do homework; you don't know _how_ much it contributes to your learning."

Yep, that just made Marceline laugh _harder_. "Cute. So cute."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and lightly splashed her girlfriend, half in revenge for before, half to shut her up. "Stop making fun of me or I'll tell the entire school you're actually an adorable little kitten who sleeps with a teddy bear."

Marceline paled and Bonnie's stomach immediately dropped with guilt, like someone had just dropped an invisible anchor into the pit of it. "You'd tell people about Hambo?"

Bonnie quickly shook her head; so quickly, she gave herself a headache. "No, no! I was just joking."

Rigidly, Marceline nodded, "Okay."

Bonnie leaned up and pressed a kiss to Marceline's cheek – something that was comforting, and her friends wouldn't interpret it as anything other than a friendly gesture. "It was just a joke, Marcy. I'd _never_ do that. What's a Hambo?"

At that last statement, Marceline smiled a little. "Alright. Thanks. You just scared me a little bit."

Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand underwater. "Sorry. You want to join in with my friends or…?"

Marceline glanced over at Bonnie's friends who were all splashing about at the deep end of the pool. For a moment, she _did_ consider joining in for Bonnie's benefit, but eventually stuck with no. _That_ was too much socialising for her liking. "Nah. I'm going to go back and finish my book. You were right – _To Kill A Mockingbird_ is actually pretty cool."

Bonnie grinned – she _still_ wasn't over the fact that Marceline had read the book she'd recommended. "I know, right? I'll come with you, if you want."

Marceline shook her head, "Nah, you go play with the other children. I'll be over there," She jabbed a thumb in the direction of the empty lounge chairs.

Before Bonnibel could call her back, Marceline had swum to the edge of the pool and climbed out, walking back to their lounge chairs. Bonnie watched as Marceline dried herself off with her towel and had to force herself to look away and swim over to her friends.

(She was so freaking _lucky_.)

* * *

"Who wants a hot dog and who wants a burger?" Fionna asked as she and Lady stood up to go to the mini-bar.

Bonnie – although she tried to resist the urge – glanced over at Marceline, who stayed silent and kept her gaze focused on her book. What she didn't know was that on the inside, Marceline was _praying_ that Bonnie's friends wouldn't ask her if she wanted anything; she hated drawing any sort of attention onto how she could barely _eat_ properly.

"Marceline?"

 _Oh, fuck_ , Marceline thought. Luckily, she was a master of hiding her emotions and kept a neutral face, "Yes?"

Lady was the one to ask her. "Do you want anything to eat?"

She did. She really did. She was so hungry that the ache in her stomach had become _painful_ , but her head told her she didn't need it, that she'd had enough to eat this morning, that a slice of toast would keep her going until dinner time.

"No, I'm fine." That was enough for Lady – the blonde moved onto Finn, who took what seemed like a decade to decide if he wanted a burger or a hot dog.

 _Good_ , Marceline thought _, gives me time to calm down_.

She felt a gentle hand on her thigh and her head shot up to see Bonnibel sitting on the edge of her lounge chair, sending her a reassuring smile. Marceline shuffled over for her girlfriend, who simply moved closer to her and gave her thigh a tender squeeze. "Do you want to share something with me?"

Marceline felt her throat close over. _Of course Bonnie had noticed. Of course_. "I'm fine."

"I'm not going to force you to eat, Marceline." Bonnie murmured, "But I do think we should get something in you. When was the last time you ate?"

Marceline was so tempted to lie. So _unbelievably_ tempted. She might have, if Bonnie wasn't looking at her with that gentle gaze that she used to cheer her up. If it was anyone other than Bonnie sat there. If she hadn't promised Bonnie she'd be one hundred percent honest with her.

"Breakfast." Marceline eventually muttered. "Toast."

"That was six hours ago." Bonnie said, mostly to herself. She knew it was important to get Marceline to eat something, even if it was a little. "Hey, Lady? Can I get a burger and a side of fries, please?"

Lady raised an eyebrow. "You're pretty hungry, I take it?"

Bonnie let out a casual laugh, masking her concern for her girlfriend, "No, Marceline and I are going to share it."

"Changed your mind, huh?" It was clear this was directed at Marceline, and the dark haired girl looked up and put on a smile.

Bonnie felt a pang of worry in her chest; Marceline was really good at faking smiles. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Fionna nudged Lady and distracted the other girl, muttering something about everyone's order. Bonnie watched after them and then immediately spun back round to Marceline once she was sure they were out of earshot. "What's it like?"

Bonnie hadn't meant to blurt that out. She didn't want to cause any offence or cross any lines, and she felt like she'd just jumped across a big one. A big, _important_ one.

Marceline was pulled out of some sort of sick trance and sent her a look of pure confusion before Bonnie had a chance to take it back. "Huh? I don't get what you mean."

"Like…" Bonnie paused and let out a sigh; she didn't want to call Marceline ill or sick – she knew Marceline _was_ sick, but she didn't want to cause any possible offence or arguments. Instead, she simply tapped Marceline's temple with her forefinger, "Up there. What's it like for you? You know, dealing with stuff."

Marceline's frown settled deeper into her face, "You want to know what my mental disorders are like?"

Bonnie nodded, treading carefully; this subject was a minefield. "Yeah. If you don't want to talk about it, I don't mind. I just want to be able to understand more."

"Well…it's like," Marceline shuffled back on her lounge chair and stared up at the cloudless sky, "It's mostly like this for me; one minute my head will be fine. Everything will seem better and for a moment I forget about everything and then something will happen – someone will say something that affects me or whatever – and all of a sudden it's chaos. It's like I'm spending my whole life just waiting for the end of the calm. It's like a constant battle in my head between the anxiety and the depression – half of me doesn't have motivation to do anything and the other half is terrified of what will happen if I don't motivate myself and constantly telling me all this bad stuff that will happen and that I'm wasting my life or that I'm useless and other _terrifying_ things and it sucks.

"When the depression takes over it's like drowning. Constant drowning." Marceline's voice was getting shakier, "And you see everyone else swimming and it just makes you ten times worse because you can't do anything to resurface and you just feel… _numb_. Like nothing matters. Even things you love stop mattering."

Bonnie pulled her girlfriend in for a hug and kissed her on the cheek, "I thought you said your depression was better."

"It is." Marceline replied, shuffling to sit up on the lounge chair, "But it's not constantly better. It's like a rollercoaster. Sometimes I hit a dip."

Bonnie bit on her lip in nervousness before replying. She didn't know if she wanted to know the answer to the question in her head. She asked it anyway. "Have you hit any dips recently?"

"No. Not since around June." Marceline sent her an awkward smile, following up with, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring down the conversation."

"I asked you about it," Bonnie said, "Blame me."

Marceline shrugged, "It's okay. You just wanted to know and it means a lot to me that you care."

 _Of course_ Bonnie started blushing. _Typically_. "Of course I care about you. You're my girlfriend."

Marceline felt her stomach do a backflip, but tried to keep herself collected, "Good to know." Everything felt a little _dim_ , like somebody had sucked the life out of the conversation and made it bleak and empty. Marceline flashed Bonnie an attempt at a smile, trying to clear her head. "Want to have a race in the pool while we wait for the food?"

Bonnie's face brightened and her blue eyes lit up with that familiar cheerful spark that did all sorts of things to Marceline's heart. Right then it ached. "Oh, you're _on_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no update next week. i'm in france with no internet.


	46. forty-six.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie and marceline go back to school.

**Monday 1** **st** **September 2014**

Bonnie pushed open the door to Simon's classroom, looking straight over to his desk to see Marceline sat on his chair, looking over her timetable. Bonnie grinned; this was _perfect_.

She made her way over and grabbed Marceline's schedule from her hands – which was acknowledged with a ' _hey, what the hell?'_ from the other girl as she placed it on Simon's desk. She produced her own from her back pocket and smoothed it out on the table, looking over the two.

"Uh…what are you doing?" Marceline asked, moving herself side to side on Simon's chair.

"Comparing our schedules to see if we have any classes together." Bonnie explained, her smile growing wider each time she spotted one they shared.

"Okay…" Marceline didn't really see why it was important – although she _did_ like the idea of more Bonnie. "Do we?"

"Yes. We have all the sciences together," Bonnie was incredibly happy when she'd noticed that; Marceline and science at the same time? Yes please. "And we have English Lit, Math and PE together."

"We don't have PE together." Marceline replied, without even glancing down at the two schedules.

"Yes we _do_ , Marceline. It says it right here." Bonnie pointed to the two places on the pieces of paper, nudging her girlfriend when she didn't look.

"It might _say_ we do, but I don't show up, so we don't." Marceline explained.

"You cut class? You said you didn't do that!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"PE is hardly important." Marceline scoffed. "Two hours on a Tuesday afternoon being about as useful as a dead penguin in a game of soccer _and_ being around judgemental peers in tight gym clothes? I'll pass."

"You can't just…but… _I'm_ in your class." Bonnie spluttered. Surely Marceline would come if she asked, right?

"Sorry, Bon." Marceline apologised. "As much as I care about you, I'm not putting myself through _that_. I guess you'll have to hope Lady or someone is in your class so you can work with her. Either that or just cut class with me. Usually I go and get coffee and sit out and read for a bit."

Although that did sound appealing, Bonnie shook her head. "I've had perfect attendance since pre-school. I'm not ruining that."

"Of _course_ you have perfect attendance." Marceline laughed, "Could you _get_ any nerdier?"

"Shut up." Bonnie rolled her eyes, before glancing up at the clock. 8:55. "Come on, we should go to Math."

Marceline groaned, but stood up and grabbed her backpack. She stuffed her timetable in her pocket. "Math first thing on a Monday morning? Did they get _Satan_ to make these fucking timetables?"

Bonnie blinked in surprise for a few seconds. "I think that's the first time you've sworn for about a month."

Marceline frowned. "No, it can't be. I always swear."

"No, you kind of relaxed with it over summer." Bonnie explained. She'd picked up on it pretty quickly and it'd actually kind of surprised her to hear Marceline swear. Which was weird, considering how excessively she swore when they first met. "You've barely sworn for like two months."

"That's weird. Huh," Marceline held the door to Simon's classroom open for Bonnie. "Fuck. Shit. Dick. Motherfucker. Bitch. There. That's enough for now."

Bonnie chuckled a little, reflexively going to hold Marceline's hand, before quickly stopping herself. She knew Marceline noticed. "I'm sorry we can't do that. You know how I feel about you but I'm just -"

"I get it, Bonnie. You're not ready to come out. It's okay." Marceline shot her an understanding smile. "I'm okay with it. Promise."

"It's not you, I -"

"I _know_. Jeez. Chill out." Marceline rolled her eyes as she followed Bonnie into the math block.

Bonnie checked the room number on her timetable and headed up a flight of stairs. Looking around to make sure they were alone, she boosted herself up on her tiptoes and kissed Marceline's cheek. "Okay. Thanks. Come on, we're here."

Bonnie motioned towards a classroom, and Marceline followed her in. The pink haired girl walked to a table of four in the middle, placing her bag down on it; she knew Marceline wouldn't want to sit at the front but she didn't want to sit at the very back, either. It was a compromise.

Marceline sat down in the seat next to Bonnie and pulled her phone from her pocket. Bonnie caught a glimpse of the screen – Marceline was texting Keila. Typically. "What're you and Keila talking about?"

"Creeping on my texts, are you?" Marceline teased, before her face dissolved into an easy smile. "We're going to hang out tonight and she's going to download a bunch of movies."

"Oh, okay." Bonnie drummed on the desk with her fingers, "You wouldn't want to do something soon, would you?"

"Sure, like what?" Marceline didn't look up from her phone.

"We could finish Criminal Minds? Have a pizza night?" Bonnie suggested. "I don't know, it's up to you."

"Okay." Marceline sent her a warm smile, "So, applied to any colleges yet?"

"I'm glad you asked," Bonnie suddenly became a lot more animated, "I've always really wanted to get into NYU and I'm perfecting my application for there. Of course, I'm going to send to other places – safety schools and whatnot – but NYU is my first choice. What about you?"

"I _might_ be applying somewhere." Marceline smirked and leaned back in her chair; only two of its four legs were in contact with the ground. "But that's _classified information_."

"I just told you about all of my college plans." Bonnie stated, poking Marceline in the side in an attempt to tickle her. "Spill the beans. Come _on_ , Marcy."

Marceline drew out a heavy sigh before leaning forward; all four legs of her chair touched the ground. "Simon thinks I should try and get into Juilliard."

Bonnie scoffed. "Try? They'd let you in without a second thought."

A slight pink colour rose in Marceline's cheeks. "You really think so?"

Bonnie's initial response was cut off by the harsh ring of the school bell, so she repeated herself. "Of course. You're really talented, Marceline."

"Thanks." Marceline let out a small huff as some of their classmates walked in. "God, I really want to kiss you right now."

Bonnie laughed. "Well, you're going to have to control yourself, aren't you?"

Marceline pouted and pulled herself closer to their desk. "That's no fun. Why am I dating such a fun-sponge?"

"Because I'm _irresistible._ " Bonnie smirked, smiling at Jake as he sat down in the seat opposite her. "Hey, Jake."

"Bubblegum, Marceline." He nodded to them both in greeting. "You don't know how glad I am to see you guys. I was talking to everyone else this morning and nobody else had this class with me, and I was freaking out because I suck at Math and need someone smart to copy off."

Bonnibel frowned. "You won't be copying off me."

At this, his face fell. Marceline just laughed. "I'll copy off her and then you can copy off me."

As Bonnie quickly shook her head, Jake grinned. "Thanks, dude. I can't believe we graduate this year. Are you going back to New York once you finish?"

Bonnie shrugged. "Depends on if I get into NYU. If not, I'll be somewhere else."

"Well, you still should come back and visit us all when you can, and Lady -" Jake began, but was cut off.

Marceline tapped Bonnie on the upper arm, her eyes trained on something at the front of the room. "Guess you're not the new kid anymore."

Bonnie was about to retort about how she'd hadn't been _new_ for a while, but paused once she followed Marceline's gaze. A redheaded girl was stood at the front of the room, talking in a hushed voice to their teacher. Bonnie couldn't hear what they were saying, "Can you hear them?"

"That's a bit nosey, don't you think?" Marceline teased, "I'm surprised we didn't hear anything through Facebook. Usually LSP announces to the entire school through a status when there's a new kid."

"Wait…" Bonnie frowned a little, "Did she do that with me?"

"Yup," Marceline bobbed her head in confirmation, "Don't ask me how she knows, but on your first day even _I_ knew you were going to be here."

"Weird." Bonnie didn't have time to make any other comments.

"Class," Their teacher's voice cut through the chatter of each table, who were probably only talking about things they'd done over summer – trivial things, like parties, concerts. Everyone's eyes fell on the new girl, and Bonnie could tell she felt terrified, "This is Phoebe. She's new this year. Phoebe, would you like to tell the class about yourself?"

Phoebe's eyes widened and she looked at their teacher like she'd just made the stupidest suggestion possible – which, she had. _No_ new kid wanted to introduce themselves in front of everyone. Bonnie knew that from experience.

Uncertain, the girl spoke in a soft English accent. "Um…hi. Yeah, I'm Phoebe. I just moved here from England. Yeah."

Bonnie nudged Marceline. "Hey, one of your brethren."

Marceline couldn't stop herself from laughing. Loudly. And Phoebe must've thought Marceline was laughing at _her_ , as she flushed red and looked down at her feet. Bonnie noticed, and elbowed her girlfriend in the side. Marceline scowled. " _You_ called her my brethren."

Bonnie just rolled her eyes in response. "You could've contained yourself."

Marceline nonchalantly shrugged as their teacher told Phoebe to find a seat; yet _another_ stupid idea, as the girl clearly hadn't made any friends yet.

Bonnie watched as the new girl made her way through the desks – heading towards the empty table at the back. Bonnie frowned to herself; she would've hated it if she'd ended up sitting alone at the back.

She made eye contact with Phoebe and smiled. "Hi. Do you want to sit with us?"

Bonnie noticed that Phoebe glanced at Marceline a little warily before sending Bonnie a shy smile and sitting down in the seat next to Jake. "Thank you."

Bonnie sent her a welcoming smile. "Don't worry about it. I moved here earlier this year, I know what it's like." Then, she quickly tacked on, "I'm Bonnibel."

Nervously, Phoebe asked, "Is it nice here? Did you make any friends on your first day?"

"Yeah, I like it." Bonnie nodded. She noted that the other girl was relaxing. "I did make friends. Jake – who you're sat next to – was one of them."

As Jake greeted Phoebe, Marceline loudly cleared her throat. Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Have you got a cough or something?"

Marceline looked up and sent Bonnie a look resembling a puppy deprived of a treat. "I'm your friend."

"We didn't make friends on my first day, Marceline." Bonnie pointed out. "In fact, you told me you didn't like me and would never be my friend."

Marceline laughed, "Well, I'm clearly not a psychic. In my defence, I didn't think I'd make friends with the bright pink nerd."

Bonnie rolled her eyes in response, finding Marceline's hand under the table and giving it a squeeze. Then, she turned back to Phoebe, nodding in Marceline's direction. "This is Marceline. Probably my best friend."

"Probably?" Marceline repeated.

Bonnie huffed; Marceline was being difficult on purpose. "She _is_ my best friend."

Bonnie could see the apprehension behind Phoebe's awkward smile. "Hi. I'm Phoebe. But you knew that already…uh…" The redhead let out a nervous chuckle.

Bonnie was glad Marceline didn't re-enact their first meeting with Phoebe. "Nice to meet you. Don't worry about making friends." Poking Bonnie with the end of her pen, she continued, "This one's persistent. I know from experience."

With that, she went back to doodling in her notebook. Bonnie squeezed her girlfriend's hand from under the table, hoping to express her gratitude. Then, she flashed a sheepish smile at Phoebe. "She's not lying."

"Honestly, I don't mind. I'm pretty bad at making friends." Phoebe said.

Bonnie shrugged. "Just stick with us. Are you graduating this year too?"

"No, I'm in the year below you guys. They put me in this class because of my good marks at home." Phoebe explained.

Jake grinned. "We'll introduce you to Finn and Fionna and Cake at break. They're in your grade."

Phoebe smiled thankfully. "Thank you. I didn't think anyone would want to make friends with me."

Bonnie felt a pang of hurt in her chest. That was _exactly_ how she felt on her first day. "Why wouldn't you make friends? You seem nice."

Phoebe shrugged. "I've never been very good at it. People are kind of confusing and I never really know what to say to them."

Without looking up, Marceline replied, "Amen to _that_."

Bonnie smiled reassuringly. "Well, don't worry. I'm sure you'll be phased into our group by the end of the day."

* * *

Marceline was incredibly relieved when the bell signalled the end of their double period of Math; she needed a break. Not that she'd actually done any work – their teacher gave them a few tasks to do, mainly algebra, and Marceline just peered over Bonnie's shoulder to get the right answer, earning her one of Bonnie's _adorable_ glares.

(Working on the first day back? Nah.)

She walked out of the classroom with Bonnie, Jake and Phoebe, and made to break away from them as they walked by Simon's classroom, but _naturally_ Bonnibel grabbed onto the sleeve of her jumper and didn't let go until they were outside and on the grass bank Bonnie's friends had a habit of sitting on.

Bonnie let go of Marceline's sleeve and pointed to the ground. "Sit."

And _there_ was that difficult smirk again. "I'm not a dog. You don't need to give me commands."

Bonnie plopped down on the grass next to Marceline and shrugged her shoulders, "Well, maybe if you didn't try to avoid your friends, I wouldn't have to."

"I have about four friends, three of which graduated." Marceline reminded her; before she could continue her point about how Bonnie was literally her only friend at school, she felt a sudden feeling of...displeasure? Did she _want_ more friends?

(Even the thought made her queasy.)

She heard footsteps approaching and Marceline glanced up as Lady – who was walking over to them with Fionna and Cake – clucked her tongue in disapproval, a teasing tone to her voice. "Marceline, you don't consider us your friends? I think by _now_ you've warmed up to us, haven't you?"

Marceline rolled her eyes; it was physically _painful_ to conceal her smile, but she did it. "Yeah, whatever. If Bonnie wasn't here, I wouldn't be."

"Duh, she's our safeguard." Cake said as she sat on the grass, stretching her legs out during a yawn, "I have _no_ doubt in my mind that if you suddenly decided you didn't need Bubblegum to buddy around with, we'd be on the receiving end of death glares and threats."

Even though the mere thought of _not_ needing Bonnie was ridiculous, Marceline flashed a bitter smile. "Better hope that doesn't happen, then."

Fionna sat on Marceline's left and bumped shoulders with her in an attempted comforting manner. Marceline flinched, and she _knew_ Fionna noticed. _Great, another nosy kid wanting to know my secrets_.

In a hushed voice, Fionna said, "Ignore her. She's just weird about you because of LSP."

"Yeah, I'm positive that _Elizabeth_ has said loads of wonderful things about me." Marceline spat out.

 _You don't care, you don't care, you don't care_ , she repeated to herself. _You. Don't. Care._

Typically, Bonnie's attentive ears – although busy introducing Phoebe to Lady and Cake – picked up on their conversation. "I didn't know LSP's real name was Elizabeth. Interesting."

"Hardly." Marceline muttered, although she became much less tense when Bonnie's hand casually rested on top of hers.

Bonnie didn't like to admit it, but she was paying much more attention to Marceline than her other friends – the amount of times she'd asked someone to repeat themselves in this conversation was probably getting out of hand, but she was worried about her girlfriend. Marceline seemed particularly tense; Bonnie knew she didn't like big groups, but she knew everybody here, and Bonnibel knew for a fact that all of her friends – sans Cake and LSP – _did_ like Marceline.

So why was her girlfriend so uneasy?

Luckily for her, Bonnie was the master of getting herself out of conversations, and before Phoebe could ask her another question about her experience on her first day of school, she held up a hand and said, "Sorry, I'm just going to run to the cafeteria and get a drink. I'll be back in a few. Marceline?"

She turned her head to see Marceline's crimson gaze trained on her, and she sent her girlfriend a smile. "Come with me to the cafeteria? I'm just going to get a drink."

Marceline nodded and stood up, holding out her hand to help Bonnie up from the ground; Bonnie had to try so _hard_ to ignore the fizzling nerve endings in her fingers at Marceline's touch, and it was even more arduous to let go of Marceline's hand once she was up.

Marceline slung her backpack over her shoulder and followed Bonnie towards the school building. "You're not thirsty at _all_ , are you?"

"Nope," Bonnie shook her head and sent Marceline a reassuring smile, "You can open up around them, you know. They like you."

She saw Marceline roll her eyes. "Funny. Next joke, please."

"I'm serious." Bonnie firmly responded. "They're your friends too."

Marceline let out a heavy puff of air from her nose, pushing open the door to the school building for Bonnie to walk through. Once they were inside, she leaned against the lockers and stared down at her feet.

How could she explain to Bonnie how she felt? She knew Bonnie wouldn't understand – as much as the other girl avoided going out so much, when she _was_ around people, she was a social butterfly. Everyone naturally liked Bonnie; it was impossible not to. Marceline, on the other hand…

"I just feel…out of place around them." She knew it was a weak explanation; she knew Bonnie would try and shoot it down, and she knew that she didn't have a reason to feel so weird around Bonnie's friends; she just had a funny feeling in her gut that if she and Bonnie ever broke up or had a fight, they'd act like they didn't know her.

"It's okay." Bonnie softly smiled, and then, to Marceline's surprise, followed with, "Is there anything I can do to help? You know, make you feel more comfortable and stuff?"

Marceline blinked in shock; Bonnie found it adorable, and it took every ounce of strength in her _not_ to lean up and kiss Marceline right then and there. "You'd do that for me?"

"I'd do anything for you." Bonnie easily responded, "But I know for a fact that my friends all like you, if that helps."

"Except from the one that's in league with LSP." Marceline let out a long sigh. "Can I punch them both in the face?"

Bonnie let out a light chuckle, "If that makes you feel better, go ahead." Quickly, she followed it up with, "Kidding, kidding. I'll see what I can do to make you feel more comfortable, okay?"

Marceline nodded and felt a small smile play at her lips. "Okay. Thanks, Bonnie."

Bonnie found Marceline's hand and gave it a quick squeeze, "Don't worry about it."

"Hey, guys!" A breathy voice was coming towards them; it sounded like it had been running for some time. Finn skidded to a halt in front of them, waving with his prosthetic arm, repeating, "Hey."

"Hi, Finn." Bonnibel smiled as Marceline nodded in greeting.

"Did you guys hear about the new girl?" He was panting to catch his breath; apparently the kid had decided running was the best way to get around school. "Apparently she's English."

"Yeah, she was in our Math class." Marceline supplied, "Bonnie invited her to sit on our table and she's out there making friends with everyone else now."

Bonnie added the important information Marceline had forgotten, "Her name is Phoebe."

Before Finn could reply, Marshall jogged over to them, tapping the blond boy on the shoulder, "Dude, I saw the new girl earlier. She's pretty hot." Then, Marshall saw his sister and quickly added, "And she seems like a great person, too. Sup, Marce?"

Marceline rolled her eyes. "If you hit on her on her first day, I swear to _god_ , you'll be crowned king fuckboy."

"Since when was _hitting_ on people on their first day bad?" Marshall cocked an eyebrow up, "I hit on Bonnibel on her first day. But apparently, my twin sister was more appealing."

Marceline flashed a teasing smile and slung an arm around Bonnie, who blushed. "You bet your ass I'm more appealing. I actually shower."

Marshall rolled his eyes and nudged Finn. "Come on, dude. Let's go talk to the new girl."

As they walked off, Marceline shouted after her brother, "Don't you _dare_ flirt with her."

He stuck his middle finger over his shoulder in response. "Kiss my ass."

Marceline muttered something Bonnie didn't quite catch, and slowly took her arm from around her girlfriend. Then, she sent Bonnie a smile and nodded in the direction her brother and Finn had just gone in. "Do you want to go back outside?"

Bonnie rolled up her sleeve to check her watch, shaking her head, "Nah, it's nearly the end of break. We should go to class or something."

Marceline frowned, pulling her timetable from her back pocket and staring down at it. Her mood considerably lightened when she read it over. "Hey, we have Simon next."

"Which science?"

"Physics," Marceline groaned, "Another _wonderful_ addition to Satan's schedule; math and _then_ physics. Kill me."

Bonnie laughed, nudging Marceline forwards. "Come on. I'll do your work for _today_ , yeah?"

Marceline noticeably perked up. "Awesome. Science genius doing my work for me? Hell _yeah_. I knew there was a reason I'm dating you."

Bonnie blushed, but rolled her eyes in an attempt to convey faux annoyance, "Just using me for my brain, huh? I thought better of you, Abadeer."

Another eye roll. What was that, the twentieth one today? "Shut up."

A lingering smile played at Bonnie's lips as she walked through the hallway, pretending not to be _totally_ enamoured with the girl walking next to her.

 _Yep,_ Bonnie thought, _I'm pretty damn lucky_.


	47. forty-seven.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie talks to an old friend.

**Tuesday 9** **th** **September 2014**

Bonnie could understand why Marceline hated P.E. She wasn't particularly fond of it herself – she'd much rather spend the double period on a Tuesday afternoon studying for her other subjects – but this year, P.E was worse than usual.

She was in a class with _none_ of her friends, so _of course_ when the teacher asked them to pair up, she was the one left without a partner. Of _course_. Nobody wanted to be partners with the weird science nerd.

(It was like New York all over again.)

Feeling a little down on her luck, Bonnie trudged over to their PE teacher, "Um…I'm left without a partner for the exercise."

She frowned, "Well…I could work with you, but I'm pretty sure that working with a teacher is probably a high school student's worst nightmare."

Bonnie let out an awkward laugh, "Yeah, pretty much."

"There _should_ be even numbers in the class," The teacher flicked through the notebook containing the register, her finger stopping on the _first_ line. Bonnie predicted what she said next pretty easily, "Marceline Abadeer. Hasn't attended a P.E lesson since her freshman year."

Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation. "Yeah, she told me last week when we compared timetables."

"You're friends with her?" At Bonnie's nod, the teacher continued. "Maybe you can persuade her to come."

"I tried. She said no, and she's literally _right there_ reading her book." Bonnie pointed across the field at the small, shadowy figure sat on the hill. "I think she just wants to laugh at me doing sports."

The teacher scanned over the class, who had all started the throwing drills – basically, they were all throwing and catching a tennis ball and chatting with their friends. "Go and tell her I said P.E class isn't optional and if she's not here next week I'll take it up with the principal."

Bonnie felt a little guilty that she'd probably put Marceline in a lot of trouble, but at least she got to talk to her girlfriend instead of awkwardly conversing with her teacher while the rest of the class did the drills.

Bonnie made her way across the field and flopped down on the grass next to Marceline. "Hey."

Marceline pulled an earbud out and looked over the top of her book at Bonnie. "Hi. Aren't you meant to be in P.E right now?"

"Aren't _you_?" Bonnie shot back. At Marceline's smirk, she smiled and pointed over to the class. "And I _am_ doing P.E, but because _someone_ didn't show up to class, I didn't have a partner to work with. The teacher told me to give you a message."

"Oh, _really_?" Marceline raised an eyebrow. "Something about telling the principal if I don't show up next lesson, right?"

Bonnie's jaw dropped open. Had Marceline suddenly developed the ability to read minds? Maybe she had super hearing or something. "How did you know?"

Marceline shrugged. "I've had the same threat from her three years in a row. She's a toothless old tiger. All threat, no follow through."

"I take it you're not going to come next week, then?" Bonnie asked.

"Nope. The school doesn't care what I do as long as I don't turn back into a 'problem child'." Marceline replied, marking her place in her book and shutting it. Bonnie didn't ask what _problem child_ meant. In fact, now that she thought about it, she probably didn't want to know. "But you're welcome to come and get Starbucks with me next week."

"I can't skip class, Marceline." Bonnie shot back, as though the very thought would tarnish her perfect studious reputation. Which it probably would.

"Fine. Have fun doing partner drills by yourself and always being picked last." Marceline sat up and stretched out her arms, cracking her knuckles; a sound that made Bonnie cringe. "I'm going home."

"You can't – you only just came in at 11 and it's barely even 2PM!" Bonnie exclaimed – all of this talk of skipping class and going home early was giving her a rather irritating headache.

"I came in at 11 because I had a two hour study period so I figured I might as well sleep in." Marceline shrugged. "And I'm not doing anything now, so I might as well go home."

"You _should_ be in P.E with me." Bonnie retorted.

"I don't even own a school P.E kit." Marceline laughed, "What, do you expect me to just strip off and play baseball in my underwear?"

That mental image made Bonnibel flush bright red. "Well, I have a spare you could borrow. It might be a bit big on you but I'm sure you'll live."

"Bonnie, I walk up stairs and want to literally _eject_ my lungs." Marceline pointed out, "You can imagine how useful I am on a sports team."

Bonnie grinded her teeth – none of her points were helping. She really wanted Marceline to start attending lesson; even though she was masking it as though she was concerned about Marceline's attendance record, it was really because she just didn't want to always be the kid left alone.

(Plus, she didn't want to ruin her 100% attendance. No way.)

Eventually, Bonnie put on her puppy dog eyes – she hoped they were as good as Marceline's – and pouted. "Please?"

Marceline scowled at her. "You can't use the puppy dog eyes. Not allowed. It's unfair."

"Butler!"

Bonnie jumped in surprise and turned towards her P.E class, where her teacher was waving her over. "I have to go."

"Have fun, Butler." Marceline teased.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "You're a pain, Abadeer."

Marceline winked at her, and Bonnie felt her stomach do a backflip. "I'll wait until you're finished and give you a ride home from school."

Bonnie grinned. At least that was one upside to today. "Yeah, okay. Thanks."

"See you at 3:20." Marceline said as Bonnie jogged back over to her P.E class.

* * *

Bonnie pulled on her purple hoodie quickly – even though there were only two or three people left in the locker room, she still felt quite uncomfortable getting changed in front of her peers. She sat down on one of the benches and pulled her socks on, grabbing her pink sneakers from the floor and lacing them up.

She sprayed herself with her deodorant and took her hair out of the ponytail it was in, before folding up her gym clothes and packing them away in her backpack. She zipped her bag up and stood up, stretching. She was ready to go and meet Marceline.

She walked through the mostly empty corridors, pausing when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She didn't look at it – she just assumed it would be Marceline texting her to see where she was.

When someone grabbed her by the sides, Bonnibel screamed.

"Whoa, chill _out_!" She turned around and saw Marshall holding up his hands in defence. "My sister said you were ticklish and I just wanted to see if you were."

"You almost gave me a heart attack." Bonnie placed a hand on her chest – her heart was going double its usual pace. "Oh my _god_ , Marshall."

He laughed, "Are you getting a ride from my sister?"

"Yeah." Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation, "Will you be joining us?"

"Nah, I have basketball practice so I don't finish for another hour." He said, nodding towards the P.E department, "That's why I'm around here."

"You do basketball?" Bonnie asked. She was a little surprised – he didn't really seem the sporty type. She'd kind of expected he'd be the type to skip P.E and leave their girlfriend by herself, just like _someone else_ that Bonnie was a little ticked off at; not that she would act annoyed when she met up with Marceline in a few minutes.

"Yup," He nodded, "I had to do it last year for extra credit but I actually really liked it so I decided to take it up again."

"Pretty cool." She commented. She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, "I should get going. I don't want to keep your sister waiting."

"Alright, have fun with your girlfriend," He sent her a warm smile and mock saluted her. "Later, Bubblegum."

Bonnie froze. Marshall knew? She'd had a little suspicion at something he'd said last week, but she had to ask. "You know about me and Marceline?"

He nodded, as though it was weird that she wasn't aware of him knowing. "Yeah, she told me about a month ago. In summer. Told me I couldn't tell anyone, though."

"Oh." Bonnie breathed a little sigh of relief. As long as he knew it was something to be kept secret for now. "Okay. I'll see you later, Marshall."

"Bye, Bubblegum," He beamed back.

Bonnie made her way to the parking lot, pushing open the heavy double doors to the school and slipping outside. She noticed Marceline leaning against her car, her phone out – texting Keila, no doubt.

Bonnie skipped over to her girlfriend and smiled, "Hey. Sorry I'm a little late; I ran into your brother back near the gym and talked to him for a while."

Marceline tucked her phone back into her pocket, getting in the driver's side. "That's cool. I passed the time by texting Keila."

 _Yep, I was right_ , Bonnie thought as she jumped into the passenger side of Marceline's car. "Did you text me at all?"

"No. Why?" Marceline asked as she started up the car.

Bonnibel frowned, pulling her phone from her pocket. "That's weird. I got a text on my way out but I didn't check it because I just assumed it'd be you."

Bonnie unlocked her phone and tapped on the messages icon. She had a text from an unknown number, which was incredibly odd as she rarely got any texts from the contacts she already had in her phone.

(Bonnie had a total of twelve contacts, two of them being her parents. She tried not to let that bother her.)

_**Unknown (3:20PM): Bonnibel?** _

At least she knew it was definitely for her. Who it was from, she had no idea. But, she decided she'd take a risk and text whoever it was back; one of her friends may have gotten a new phone or something.

_**Bonnie (3:26PM): Yes. Who is this?** _

Then, she tucked the device in her pocket and turned back to Marceline. "It was just an unknown number."

"At least you get texts." Marceline shot back, "Aside from you and Keila, the only texts I get are from the pizza place telling me about all these two for one deals and stuff. I literally ordered from them _once_ over the phone and they won't leave me alone."

"Block the number." Bonnie suggested, "The messages won't come through then."

Marceline hesitated before replying, "Yeah, didn't think about that."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, her phone buzzing against her leg. Her snarky response to Marceline's comment was cut short when she read the text.

_**Unknown (3:27PM): It's Bea. You said to call when I 'educated myself'.** _

Marceline sensed Bonnie's shock and frowned. "Who texted you?"

"It's Bea." Bonnie stared down at the screen in amazement. When she'd given Bea her number, she only really did it out of guilt – they _had_ been friends for two years, so she deserved a chance to redeem herself. Right? "I never expected she'd actually text me."

Marceline raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to respond?"

"I don't know." Bonnie locked her phone and slid it back in her pocket. "Maybe. I'll think about it. She hurt me a lot and it'd take a long time for me to forgive her."

"That's understandable." Marceline nodded. Then, searching for a subject change, she added, "Are you going straight home or do you want to come to mine for a bit?"

With a wan smile, Bonnie nodded. Hanging out with Marceline would get her mind off of Bea. "I'll come to yours. We can get our homework done."

Marceline's expression soured. "Now you've ruined my mood. I was hoping we could make out."

Slapping Marceline on the upper arm, Bonnie scoffed. "Of _course_ not. Homework holds priority over kissing. Sorry to burst your bubble, Marceline."

"But I'm your _girlfriend_ ," Marceline pouted, the statement eliciting a real smile from Bonnie, "You're supposed to prioritise _me_ over homework. I want kissing. Not math problems."

"We won't do math, then." Bonnie responded, "We'll do physics."

Marceline let out a loud, overly exaggerated groan. "That's even _worse_."

Bonnie laughed, "You can play soothing melodies on your guitar and I'll do physics. Sound better?"

"What about _kissing_?" Marceline whined, "I haven't kissed you yet today. It's making me sad. I'm having extreme withdrawals."

"Maybe I can take a few breaks."

* * *

Bonnie stretched out on Marceline's bed, staring hard at question 8 on the set of questions on momentum they were supposed to finish for Simon's lesson next Monday. She chewed on her pen as she did the calculations in her head, before proudly smiling and writing down the correct answer. She'd flown through the sheet – it was all pretty basic stuff for her.

Marceline peered over her shoulder. "What the hell is momentum?"

Bonnie laughed, "Seriously? Simon went over this in class. This is our homework."

"You're a homework." Marceline shot back, plucking a small sequence of notes on her acoustic guitar. Bonnie found it hard not to laugh at Marceline's sorry excuse of an insult. "Simon's lessons are _boring_. I love him, but seriously, the dude needs to shut up about science and let us watch a movie or something."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "I think his lessons are very interesting."

"Yeah, because you're a nerd like him." A sour note rang out on Marceline's guitar and she twiddled with one of the little silver knobs at the top of it. "I prefer music class."

"Of course you do. You're essentially a musical prodigy." At Marceline's pink blush, Bonnie continued, "And I _do_ think it's unfair that students who don't like scientific subjects still have to do them, but doing one of the arts isn't compulsory."

"Damn right it's unfair," Marceline twanged the out of tune B string, scowling, "If you suck at the arts 'that's okay, not everyone is talented at those things' but if you suck at math or science you're written off as dumb. It's fucking stupid."

Bonnie bobbed her head in agreement as Marceline moved off the bed and grabbed a new B string from a packet of strings, unravelling it. She squinted a little at her girlfriend – something had been different all day, and she thought she'd finally figured it out - instead of telling Marceline she agreed with her, she blurted out, "You got a new nose ring."

Marceline shot her an odd look – a mixture of surprise and cheerfulness – as she sat back down and began taking the old B string from her guitar, "You noticed that?"

Bonnie nodded in confirmation. "The old one was silver and this one is gold."

Marceline hummed in acknowledgement as she expertly put the new string on the guitar and began re-tuning it by ear. "Yeah. I had some extra cash and I was going to buy a new one anyways so I decided on gold."

"It looks good."

Marceline looked up from her guitar to see Bonnibel beaming at her, radiating positivity. She leaned forward and pressed a brief, chaste kiss to Bonnie's lips. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand, before rolling back onto her stomach and looking at question nine. She knew she'd need a calculator for this one. "Hey, do you have a calculator?"

Marceline barked out a laugh, before realising that Bonnie was being serious and rolling her eyes, "Do I _look_ like the type of person to own a calculator? That's like me asking if you have a capo."

Bonnie made a mental note to ask what a capo was later, "Does Simon have one?"

Unhelpfully, Marceline shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."

Bonnie let out a long sigh, dragging it out to emphasise just how unaccommodating Marceline was being. "I guess I'll have to go and ask him."

"Yeah, I guess you will."

Bonnie shot Marceline an 'are you kidding me?' look, before standing up and attempting to stalk out of the room to convey annoyance; she heard Marceline's soft laugh as she came to the top of the stairs, and she couldn't stop the small smile on her face.

Bonnie jogged downstairs and peered around the living room door, sending Simon a polite smile, "You don't have a calculator I could borrow, do you?"

Simon nodded his head, reaching down into the bag he took into school – probably containing graded papers – and passed a compact calculator to Bonnibel. "Here you are."

"Thank you." Bonnie sent him a grateful smile and headed out of the front room, almost smacking straight into Marshall. "Oh, hey. Didn't see you there."

"Are you hanging out with my sister?" He asked.

Judging by the teasing smile on his face, he already knew the answer. "Yeah. Was basketball fun?"

"Yeah." He nodded, before lowering his voice and continuing. "Okay, if she hears me say this I'll never live this down, but I wanted to thank you for making my sister so happy. Before you showed up she never really smiled or did _anything_. She'd just come home from school and lock herself in her room, or go over to Keila's. And now that you're around she walks around the house singing again like she used to before she got depression and she bakes stuff again and plays music more and she's just really happy and I just…I don't know what you did, but thanks. Because as much as we insult each other, she's my twin sister and I love her and I hated seeing her down."

Bonnie's face broke out into a huge grin. "That's so sweet. I think that's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say about her. Oh my god!"

Marshall rolled his eyes, "Just, thanks. And keep your voice down!"

Bonnie stifled a laugh and headed towards the stairs. "I'm going to tell her what you said. It'll make her happy."

Marshall's eyes widened. "You can't tell her that! She'll make fun of me until we're both in our nineties."

Bonnie bolted up the stairs and pushed open the door to Marceline's room, Marshall not too far behind her. "Your brother just said he loved you."

Marceline smirked as Marshall burst through the door. "You told Bonnie you loved me?"

Marshall scowled at Bonnibel. "Maybe."

Then, to his surprise, Marceline's face softened and she stood up, pulling him in for a hug. "I love you too."

Marshall froze for a moment, stiff as a board, before returning the hug. "I thought you'd tease me mercilessly."

"Usually I would, but I'm in a good mood," Marceline replied, before moving back to her bed and twanging the new B string on her guitar, satisfied when the note rang out perfectly.

Bonnie moved back to her physics work, tapping the correct calculations into the calculator. Marshall slipped out the door, but before he left the room completely, he said, "Marce, video game tournament later, yeah?"

"You're on." Marceline didn't look up from her guitar – she was _now_ working on getting the E string into perfect tune.

Marshall closed the door behind him, and Bonnie rolled over on the bed and smiled at Marceline, trying her best to keep it from having that sad twinge to it that she knew would happen; it always did when this topic came up, "See, that's why you're lucky to have a sibling."

Marceline's nose turned up in disgust. "If you have a sibling you have to share stuff. I don't like sharing."

Bonnie just laughed, "I know you love him."

"Fuck off."

* * *

Bonnie stretched out on her bed and pulled her phone out, reopening the texts from Bea. She'd thought about it – hard – and she'd decided that everyone deserved a second chance. As long as she was genuine and she tried, they had a shot at being friends again. Not what they were – Bonnie didn't think she'd ever be _best_ friends with Bea again. She couldn't trust her.

(Maybe just acquaintances.)

Taking in a deep breath, Bonnie typed out a text message, her thumb hovering above the send button in hesitation before she nodded to herself and pushed it.

_**Bonnie (9:35PM): If you want to talk, I'm listening.** _

It'd barely been two seconds when her phone buzzed. That was one good thing about Bea; she was really quick to respond to texts.

_**Bea (9:35PM): I missed you a lot. None of my friends care about science or literature and I miss our conversations and how much we had in common.** _

Bonnie blinked in amazement – she wasn't expecting _that_ at all. Had Bonnie missed Bea, too? Not lately. Bonnie had stopped caring after she'd grown closer to her other friends and developed feelings for Marceline.

_**Bonnie (9:36PM): And?** _

Okay, so that might've been a little harsh, but Bonnie wanted to know _why_ Bea was suddenly sorry. What were her motives? If she had any. She was happy that Bea was talking to her again, but she was apprehensive, and it was going to stay that way until she got a reason.

_**Bea (9:36PM): And what? I miss you and want to try to be friends again. It was my fault everything sucked for you when you were here and probably my fault you moved.** _

_**Bonnie (9:37PM): You're right, it was your fault. You outed me to a religious school and I was bullied every day until I moved. You don't know how happy I am that I did.** _

_**Bea (9:37PM): Do you not miss me too? Because when you left you still liked me.** _

_**Bonnie (9:37PM): If you're implying that you think I still like you, I don't. I have a girlfriend. And I don't know if I do miss you. Maybe if you hadn't left things this late. I just don't know if I can forgive you for what you did.** _

Bonnie let out a long sigh. God, this was hard. She just wished she'd never told Bea she was gay in the first place. Things would be a lot easier. Maybe they'd still be friends.

_**Bea (9:38PM): You're not going to forgive me, then?** _

_**Bonnie (9:38PM): Not yet. I can't trust you. You hurt me so much, and if I hadn't made new friends and got a girlfriend here I think I'd still be pretty indignant.** _

_**Bea (9:39PM): That's understandable. I'm going to try, though. I know we can't be like what we were but I'll try.** _

Okay, this _had_ to be too good to be true. Bonnie stopped herself from doing something idiotic, like forgiving her. No, she would be stubborn about this. She wouldn't give in, no matter what Bea offered or said; even if she told Bonnie she was on a plane and heading to town right now.

_**Bonnie (9:39PM): Yeah, because you're homophobic. And I'm gay. Those two things don't mix very well. I know you were brought up in a Christian environment and I know your parents were quite conservative so I try not to blame you. But you could've kept it to yourself and spared me the pain.** _

_**Bea (9:40PM): I know. I was just scared and I did something stupid and I feel really guilty about it.** _

Something in Bonnie's mind clicked, and she let out a bitter laugh as she typed out a message. She should've known. God, she was such an idiot. Bea was only trying to be her friend again because she felt guilty. She wasn't doing this for Bonnie; she was doing it for herself.

_**Bonnie (9:40PM): That's why you're trying to be friends again. Not because you miss me, but because you want to feel less guilty. You're only trying to be my friend again for your own selfish gain. I should've known.** _

Bonnie bit on her lip, her phone screen distorted as her vision blurred. _No, don't cry over her_ , Bonnie scolded herself, _you've done that enough_.

_**Bea (9:41PM): Partially, yes. I feel guilty and want to right my wrong. But I do miss you. And I'm sorry.** _

Bonnie's hands curled into fists and she swiped the message from the screen. No. She wasn't going to be manipulated into forgiveness. She wasn't ready to talk.

She tapped about on her phone, scrolling down her short contacts list until she saw the person she was looking for. _Marceline_ , with both a music note and a love heart emoji next to the name.

The phone let out one ring, and then Marceline picked up. _"Yo, Bonnie_."

"Bea's a bitch." Bonnie murmured, her fingers playing with the hem of the black rock shirt she was wearing.

Marceline laughed _, "Water is wet."_

Bonnie frowned, "Huh?"

" _Oh, I thought we were just stating obvious things,_ " Marceline casually responded, _"Are you okay_?"

Just like that, Bonnie felt a little better. She even laughed. Sometimes she thought Marceline must have magical abilities or something – it couldn't be possible for her to cheer Bonnie up as quickly as she did.

"I don't know. She got into my head." Bonnibel murmured. "Talk to me about stuff. Anything."

That 'anything' turned out to be stories from when Marceline was a little kid, which turned into stories from when Bonnie was a little kid, which turned into them talking about funny things that had happened at school. It wasn't until about 1AM when Marceline told her to 'get some sleep, dork' and hung up.

She was basically a zombie the next day because she was _that_ sleep deprived, but talking to Marceline was worth it.


	48. forty-eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie have their first (sort of) fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings - eating disorder (mention)

**Tuesday 15** **th** **September 2014**

Marceline's hand came in contact with the cold glass double doors to the library. A flicker of a smile crossed her face when she saw Bonnie browsing through a bookcase of – _typically_ – science textbooks. Something to do with medicine from what she could see, which wasn't on their syllabus for the next year. The nerd was probably doing some extra reading. Marceline rolled her eyes at the thought.

She swiftly slipped past a crowd of students at one of the three group study booths in the library, cutting through the aisle she'd seen Bonnie in. She paused for a moment to look at the books – not that she _cared_ what Bonnie was studying. She was just curious. Then, keeping with her usual annoyed stalk, made her way through the library until she spotted the back of Bonnie's head leaning over her battered up notebook.

Marceline pulled out a chair at Bonnie's table and collapsed into it, sending Bonnie a casual, fleeting grin as she delved into her backpack for her book. "Hey, nerd."

At the sound of Marceline's voice, Bonnie slammed both her notebook and the textbook – Marceline had been right, it _was_ something about medicine – shut. Quickly, Bonnie pushed her notebook away from her as though she hadn't just been slaving over something and sent Marceline a rather sheepish, guilty smile. "Hey. What are you doing here so early? I thought you used your Tuesday morning study periods to sleep in."

"Usually I do." Marceline commented, flicking through the dusty pages of her book to the most recent, dog-eared one. "But then I remembered you had a study period after your German class, so I figured I'd be a good girlfriend and keep you company."

Bonnie's smile became more genuine then – it loosened and flashed brighter than the earlier one. Marceline tried not to infer anything from this, but she was suspicious of what Bonnie had been researching and why she'd slammed her books shut as fast as she had. Not that it had anything to do with her. She _hoped_ it had nothing to do with her, at least. She wasn't a guinea pig for Bonnie to experiment on.

"Well, thank you." Bonnie softly responded. "But you really didn't need to cut your sleep short. I'm fine," Bonnie let out a nervous laugh, "just doing some recreational research before we get weighed down with homework."

Marceline eyed her warily. There was something Bonnie wasn't telling her, and that made her nervous. More nervous than it should.

Slowly, the weight of suspicion fell from her shoulders in the form of a sigh. She should trust Bonnie; besides, she probably wouldn't understand what she was going on about if Bonnie bothered explaining. It was best left alone. "Well, whatever. I'm going to read my book while you get your nerd on for the next," Marceline pulled out her phone, checking the time, "thirty minutes. Is that okay?"

Rapidly, Bonnie nodded. She grabbed a lone pink post-it note from where it had been left on her notebook, something scrawled on it haphazardly in Bonnie's shorthand, and crumpled it in her fist. "Yes, that's fine. I'm – uh – going to get another textbook. I'll be right back."

Marceline's eyebrows shot up behind her bangs and she shrugged. "Whatever. No need to be so jumpy, Bonnie."

Bonnie shook her head and frowned, as though she was trying to clear away unnecessary clutter within it. She flashed another one of those edgy, nervous smiles. "Of course." Gesturing to the adjacent bookshelves, she said, "I'll be right back."

Marceline simply nodded in response before sighing and sinking down in her chair, stretching her legs out until the tips of her shoes touched the cold legs of the chair opposite her. She focused her gaze on the page in her book – she'd read about a paragraph when she detected Bonnie's notebook in her line of vision.

She twisted around in her chair, looking for any sign of Bonnie, before her fingers slipped under the cover of the notebook. One glance couldn't hurt, right? Just to make sure Bonnie wasn't keeping anything too big from her. Just to make sure.

She flicked open the front cover of the notebook, rolling her eyes at the pink gel pen the first page was decorated in. Instead of containing any notes, there were little doodles of flowers and other things of that sort that Bonnie must've done with Bea back when she first got the book. Deeming this page irrelevant, Marceline wedged her finger under a decent amount of pages and flicked forward.

The book was slammed on her fingers before Marceline could read anything on the page. She pulled her hand from the book, flexing her fingers to make sure nothing hurt, before looking up to Bonnie. Again, the pink haired girl was sending her one of those tense smiles. "There's nothing in there that would interest you, Marceline. Read your book."

There was a threat somewhere under that. A _don't go through my stuff again or else…_ sort of thing.

Giving up on the oblivious act, Marceline huffed. "You're acting weird. Why?"

Bonnibel shook her head, a little too quickly for Marceline's liking. She sent Marceline a frown that was much too deep to be genuine, adding a small _psh_ for good measure. "I'm not acting weird. I'm _perfectly_ normal."

Marceline rolled her eyes, her gaze directing back on her book. She was going to find out why Bonnie was being so odd. It was a little unsettling. "Chill _out_ , Bonnie. You're kind of freaking me out."

Bonnie sunk back down in her chair, her gaze sweeping over the table – probably to make sure she hadn't left any evidence of what she was researching on view, Marceline assumed. "I'm fine. I just want to get some work done. I work better without distractions."

Marceline let out a scoff. She couldn't deny it – being called a _distraction_ stung a little. No, a lot, actually. Like Bonnie had just punched her in the gut. "I'm just a distraction to you, huh?"

Bonnibel's eyes widened, as though she'd just realised she'd said something that got to Marceline. _Ah, crap_ , Bonnie inwardly cursed, before her tense demeanour softened and she took Marceline's hand in hers. "No, that's not what I meant. I just work better alone, is all."

"All I'm doing is reading. I'm not going to talk to you." Marceline shot back, before she slammed her book shut on the table and shoved it into her backpack. _Fine_ , she thought _, she doesn't want any distractions, so I won't be one_. "Whatever, Bonnie. If you don't want me here, just say so."

"No, Marceline -" Bonnie was cut off by an annoyed glare and Marceline stalking away from her, disappearing behind one of the bookshelves.

Bonnie slumped down in her chair, smacking herself on the forehead. She was an idiot. She knew she shouldn't have said that stuff. She really didn't want Marceline to see what she was researching – she knew it was a topic Marceline was sensitive about and she didn't want to be overstepping any boundaries.

She'd make it up to her later.

* * *

Marceline threw her backpack down on the grass, trying to ignore the bitter feeling resonating in the pit of her stomach. So she was just a distraction, was she? Well, Marceline could hold a grudge until the sun burnt out. She'd show Bonnie what life was like without distractions.

The silent treatment it is.

Marceline pulled her book from her bag and flicked it open, staring at the page. The words stared back at her. She forced herself to focus on the book and just _read_ , but she ended up giving herself an annoying pain in the side of her head. She closed her book again and sighed, pulling out her earphones and pushing the jack into her phone with a satisfying click. Music would relax her. Music could make her happy.

"Hey, Marceline." Finn collapsed on the grass next to her, a wide, genuine grin plastered on his face, as per usual.

She let out a small huff from her nose; she wasn't in the mood for talking after fighting with Bonnie, but she'd try. "Hi, Finn. What's up?"

Finn slid his green backpack from his shoulder and pulled his phone from the front pocket. Tapping around on the phone screen, he opened up his browser. "Can you help me find a good bass guitar?" At her look of confusion, he elaborated, "So we can get started on those lessons you mentioned."

Marceline blinked in realisation. Oh yeah, she _had_ said she'd teach him back when he was in the hospital. Oops. She'd just assumed he wouldn't want to – she was meant to be scary and standoffish, after all. "Um, sure. You should probably get a starter one, though. You don't want to spend a load of money on something you might not want to carry on with."

Finn nodded in acknowledgement. "Can it look cool?"

Marceline's brows furrowed in a frown and she made an indecisive grunt which was paired with a non-committal hand gesture. "I guess so. I don't know. Sure."

Finn's smile multiplied by ten – Marceline hadn't thought it was possible for it to get any brighter – and he laughed. "Radical! What are some good starter brands, then?"

"Well, there's always Squier which is made by Fender," Marceline bit on her lip in thought, "and Epiphone. ESP LTDs are pretty good, too. Check some of those out and go into the music store here to see if they've got anything cool. If Keila is there tell her I sent you. She might give you her staff discount."

Marceline didn't know _why_ she'd said that to the kid. She hadn't taken a liking to him, had she? Oh, god, no. She was an idiot. She'd promised herself that she wouldn't get attached to Bonnie's friends in any way, and here she was.

Finn beamed, nudging her with his shoulder. Naturally, she tensed up. "Thanks, Marceline."

Awkwardly, she shrugged. "No worries, dude."

Bonnibel dropped her bag on the ground in front of Marceline and sat down, sending her girlfriend a careful smile. "Hey Marceline. Finn. What are you guys talking about?"

"Marceline is helping me look for bass guitars." Finn explained, holding his phone up to her – the website of an online music store flashed on the screen, little images of guitars in columns. "I like this blue one."

He turned the screen to Marceline then, and she squinted at the one his finger was hovering over. "Squier Jazz Bass. Not bad."

He smiled, seemingly proud that he'd picked a good guitar on his first attempt at looking. Marceline didn't know how to feel about that.

Bonnie gently nudged Marceline's leg with her foot. "Hey. Talk to me."

Marceline wanted to bite out a harsh comment. Probably something about how Bonnie hadn't wanted any distractions so she wouldn't talk, but she'd promised herself that the silent treatment was best. She was going to be stubborn.

Instead of paying attention to Bonnie, Marceline slung her backpack over her shoulder and stood up. "I'm going to go to the library. Bye, Finn."

"Later."

Of course, Bonnie jumped up and trailed after her. Marceline ducked through the doorway back into the school building, and Bonnie grabbed her arm before she could make a getaway. "The silent treatment? _Really_ , Marceline? You're really going to act like a child about this?"

Marceline didn't respond. She yanked her arm from Bonnie's grip and spun on her heels, stalking down the hallway. She wasn't going to let Bonnie crack her resolve. It _wasn't_ going to happen.

Her arm was grabbed again. _"Listen_ to me," Bonnie let out a long huff, her grip tightening on Marceline's wrist as the taller girl tried to pull away from her. "What I said about you being a distraction? Not true. It just slipped out because I'm an idiot and I'm _sorry_ , okay? Really, really sorry."

Marceline's gaze swept over Bonnie as she stared up at her with those innocent, apologetic blue eyes. She could feel the walls she'd put up breaking down, and her chest tightened until she finally exhaled with an, "Ugh, fine. God, you're so annoying."

Bonnie let out a little squeal with happiness and threw her arms around Marceline's neck, pulling her in for a hug. "I knew you couldn't stay mad at me."

Marceline folded her arms and held her glare. "I'm talking to you. I didn't say I wasn't still mad at you."

Bonnie's cheerful expression dissolved into nothingness and she felt her throat close over as she choked out a strangled, "Oh." She cleared her throat and let go of Marceline's wrist, looking down at her feet. "Okay. I'll go, then. Sorry."

Bonnie turned, but felt a hand on her shoulder. Marceline let out a strained, "Bonnie," before sighing, "I'll let this go if you tell me what you were researching."

Bonnie felt a sickening sensation in the pit of her stomach. She should've known that Marceline would ask. Slowly, she began formulating her answer. "Well, you know I want to be a doctor, and," Bonnie paused and looked around them, making sure they were alone before continuing, "well, I decided to do a little research on the human mind and I was researching mental disorders and their causes and effects. So yeah." Bonnie trailed off, looking up at Marceline with an awkward smile. She'd told half the truth.

Marceline blinked in astonishment. "Why didn't you want to tell me that?" Before Bonnie could reply, Marceline continued, "You thought I'd get offended, didn't you?"

Sheepishly, Bonnie nodded. "Yeah. Sorry."

Marceline rolled her eyes and slung an arm around Bonnie's shoulder, to the smaller girl's surprise. "You can research what you want, loser. I don't care."

Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief. "So we're okay?"

"We're okay." Marceline confirmed. She couldn't understand why Bonnie wouldn't trust her with something as trivial as a research topic. The only reason she was so bothered was because of how secretive she was being.

Bonnibel's expression brightened, "Good. I had a little bit of a freak out earlier. I thought we were done."

"Done after _one_ fight?" Marceline raised an eyebrow. _Wait a second,_ she thought _, I wasn't the one that freaked out._ In order to properly convey her amusement at this thought to Bonnie, she smirked. "I wasn't the one to freak out. You were. _You_ freaked out."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. "Shut _up_." At Marceline's continued taunts of ' _you_ were the immature one, oh my god!' she sent an elbow to Marceline's ribs for good measure, "God, you can be so annoying sometimes."

Marceline innocently batted her eyelids. Bonnie laughed. " _What_? _Me_? Annoying? No way, Bonnie."

Bonnie let out a sigh that was a mixture of happiness and relief. "Come on. Let's go get some snacks for break. I need to get some food in me before P.E later. I brought my spare kit if you wanted to join me."

Marceline raised her eyebrows. "I brought extra cash if you want to leave early and go to Starbucks."

Bonnie quickly shook her head, shooting down Marceline's idea. Although it sounded much more appealing to her than running around a cold field all afternoon, she did _not_ want to tarnish her perfect attendance. Not in her senior year.

Instead, Bonnibel pouted at Marceline. She imitated Marceline's puppy dog eyes – hoping they were as convincing as her girlfriend's – and let out a sad sigh. "I don't want to be alone, Marcy. Please?"

Marceline stared at her for a moment, before looking away and biting on her lip. "I have a plan."

Bonnie raised her eyebrows, her gaze expectant. "Which _is_?"

"Well, you don't want to ruin your attendance, right?" Marceline asked. At Bonnie's nod, she continued, "Right, so I say we go for like five minutes, I excuse myself to the bathroom, you 'come looking' for me, we get changed and go home. Yes or no?"

" _No!_ " Bonnie exclaimed. "No _way_! The teacher will know that we're missing and we'll get detentions."

Marceline let out a long, exaggerated sigh to convey her irritation. "Fine. I guess you'll have to suffer through P.E alone. Sorry, Bonnie."

Bonnie groaned, "Ugh. Du bist sehr ärgerlich," Rolling her eyes, she jabbed a finger to Marceline's chest, "I'm going to get you to P.E. That's a promise."

Marceline barked out a laugh. "Yeah, _okay_."

* * *

Bonnie groaned, slamming her notebook shut and falling backwards, Marceline's arm wrapping around her waist. "I can't focus."

"Why not?" Marceline paused the iPhone game she was playing and twisted around to look at Bonnie. "Do you want me to leave?"

Quickly, Bonnie shook her head. "No. I don't. It's not you, I just – my brain is all fuzzy."

Marceline hummed in thought, rolling her shoulders back in a nonchalant shrug. "Maybe you've done too much work. You should take a break or something and clear your head."

Bonnie ignored Marceline's suggestion, sitting up. "No, this work is important."

"It can't be that important. You just said it was for some extra research." Marceline said, pulling Bonnie back towards her. "Take a break, Bonnie."

Bonnibel sighed, laying down against Marceline. "I can't. It could lead to something important."

Marceline just sighed, throwing her phone – which had just used the last of its battery – on the bed near Bonnie's notebook. "Like what? Nothing is more important than your sanity. I should know."

 _And that's why this is important,_ Bonnie mentally responded. "It's just important. Okay?"

"Whatever." Marceline gave up trying to convince Bonnie not to burn herself out. She would probably ignore her anyways, so what was the point? "Can I use your phone to play games? Mine is dead."

Bonnie blinked in confusion. She hadn't expected the sudden subject change. She grabbed her phone from her bedside table and passed it to Marceline. "Here. Be careful with it."

"I will." Marceline rolled her eyes and unlocked Bonnie's phone. Bonnibel tried not to wonder how Marceline knew her password.

Marceline flicked through Bonnie's home screen, frowning. Bonnie didn't have any games? What was this insanity? Rolling her eyes, Marceline clicked on the browser icon. She'd have to google something to play. Great.

When the page Bonnie had been looking at last loaded up, Marceline felt her throat close over. "How to help someone with anorexia."

Bonnie froze, snatching her phone from Marceline's hands. "That's not – don't look at my search history!"

Marceline sat back against the headboard of Bonnie's bed. She wasn't angry; she wasn't anything. Just empty. Maybe a little bit of confusion in there somewhere. "Why were you looking at that?"

"I was just…" Bonnibel paused and let out a long sigh, shuffling back over to Marceline. She locked her phone and put it to one side, making a mental note to delete her search history before she let someone go on her phone, "I felt so _helpless_. I was looking for tips, I guess? I want to be able to help you and I don't know how to do that properly. Just some things we can do, you know?"

" _We_?" Marceline repeated, blinking at her, "There is no _we_. It's not like just because we're close, my problems become your problems. You're not the one who can't even fucking _eat_ properly. This isn't _your_ illness. This is something I have to deal with on my own."

Bonnie scoffed, a flicker of anger in the pit of her stomach. She was just trying to help, and that was the thanks she got? "Well _on your own_ hasn't exactly got you very far, has it?"

The words hit Marceline right in the chest, cutting off her oxygen and winding her. That stung. No, it more than stung, it felt like someone had just shoved her onto the ground and jumped on her chest. Repeatedly. Until it caved in. Until there was nothing left of her other than an empty, broken shell.

"No – Marcy, I – that's not what I…god, I _suck_." Bonnie shuffled over to Marceline and wrapped her arms around her middle, "I didn't mean that. I was just a little angry because I really want to help you and what I _meant_ to say was that becoming a _we_ might make things easier but it came out wrong and I just…I'm awful. I just…I should shut up, shouldn't I? Yeah."

Marceline shook her head, staring at nothing in particular. Anything was better than meeting Bonnie's gaze. "You don't _have_ to help me."

The quiet, broken murmur pulled at an invisible thread in Bonnie's chest, and she grabbed hold of Marceline's hand. One wrong word and she could make Marceline feel even worse about herself. Bonnie had to tread carefully; this topic was a minefield. "I know I don't. I want to help you because I care about you and it upsets me to see you hurting."

Marceline blinked in confusion, as though she didn't know or understand why Bonnie cared. The thread in Bonnie's chest pulled tighter. "I don't want to be a burden on you."

The thread snapped. Bonnie pulled Marceline in for a hug, feeling tears threatening to spill. She wouldn't cry; Marceline needed her to stay calm. She wasn't the one who deserved to cry over this. "It's okay. You're not a burden, I promise."

"I just feel like ever since you found out you think you have some sort of responsibility." Marceline replied, "And you don't. You don't _have_ to help me. I'll understand if you don't want to."

Bonnie sighed, kissing Marceline's cheek. "I do. I want to help. Why can't you understand that? I wouldn't be doing all of this research if I didn't want to help you."

Marceline just shrugged in response. Bonnie didn't know if that was good or bad. Probably bad, knowing the subject they were on.

Bonnibel held Marceline close to her, trying to think of a way to explain to her that she wasn't a burden. She needed Marceline to understand that.

Carefully, she began. "I'm here to help. I help you, you help me. You're not a burden on me at all. If I felt like that I would've walked away a long time ago." Okay, that probably didn't help. "I mean, I care about you a lot, and even if I wasn't your girlfriend I'd want to be there for you."

Marceline sighed. No matter what Bonnie said, there'd always be that annoying thought at the back of her mind, telling her she was putting too much pressure on Bonnie and that she was a problem. "Okay."

Bonnie frowned. Was that a good okay or a bad okay? She couldn't tell. Marceline's response was monotonous. "Is that a good okay, or…?"

Marceline nodded. She didn't want Bonnie to worry. "Yeah."

Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand before shuffling back over to her notebook, flicking it open. "Good. I'm going to do some work now. If you want anything, let me know. You can help yourself to food if you'd like."

Misinterpreting that as a passive-aggressive, _just eat_ sort of comment, Marceline let out a strangled, "What?"

Bonnie frowned. Had she done something wrong? Marceline looked like she'd just kicked a puppy. "Huh? Are you okay?"

"I – were you just – I don't…" Marceline dropped her head into her hands and let out a loud sigh, "Are you trying to tell me to eat?"

Bonnie's frown settled deeper onto her face. "No. Of course not. I promised I wouldn't force you. Remember our rules?"

Marceline blinked in confusion, before nodding her head and feeling her chest relax with…was that relief? She couldn't tell. "Yeah. Okay. Sorry, I – I just freaked out."

Bonnie turned back to her research, feeling like someone had just dropped an anchor in her stomach. She figured that was guilt.

She knew nothing she could say would fix things. She knew she couldn't make Marceline better by herself, and she knew that she was going to have to persuade her to get help. This wasn't something that could be fixed with kisses and words of reassurance. And she felt _so unbelievably helpless_.

Bonnie closed her notebook with a loud _flop_ of paper hitting paper. "Let's finish a season of Criminal Minds, yeah? To get your mind off things."

Marceline wanted to point out about how her mind was never _off things_ , but she faked a smile – hoping it was convincing – and bobbed her head in concurrence. "Sure. Sounds good."

When Bonnie pulled her laptop towards them and snuggled her face into Marceline's neck, Marceline tried to ignore the destructive thoughts bouncing around her mind for a moment so she could just be peaceful.

It didn't work very well.


	49. forty-nine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie hang out with their friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning - homophobic slur

**Friday 26** **th** **September 2014**

It had been a long day.

And that was weird, for a Friday. Usually they went quickly, because Marceline didn't mind Fridays. She figured they were easier compared to the rest of the week, and that was half to do with her timetable. A single period of English Lit with Bonnie followed by a period of English Language with Finn; she liked English. It interested her. Then after break she had to suffer through Chemistry, although that wasn't too bad as she had Bonnie to annoy. Then – probably her favourite part of the day – a study period followed by lunch, which usually involved her and Bonnie heading off to Starbucks or something and sneaking back into school before their absence was noticed. Math ruined her day a little, because honestly, _who_ likes Math? But that was made better by Art at the end of the day, where she usually screwed around with paint until the final bell rung.

Pretty easy, right? No.

Because today Bonnie had a dentist appointment at 11:30, so she ended up being alone in Chemistry – which ended up in her getting a headache from all the working – and having to suffer through the company of some of Bonnie's friends _alone_ in her free period. And she didn't get her midday dose of caffeine.

It _was_ pretty funny when Bonnie met her halfway through lunch with a half-numbed mouth, though. Lots of impressions ensued.

(She got an elbow to the ribs a few times, but it was worth it.)

So when the bell signalling the end of the school day _finally_ rang, Marceline let out an obvious sigh of relief as she shoved her art sketchbook back into her backpack. She planned on making a quick escape to her car to wait for her brother and Bonnibel to show up, but as she headed for the door, Lady grabbed her by the sleeve and pulled her back into the art room. Typically.

Heavily, Marceline sighed. She wanted nothing more than to go home and take a nap. "Yes? A simple, 'hey Marceline, come here,' would've been nice."

Lady rolled her eyes. Like Marceline would've listened to that. She would've gallivanted out of the room, probably making up the excuse that her music was on too loud for her to hear. "We're all meeting up tonight at Jake's. You should come."

Marceline's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. She really hadn't been expecting _that_. "By _all_ , who do you mean?"

"Finn, obviously Jake, me, Fionna and Gumball. I'm not too sure about your brother, Cake and LSP though." Lady listed. Quickly, she added, "And Bonnibel, of course."

She should say no. She should say no, and go home to her comfortable bed and hang out with Hambo and the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Right? Or she could go and maybe have fun. LSP wasn't going to be there, so she could go. What if Lady was only asking to be polite? It would be awkward if Marceline said yes – it would be awkward anyways because Marceline wasn't their friend.

Eventually, Marceline shrugged, "I guess I'll come. Sure."

It was Lady's turn to be surprised. Her blue eyes widened as though she hadn't expected that answer. Marceline hadn't either, to be honest. "Seriously?" At Marceline's nod in affirmation, she breathed out, "Wow. I really didn't expect you'd say yes."

Maybe she should've declined. Maybe it _had_ been the politeness thing. "Did you not _want_ me to say yes?"

Quickly, Lady shook her head, "No, it's not that, I just – I didn't expect you to _want_ to come. I know that you're not really comfortable with us and -"

"Whoa, whoa," Marceline quickly cut her off, shaking her head. "Don't say that out loud. God. You'll ruin my scary reputation. I don't need more nerds flocking to me."

Lady laughed; a real, genuine laugh that surprised Marceline. "Funny. We're meeting at six, so I'll see you then." Spinning on her heels as Phoebe passed them, she asked the same question to the redhead, "Hey, Phoebe, do you want to hang out with us tonight?"

Marceline watched after them, a small smile curving her mouth. Quickly, she shook her head and made her way to the parking lot, pulling her keys from her pocket and instinctively twirling them around her forefinger by the keychain loop as she walked through the hallway.

It was nice to be invited to things. Even though most of the time she never actually went to parties that she got an invite to, the gesture always perked her up. Frankly, Lady's offer had made her day. Not that she'd ever admit that.

Marceline flashed a smile as she approached Marshall and Bonnibel, who were both stood waiting by her car.

Marshall let out an impatient groan, "Finally. You took hours."

Marceline pulled her phone from her pocket and checked the time, frowning. "I'm _five_ minutes late. Chill your beans."

Bonnie sent Marceline a gentle smile as she sat down in the passenger seat of Marceline's car. "What took you?"

"I got ambushed by Lady. She asked if I wanted to hang out with you and your nerd squad tonight." Marceline explained as she started her car. Judging by the look on Bonnie's face, she wanted Marceline to continue. "I said yes."

Bonnie's face almost split in two from the giant grin that it exploded into. "Seriously? That's great."

Marceline rolled her eyes, desperate to change the topic. She was pretty sure that Bonnie knew she was, too. Marshall, on the other hand, was oblivious. "So you like them now? I told you they were cool."

Marceline ignored him. "Bonnie. How's your mouth doing?"

"As you know, it stopped being really numb in Math and by the time I'd finished English Language it was completely better." Bonnie flashed a bright smile as Marceline drove them away from school, "How was Art?"

"Boring, as usual." Marceline replied. She didn't mind it – it was fifty minutes of listening to music and drawing rather than solving equations – but she preferred Music. She'd always prefer Music. "Are you going straight home or coming to mine?"

"Ours." Marshall corrected. _"Ours_. We're siblings."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "No-one asked you."

"You shouldn't _need_ to ask me." Marshall shot back. "I'm your _brother_. Don't act like I'm not here."

Marceline rolled her eyes again. It was accompanied with a _psh_ and a smile from Bonnie. "Yeah, well…you smell."

Bonnie burst out laughing and Marshall rolled his eyes. He was used to his sister's childish insults – while she may have matured, they certainly hadn't. He'd been called a walnut three times this week.

"Seriously, Marcy?" Bonnie managed to get out in between two bouts of laughter, "Wow. You're – wow."

Marceline's grip on the steering wheel tightened and she scowled, "Shush. My insults are great."

"I wasn't saying they weren't." Bonnie quickly held her hands up in defence, stifling another attack of laughter. God, her girlfriend was cute. "But to answer your original question, yeah. I'll come back to yours."

Marshall grinned. "Awesome. I can try to beat you at Mario Kart."

Bonnie opened her mouth to respond, beaten by Marceline. "Nope. She's coming up to my room. We have things to do."

Bonnie quirked up an eyebrow, a teasing smirk lifting the left side of her mouth. She was pretty sure that _things_ meant making out. A lot. "Things?"

"Yes," Marceline bobbed her head in confirmation, "things."

* * *

Marceline Abadeer had never been good at socialising. This was a fact. It'd been a fact since her very first day of kindergarten, and would probably be a fact until she died. But surprisingly, Bonnie and her friends and actually been sort of helpful to her and her inept social skills. Shockingly, they actually tried to include her in things, which – although terrifying – made her feel better about being around them.

(She knew Bonnie must've said something to them.)

In fact, Marceline had learned a lot about typical social gatherings ever since Bonnie and her friends came along. For example, she learned that games that involved telling people your deepest, darkest secrets were very popular. At least they were with Bonnie's friends, so that's what they spent the night doing.

Sort of.

"Never have I ever. A classic." Lady stretched out on the sofa, her legs rested on Jake's lap. "Bubblegum. You start."

Bonnie glanced up from the book she'd brought with her – _A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -_ and pursed her lips in thought. "Never have I ever smoked anything."

Marceline assumed her brother would be the only one to drink. She was wrong. When Jake brought his beer bottle up to his lips and took a sip, everyone in the room turned on him. To be honest, even _she_ was interested in this story. She hadn't expected any of Bonnie's friends to smoke.

Slowly, Jake explained. "I only did it once. It was at this party in my sophomore year and some guy was offering cigarettes so I took one and tried it. I didn't like it."

Lady levelled her forefinger at Marceline, who was playing with Bonnie's fingers and pretending not to pay any attention whatsoever. "You. I heard you smoke."

"I don't." Marceline didn't look up as Bonnie's fingers tightened around hers and gave her hand a squeeze, probably in reassurance. "I have no idea why people think I do though," For good measure, she tacked on the end, "because I wouldn't."

"Yeah, she's one of those people that's really against it," Marshall said, an irritated tone outlining his words, "She won't even let me smoke in my bedroom."

"Um, secondhand smoke, dickhead." Marceline shot back. "You don't even close the door. I don't want to die just because _you_ make bad choices."

"I'm going to intervene before a sibling war breaks out." Bonnie marked her page in her book and closed it, turning to Marceline. "It's your turn to do a never have I ever."

Marceline shot one last venomous – but only half serious – glare at her brother, before pausing in thought. She could never think of things to say in this game, because she'd done a lot. Not something to be proud of. "Never have I ever…" She trailed off and turned to Bonnie, "You stole mine. I can't think of anything."

Bonnie's forehead crinkled in thought, "Have you ever stolen something?"

"Once," Marceline responded, quickly adding, "accidentally."

Finn flopped down on the couch on Bonnie's right. "How do you _accidentally_ steal something?"

"Yeah," Lady echoed, before something seemed to spark a memory and she laughed, "You seem to do a lot of stuff accidentally. Like when you told us about the accidental drug taking."

Marceline cringed a little at the memory. She was an idiot sometimes. "Yeah. You could probably say I'm kind of dense."

Marceline went back to thinking of a never have I ever when Bonnie smacked her upside the head. "You're not dense. You're just too trusting."

Okay, that was probably the _least_ accurate description of her ever, but she knew Bonnie was just trying to make her feel better. Not that she was even upset in the first place. All of her fuck ups usually were down to her lack of attention span.

Instead of denying Bonnie's comment, Marceline just rolled her eyes and glanced around the room, and _yep_ , everyone was looking at her. "You all want to know how I accidentally stole something, don't you."

There was a collective nod around the group, accompanied with an additional, "I really want to hear how this plays out," from Gumball.

"Okay," Marceline leaned back on the couch, "I was about six or seven, and I went to the store with my Mom to help her do the grocery shopping for the week. Somewhere along the way I picked up a packet of Skittles and I forgot to put them down on my way out, so when I got home I realised I still had them. Naturally I freaked out and started crying and I hid under the kitchen table for probably about three hours because I thought the police were going to come and arrest me."

Finn nearly spit out his drink at that last part. Marceline didn't think it was all that funny, but everyone laughed. Even her brother – who was there on the night calling her a criminal and threatening to lock her in the cupboard – let out a small laugh.

Bonnie pulled her in for a hug, "Aw, you're so adorable."

"Yeah, adorably _dense_." Marceline reinforced her earlier statement, "I have the attention span of a _goldfish_."

Fionna – once she'd stopped laughing – put her drink down and said, "Okay, more accidental stories, please."

Marceline was surprised that they all seemed interested – she didn't find the stories _that_ amusing, but apparently her idiocy was funny. Naturally. "Um, okay…one time I accidentally punched my Dad in the face."

She didn't add how satisfying it was when telling _that_ story.

At some point, the focus of conversation left her, and they ended up playing another game – Marceline wasn't sure if this one was as widely known or if Phoebe had just made it up – in which they all stated a random fact about themselves.

Typically, Marceline's mind went completely blank.

Phoebe was the one to start the game, since she introduced it – something about making it easier to get to know everyone. Marceline wasn't sure she liked that. "Both of my parents are firefighters."

Finn's blue eyes sparked up with interest at this, "Whoa, that's super cool! They must have loads of action and excitement. I want my job to be like that."

Seemingly appreciative of his excited response, she grinned, "Cool. That could be your random fact."

"Oh!" Finn nodded his head before announcing to the group, "I want to be a cop when I'm older. Fighting crime until I'm too old to move."

Phoebe looked over at Gumball expectantly. Apparently it was his turn. "What about you? Random fact."

Gumball froze for a moment, looking like a mixture of a deer caught in headlights and a scared child about to go on a rollercoaster for the first time. "Um," his gaze flicked to Marshall and Bonnie and Marceline both realised what he was about to do at the exact same time, exchanging a shocked glance, "I have a crush on Marshall. A really big one. And I want -"

"What the _fuck_."

Everyone looked at Marshall, and at the look of disgust on his face, Bonnie thought back to Bea. _Oh no_. She looked at Gumball, inwardly begging him to leave the room before –

"You fucking faggot." – before that happened.

Gumball blinked in confusion, letting out a small, strangled, "What? I thought -"

"You thought you could tell me you'd been fucking hitting on me this entire time and I'd just be okay with it?" Marshall snapped.

"I wasn't _hitting_ on you the whole time, I -"

Bonnie hid her face in Marceline's neck, trying to think about anything other than how similar this was to her and Bea. She drank in Marceline's scent, reciting, _think about Marceline. Her smile, her face, her voice, her stupid jokes, her music, Marceline,_ over and over in her head.

"I can't believe I was your friend. You're sick, you know that?"

There was some sort of standstill between the two boys then – Gumball staring at Marshall in some sort of numb disbelief, and Marshall glaring at Gumball. Suddenly, Gumball jumped up and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

At the sound of the slam, Bonnie slowly came out from her hiding place and looked around. Nobody in the room dared to speak, and for a tense few moments, everyone silently stared at Marshall, unable to believe what had just happened even though they'd just seen it.

Jake was the one to break the silence. "I think you should go."

Marshall blinked in disbelief. " _Me_? He was the one who -" At Jake's stern look, he huffed. "Fine. Come on, Marce."

Marceline frowned, but slowly let go of Bonnie and stood up. Again, she was stopped by Jake. "No. You stay. I'll drive him home."

"It's okay." Marceline assured, "I can -"

Jake shook his head. "No. We actually want _you_ here. Sit back down."

Marceline stared at him for a moment, confused as to why he didn't kick her out as well, but turned and sat back down, instinctively grabbing Bonnie's hand. Bonnie didn't let go.

Jake walked to the door with Marshall, but the dark haired boy stopped and pointed at Fionna. "You. Are you coming?"

Fionna ignored him. Bonnie didn't know what to infer from that. Neither did Marceline.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief once they heard the front door slam.

"I'm so sorry, you guys. If I had never suggested the game, he wouldn't -"

Phoebe was cut off by Finn. "Hey. It's not your fault, don't worry about it. He'd wanted to get that off his chest for ages. I guess he finally did."

"I can't believe how he reacted. Did anyone else expect that?" Lady glanced at Marceline, as though she might've known her twin would've freaked out.

"I had no idea, before any of you ask." Marceline said, "I mean, I didn't think he was…I – I'm going to kick his ass later."

That got a laugh. Good.

Bonnibel – who had been eerily silent since the argument – finally spoke. "That was – wow. Déjà vu."

Marceline sent her a sympathetic smile and kissed her forehead – subtly, of course. "Are you feeling okay?"

Phoebe stared at Bonnie inquisitively. "What did you mean by déjà vu?"

 _Oh, that's right_ , Bonnie thought _, she doesn't know you're gay. Well done, Bonnibel._

Phoebe didn't seem to be weirded out by anything, so Bonnie took in a deep breath – deciding to shorthand it – and said, "I'm gay. I told a friend back home that I liked her and she reacted badly."

"Oh." Phoebe commented, "Okay."

She was thankful that Phoebe didn't pry. She didn't need that right now. Instead, Bonnie stood up and pointed to the door. "I'm going to go and find Gumball. He probably needs the support of people that get it. Marceline?"

Marceline glanced up at her, before she stood up, "You want me to come too?"

"Yeah." Bonnie nodded. She found Marceline's wrist and pulled her towards the door.

Again, they were stopped by Phoebe. "Wait," she pointed to Marceline, "you're gay too?"

"Bi." Marceline corrected, "Which I think qualifies me for the comforting. Am I right?"

Bonnie nodded, "You're right."

Marceline trailed after Bonnie, stopping beside her girlfriend when they spotted Gumball. He was sat on the stairs, his head in his hands. Bonnibel squeezed Marceline's hand, hoping to convey, ' _everything will be fine'_ , before she stepped forwards and sat down next to him. "Hey. How are you doing?"

Gumball barked out a bitter laugh and sat up, shooting Marceline a wary look before turning to Bonnibel. "I don't know. I feel…numb."

Bonnie sent him an understanding smile, "I get it. My best friend left me when I told her I had a crush on her."

He looked over at Marceline, drawing out a long sigh. "I should've listened to you."

Marceline blinked in confusion, leaning against the wall, "What do you mean?"

"You – it was before we all knew you're actually a good person – but you told me to tell him before we got too close so I wouldn't lose a friend." Gumball explained. Marceline was a little surprised by the good person thing. He liked her? "And you were right."

Marceline didn't want to say 'I told you so'. That would've been insensitive. "You weren't ready to tell him then. I didn't think he'd freak out like that, to be honest."

"Can you punch him for me when you get home?" Gumball asked, "Please?"

Marceline laughed, "Sure, man."

Bonnie smiled, giving her friend a soft, reassuring squeeze, "You'll be okay. I know it hurts but with time you won't care. You'll meet someone who'll mean a lot more, I swear."

She glanced up at Marceline as she said that last part, and her girlfriend sent her a small smile before speaking, "You should go and hang out with everyone else. They'll take your mind off things."

Gumball nodded, wiping his eyes. He knew they were right. "Yeah, okay. I don't really want to talk about it anyways." He stood up, giving Bonnibel a hug, "Thanks for coming out to comfort me." Then, glancing at Marceline, he added, "You too."

Gumball took in a deep breath and stood up, making his way back into the living room. Marceline sat down on the stairs next to Bonnie and took her girlfriend's hand. "You're really good to all of them."

"They're my friends. They didn't reject me when I told them about being gay, so I'm not going to reject them when they need me." Bonnie shrugged. She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Marceline's lips, "You're good with them too, even if you pretend not to be."

Marceline rolled her eyes and went to speak up, but the front door slammed shut and both she and Bonnie looked up to see Jake walking in. More like stomping in. He seemed mad.

His gaze levelled on Marceline, "You." For a moment, she felt a little worry bubbling in her stomach, "You're my favourite twin now."

Marceline blinked in confusion. She hadn't expected that. "I am?"

Jake nodded, "Yeah. Don't screw it up by hurting Bubblegum."

Marceline glanced over at Bonnibel, the soft smile she always wore around the other girl revealing itself, "Wouldn't dream of it."

He smiled, jerking his head towards the living room door. "Come on. Let's try to salvage the rest of the night before it dies in awkwardness."

Bonnie and Marceline followed Jake into the room, where Lady and Fionna were comforting Gumball and Finn was trying to impress Phoebe with his apparent crime solving skills.

Jake decided to get involved with the latter conversation, grinning. "Remember those games we used to play when we were younger? We'd have adventures in the back yard and our base would be your old treehouse."

"I miss that," Finn smiled nostalgically, "I haven't been up there for years now. I think it'd break if more than one person went up there though."

Phoebe smiled, "Getting back to the game from before – what's your random fact?"

Jake paused in thought for a moment, "Um…I play viola."

Marceline – who had just flopped down on the couch – sat up. _That_ had grabbed her attention. "No _way_ , dude. Seriously?"

He frowned. "Yeah. I've been playing for about a year now."

"Rad." She commented, tacking on the end, "I play violin."

He blinked in surprise. She bit back a laugh. "I thought your instrument was bass. That's what you play in music class."

Nonchalantly, she shrugged and went back to playing with Bonnie's fingers. "I can play more than _one_ instrument. It's not impossible."

"How many do you play?" Lady asked – she'd been the one to teach Jake how to play viola. In fact, that was one of the reasons they'd started dating.

"Um," Marceline went through all of the instruments she could play in her head, "nine. Soon to be ten, though."

Everyone aside from Bonnie stared at her like she'd just grown another head. She rolled her eyes at them.

"You play _nine_ different instruments?" Gumball sent her a weird look, as though he hadn't expected her to be competent at anything relatively useful. She decided not to hold it against him; he _was_ still upset.

"Yeah," She shrugged like it was no big deal, turning to her girlfriend, "Bonnie? Your random fact, please."

Bonnie closed her book again and set it down on her lap, drumming her fingers on the cover as she thought. "I speak German. Fluently."

Marceline let out a little huff, "I already knew that."

"I already knew about your musical talents." Bonnie shot back, "Tell me something I don't know about you and I'll think of something you don't know about me."

Marceline glanced up at the ceiling in thought, "I don't think you know this but," she cast her gaze back onto Bonnie, "I had a really bad stutter as a kid. It sometimes comes back when I'm frustrated. I had to get speech therapy for it because it took me about a decade to get a word out."

Bonnie smiled, "I bet it was cute."

Out of the corner of her eye, Bonnie saw Lady roll her eyes. Marceline must've caught it too, as she raised an eyebrow and said, "Something funny, Lady?"

"No, nothing at all. Feel free to continue." Lady smirked at them. Finn clearly found it amusing too, as he let out a little snicker which earned him a – hopefully subtle – smack from Bonnie.

Marceline clapped her hands together and sat up, "Right. Something I don't know about you."

Bonnie drew out a sigh, as though the thing she was about to say was almost painful to admit. Which, it felt like to her. "You're going to laugh at me," She warned, "but I…" her voice turned to a small, embarrassed mutter, "I failed a class in my sophomore year."

"Oh. My. God." Marceline burst out laughing, "Are you telling me that the literal _queen_ of the nerds _failed_ a class? I can't believe it." Another bout of laughter shut her up before Bonnie could. "Which class was it?"

Bonnie shuffled uncomfortably. This was the part that would probably make Marceline laugh harder. "Just keep in mind that I took this because I assumed it would be an easy A," Bonnie slowly began, "It was Music."

Yep, Bonnie was right. Marceline laughed harder. In fact, most of her friends laughed too, but that didn't compare to Marceline. Bonnie didn't think she'd ever seen Marceline laugh this hard before, and as it drew out she felt her cheeks turn a subtle red.

(It wasn't subtle at _all_.)

"Will you shut up?" Bonnie finally socked Marceline in the arm. "It's not that funny."

"You're right," Marceline stifled another laugh, "It's _hilarious._ "

"It's not." Bonnie insisted, "It sucked. My parents were so disappointed in me, Bea made fun of me for failing an 'easy'," she put air quotes around that to show Marceline she no longer held that belief, "class, and I got grounded for two weeks for failing and ending up with a B average on my report card."

Marceline's amused smirk softened into an actual smile, "I bet you wish you had me there to help you."

"I do," Bonnie said. With Marceline around, she would've passed that class for sure. "I wish I had you around then anyway. Everything would've been a little easier after…" she trailed off, "stuff."

Realising this was slowly becoming very not-platonic and they might end up giving something away to the four people in the room that _didn't_ know they were together, Marceline threw an arm around Bonnie's shoulders, "Why? Because I'm the best friend ever?"

Bonnibel grinned. "Yep. Because you're the best friend ever."


	50. fifty.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie has a bad day at school

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings - eating disorder (mentioned), homophobic slur

**Wednesday 1** **st** **October 2014**

Bonnie hadn't had a good day.

At first, she thought the day could've been recovered. Their practical experiment in Physics had been cancelled – and she'd been looking forward to it for most of the week – but she wasn't going to let that set her back. Instead she spent the lesson half focused on the worksheet Simon had set them, half chatting with Marceline about different television shows and which ones were the best. English Lit afterwards was relaxing as always – they were given a poem to analyse as a group, and Finn and Jake read out different lines in weird voices while Bonnibel laughed and Marceline rolled her eyes and tried to hide her smile.

(She didn't do very well at that.)

IT was probably one of Bonnie's least favourite subjects. The work was too easy – she liked a challenge in her learning. If she didn't get one she ended up flying through the work and having nothing to do for the rest of class, and she _hated_ wasting lesson time. But this wasn't the reason she had a bad day.

She'd get to that later.

"Bubblegum? What did you put for this?" Finn pressed his finger against the screen, the colours bubbling around the tip.

Bonnie swatted his hand away from it and frowned at the excel spreadsheet on the computer screen. Instead of answering, she nodded at her screen, "Just copy mine. I'm pretty sure they're all right."

Finn's face exploded into one of his huge grins, "Awesome. Thanks."

Bonnie laughed, watching as his fingers danced across the keyboard as he inputted the same figures as her. "Don't worry about it, Finn. I let Marceline copy my Physics work sometimes."

A different kind of smile – almost _sly_ and teasing – appeared on Finn's face. "How is that going?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Fine. We're fine."

"Is she treating you properly?" Finn asked. Bonnie noticed how he puffed out his chest almost heroically, as though if she said no he'd go and teach Marceline a lesson or something.

Bonnie wanted to laugh, "Of course she is. She's sweet."

Finn's eyes rolled skyward and he actually _did_ laugh, "If you'd have told me that last year I probably wouldn't have believed you."

"I didn't even live here last year." Bonnibel pointed out, "But why? Even I could tell that whole scary thing was a façade to keep people at arm's length."

"She broke a guy's _wrist_ in the middle of school." Finn shot back, as though that invalidated every nice thing Marceline had done since. "Don't get me wrong, I like her now. But that's still kind of scary."

Bonnie laughed. Marceline, scary? About as scary as a puppy. "She wouldn't do that to me, if that's what you're implying. He provoked her."

Finn held his hands up in defence. "Like I said, I like her now. She's my friend, I think."

"I know." Bonnie replied, tacking on the end, "You don't need to worry, Finn. Marceline and I are very happy."

"I'm not worried," He was mumbling, so Bonnie assumed that was a lie, "I just wanted to make sure you were happy, is all. I trust her."

Bonnie just shrugged. She wanted to get off this topic – talking about Marceline's past around her friends probably wasn't the best, and she knew that Marceline would be _especially_ unhappy with the topic of Ash. Finn didn't need to know the details of that.

Instead, she smirked, "How are things with Phoebe? Are you two friends yet?"

The expected blush crept up his neck and into his cheeks, "Yeah, I guess so. I don't know."

Bonnie smiled knowingly. She'd seen the way he'd been looking at her – it was similar to the way he'd looked at her at the start of the year. "You should get to know her. At least you have a thing for a girl that _isn't_ gay, this time."

The blush deepened. "Shut up, Bubblegum."

Bonnibel laughed. "Just talk to her. You never know what could happen."

"She could reject me." Finn pointed out, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't think I could handle that."

Bonnie's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "I took a chance and told Marceline that I liked her and now we're together. Just ask her to hang out with you or something. If that's not good enough, organise a group thing and we'll all go together."

Interest sparked in Finn's blue eyes. "That group thing might work. Maybe you and Marceline and Jake and Lady so it's sort of a couple thing but also not. If that makes sense."

The thought of Marceline on a triple date with Finn, Jake, Lady and Phoebe was enough to make Bonnibel burst out laughing. "Yeah. Sure. If I can convince my grumpy girlfriend."

Finn seemed to catch on, and he laughed too. "When are you going to tell everyone else that you two are together?"

"Well," Bonnie paused in thought, "when I know that it won't get out to LSP. She can't keep a secret like that."

"Why are you worried about that?" Finn asked, "She knows that you're gay and hasn't told anybody."

"Because Marceline threatened her. If she found out that Marceline was my _girlfriend_ , she'd tell everyone to get back at her or something along those lines." Bonnie explained, "I don't want to come out through the rumour mill, Finn. And given how close LSP is with Cake and how close Cake is with Fionna…it'd get out somehow."

"Why don't you just come out now? Then you and Marceline can act like a couple in school." Finn said. Apparently he thought that was easy.

"I was outed before I was ready at my old school," Bonnie explained, "and I was bullied really badly by people for it. I know that people here will likely be more accepting than people at a religious school, but I'm apprehensive about coming out just yet. Not until I'm sure I'll be okay."

Finn blinked at her, "Oh. Okay. Well, I'm sure our friends will be fine with it. They like Marcy, so…"

"Marcy?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, a small smirk on her face, "I didn't know you called her that."

"Uh…" Finn looked anywhere but Bonnie, "I don't. Not to her face, anyway. She'd probably hit me."

Bonnie laughed, "She won't care. I called her Marcy to annoy her before we were friends and she didn't hit me."

"Yeah, but that's because she secretly wanted to be your friend." Finn pointed out.

Bonnibel laughed. Marceline had secretly wanted to be _more_ than friends. "She had a crush on me the whole time. She told me that in England."

"Lady said that!" Finn exclaimed, "It was back when you guys weren't too close, and she said she thought Marceline had a crush on you."

"Well, she was right." Bonnie responded, a little loudly due to the harsh ring of the school bell signalling fourth period. "I'll see you at lunch, Finn."

Finn smiled at her as she scooped her books into her bag. "Later, Bubblegum."

Bonnie slung her pink backpack over her shoulder as she left the History classroom, typing out a reply to a text Marceline had sent her.

_**Bonnie (12:41PM): Hey! I just got out of History so I'll meet you outside the library in like five minutes.** _

_**Marceline (12:41PM): sure thing, loser ;)** _

Bonnie made her way down the stairs of the humanities block, picking up her pace as she hit the last flight of stairs. She nearly tripped over her untied shoelace, and sat down on the stairs and tied it up before virtually power walking out of the building.

She was caught in the usual lunchtime rush – all of her classmates seemed to race out of class at the exact same time, creating some sort of traffic jam of students in the direction of the cafeteria. Luckily, she spotted a gap and ducked through it, running into the main building and skidding to a halt in front of Marceline. "Hey."

"Hey, dork." Marceline smiled softly, "How come you're so out of breath?"

"Running to avoid being stuck in a massive crowd of people." Bonnie explained through choppy breaths. "How are you?"

"You saw me less than three hours ago." Marceline pointed out, tacking her actual response on the end, "I'm fine. You?"

"Good. I'm still annoyed about our practical in Physics. Did Simon tell you why he postponed it?" Bonnie asked.

Marceline gave a noncommittal shrug. "I don't know. Maybe. I don't listen when he talks about school stuff. It bores me."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but she probably shouldn't have expected anything more than that. "Today in IT Finn mentioned something about going out on a triple date with him, Lady, Jake, and Phoebe. Would you want to?"

Marceline snorted in laughter, before she saw the serious expression on Bonnie's face and composed herself. "You were being serious?"

Bonnibel bobbed her head in confirmation. "Yeah, I was. I'll take your laughter as a negative."

Marceline shrugged, her gaze shifting to the wall behind Bonnie. She couldn't believe she was about to say this, "I guess we could go. If you wanted."

Bonnie blinked at her. Probably in surprise. "I – seriously? I didn't think you'd want to." Before Marceline could reply, Bonnie's face brightened and she grinned, "Awesome. I'll tell Finn that you're in and then talk to Jake and Lady later."

"So this is a couple thing?" It wasn't really a question, but it was phrased like one. Marceline knew that it was, but she was hinting at something else. She hoped Bonnie would infer correctly.

"Yeah," Bonnibel said, "Like a date. Only a triple date." For good measure, she added, "Just don't tell Phoebe that."

Marceline's eyes narrowed in confusion, "So…we'll be acting like a couple?"

With a little hesitation, Bonnibel nodded, "Yes. We will. I'll tell Jake and Phoebe about us because from what I can tell they can both keep a secret."

Admittedly, Marceline _hated_ how they had to be kept a secret. But she went along with it for Bonnie. At least the information that she'd be allowed to kiss her girlfriend on this weird triple date cheered her up. "Okay, cool. Let me know when it is."

Bonnie's gaze swept over Marceline's face and she let out a soft sigh. "I'm not ashamed of you, if that's what you're thinking."

"I…" Marceline trailed off, bowing her head to look at her feet. She wished she could believe that. "I know."

Bonnie's eyes narrowed. "Okay. Good." She glanced over to the busy cafeteria doors and nodded her head in that direction, "We should go and get some lunch."

"We both bring lunch from home, Bonnie." Marceline reminded her. She knew that Bonnibel was changing the subject on purpose, so she tried to be grateful.

Bonnie's eyes widened in realisation and she bobbed her head in concurrence. "Yeah. You're right. I forgot."

Marceline held her stare before she placed a soft hand on the small of Bonnie's back, guiding her outside. "Let's go hang out with your nerd squad."

Wanting to get rid of the tension in the atmosphere, Bonnie smiled, "They're _your_ nerd squad too, you know. After the other night I'm pretty sure it's safe to say they're your friends."

Marceline shot her a teasing smile, "Yeah, I guess so. Don't tell them I said that though. They'll never let me forget it."

Bonnie let out a light laugh, "Your secret is safe with me." She shrugged her backpack from her shoulders as they approached her friends, "Hey guys."

Fionna smiled at them, "Hey. What took you?"

"We were just organising something." Bonnibel explained, sitting down next to Jake.

Marceline followed her lead, shooting her a prompting look. "Well, ask them."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Jake? Are you and Lady free at the weekend?"

He frowned, "Why?"

"Finn wants to bring Phoebe on a triple date with me. He wants you and Lady to come." Bonnie explained. She predicted what he asked next pretty quickly.

"Okay, sure," He agreed, "But what does she," nodding at Marceline, "have to do with this?"

Marceline's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here."

Bonnie ignored her, dropping her voice to a hushed whisper. "You can't tell anyone." At his nod, she sucked in a deep breath and continued, "Marceline and I are dating."

For a moment, Jake looked a little stunned, but then his expression softened into a smile. "How long?"

"Since England." Bonnie responded, "June 18th."

"Why haven't you told us?" Jake questioned, "Nobody would have a problem with it." Nodding to Marceline, he added, "They like you."

Motioning to Bonnie with a soft nod of the head, Marceline explained, "She isn't ready to be out yet."

"I'll tell Lady, if you guys want." Jake offered.

Quickly, Bonnie shook her head. Although she thought the offer was sweet, it was pointless. "Lady already knows. So does Finn. And I'm pretty sure Phoebe will figure it out when Finn proposes the idea of a triple date with us."

"Okay." Jake nodded. "So…are we doing this on Saturday?"

"Sure." Bonnie nodded. So long as Phoebe was free, everything would go according to plan, and Bonnie hoped it would for Finn. "I'm pretty sure Finn will organise the time with us and all of those other little details."

Marceline's hand came to rest on top of Bonnie's as she typed out a text. "I'm cancelling my band practice now."

Bonnie shook her head, "Don't do that. We can reschedule!"

It was Marceline's turn to do the head shaking. She didn't mind cancelling one band practice for her girlfriend. "It's fine. I already texted Keila, anyways."

"You really didn't need to do that." Bonnie assured. "We could've -"

"It's fine." Marceline repeated. She sent Bonnie a reassuring smile and pulled a sandwich from her backpack. "Chill out, Bonnie."

Bonnie eyed Marceline's sandwich and – noticing that Jake had become invested in a different conversation – swallowed the small lump that had formed in her throat. "Is that all you brought for lunch?"

Marceline blinked at her. "Yeah. It's all I need."

Bonnie noticed the tension in Marceline's body, creeping up her spine and into her neck. "I'll buy you a candy bar from the cafeteria in a few minutes," As Marceline opened her mouth to protest, Bonnie pulled her lunchbox from her backpack and pried open the lid, pulling out a Hershey's bar, "or you can just have mine."

Marceline's throat closed over. "No thanks. I'm good."

Bonnie sent her a pleading look and softly placed the chocolate bar on Marceline's lap. "I'm going to leave this here in case you change your mind."

With that, Bonnie pulled out her sandwich and took a bite. She was doing this for Marceline's own good, and she hoped she hadn't just broken any of the ground rules they'd set. She didn't think she had – she hadn't forced the chocolate bar on Marceline, had she?

When her gaze flicked back to Marceline, her heart broke.

Marceline had frozen in place, every single muscle in her body tensed up – aside from her hands. They were shaking like crazy, and Bonnie quickly dropped the apple she was holding and flung her arms around her girlfriend. "Hey, it's okay. You don't have to eat it. I'm so sorry."

Marceline buried her face in Bonnie's neck and whispered, "I don't think I can eat it."

Bonnie nodded in a way she _hoped_ was understanding and sympathetic. "Okay. That's alright." She knew it was important to get Marceline to eat something, so she added, "Do you think you'd be able to split it with me?"

Marceline shrugged hopelessly, "I don't know."

Bonnie squeezed Marceline's thigh. "Why don't you think you can?"

"I don't know." Marceline whispered. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

Slowly, Bonnie moved the chocolate bar into her lunchbox. "You shouldn't apologise. You can't help it. It's not you."

"I -" Marceline glanced around them. Although Bonnie's friends weren't looking at them it felt like the entire world was staring at her. "I can't be here. I'm sorry."

Before Bonnie could get a word out in protest, Marceline jumped up and hastened away. Bonnie threw her things into her backpack and bolted after her, but not fast enough. Bonnie lost her in the sea of students and ended up boosting herself up on her tiptoes to help her see.

(It was times like this when she hated how short she was.)

Eventually, Bonnie gave up looking and headed around the back of school to the music room. She figured that playing on the school's instruments would cheer Marceline up and that's where she was most likely to be. Right?

Bonnie headed up the concrete steps and pushed the door open, her gaze sweeping across the classroom. No Marceline. Dammit.

Bonnie ducked out of the room and felt a hard push to her side. Tripping over her own feet, she tumbled down the hard concrete steps, her head smacking the floor as she landed at the bottom. Her vision slowly faded to black and the last thing she heard was someone muttering something she never wanted to hear again.

"Dyke."

* * *

When Marceline heard " _Can Marceline Abadeer please report to the principal's office?"_ over the school's intercom system, the first thought that went through her mind was _really, what the hell have I done now_ and the second was _try to hold back your sarcasm this time_. She shuddered at the memory of her last meeting with their principal – although she hadn't actually done anything, she'd ended up with detention for the rest of the week for her sarcastic comments. Principal Citron was known for his harsh punishments.

Marceline slowly closed the book she was reading, tucking it away in her backpack. Feeling everyone's eyes on her as she stalked out of the canteen, she bit out a, "Grow up, dickheads." She really wasn't in the mood to be stared at.

She made her way through the _stupidly_ slow walking crowds of her classmates and virtually jogged halfway to the principal's office; he'd probably tack on a detention after school _just_ for her being late.

Not bothering to knock, Marceline pushed open the door to his office, staring down at the small, blandly dressed man sat in a black leather chair behind an extremely tidy desk. "What have I done _this_ time?"

Citron's usually fermented expression soured even further. Okay, so that probably wasn't the best way to start this little chat. She made a mental note to keep any other stupid comments to herself.

To her surprise, instead of screaming about how she had eternal detention, he cut right to the chase. "What do you know about Bonnibel Butler?"

She blinked at him. He wanted to know about Bonnie? "What do you mean what do I know about her?"

He drew out a tired, irritated sigh. That was never good. "What do you know about what happened to her this lunchtime?"

Marceline tilted her head to the side in confusion. Something had happened to Bonnie? "I didn't know anything _had_ happened to her."

He looked like he didn't believe that, staring at her like she was some sort of escaped convict. "She was pushed," He started, blinking in surprise when Marceline's eyes widened and she stepped closer to his desk, "down the concrete steps by the music room. I assume that's your scene and you're no stranger to pushing kids over."

She got the implication behind that. She _knew_ he was accusing her, but she didn't care. "Who hurt her?"

"Well I assume it was y -"

She cut him off. "Well you assumed wrong. I wouldn't hurt my _girlfriend_." She wasn't put off by the stunned look on his face, "Where is she?"

He sat up in his chair, straightening his posture. "In the nurse's office. She's waiting for her mother to pick her up there." Before Marceline could pull the door open, he stopped her, "Do you know who did this?"

"No, I don't." Marceline said, pulling the door open with so much force she was sure she'd nearly ripped it off its hinges. _You'd better hope I don't find out who did this to her_ , she thought _, because I won't be held responsible for what I do to them._

Admittedly, Marceline was responsible for a few freshman getting shoved over as she stalked to the nurse's office – which she felt guilty for later, obviously – but that didn't matter when Bonnie was hurt.

She didn't bother to knock on the nurse's door, either. She waltzed right in and – ignoring the nurse's irritated _excuse me_ – sat down on one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs next to Bonnie, who was half asleep on the only comfortable chair in the room.

Gently, Marceline nudged her arm, "Hey, Bonnie. Are you feeling okay?"

Bonnie opened her eyes, murmuring a soft, "Marcy," and trying a smile. It ended up looking more like a grimace. "No, I'm not."

Marceline found Bonnie's hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "How do you feel?"

"Fuzzy." Bonnie cringed as she looked up at Marceline, the bright light on the ceiling too painful to look at. "I have a concussion."

Marceline noted how Bonnie looked kind of dazed, pushing her girlfriend's hair behind her ear to reveal a rather nasty gash on her right temple. "Do you know who did this?"

Bonnie sighed, her gaze flicking back to her lap, "No." Then, with a little hesitation, "They called me a dyke. Before I passed out. That's all I remember."

Marceline cringed at the word, trying to change the subject. She knew that word in particular had an extremely negative effect on Bonnie. "The principal thought I did it."

"You?" Bonnie looked up much too fast, making the room spin. She closed her eyes in an attempt to make it better and slowly inched towards Marceline until her head was on her girlfriend's shoulder. "No. You're _perfect_. You wouldn't hurt me. He's a stupid-head for thinking that."

Marceline wanted to laugh at her girlfriend's silly insult. Instead she squeezed Bonnie's hand. "Yeah, he is. Is your Mom on her way?"

"Yeah." Bonnie quietly replied, "She'll be a while though. Something about finishing up this thing. Then she'll be here."

"Do you want me to stay with you until then?" Marceline asked.

Whispering now, Bonnie confirmed, "Yes. Only until the bell rings though. I don't want you to ruin your attendance."

Marceline laughed. Hard. "Even with a concussion, you won't shut up about attendance."

"I don't want to go home." Bonnie responded with an irritated sigh. "My perfect attendance is ruined."

"I'm sure they won't count it. It's not exactly your fault that you have to leave." At Bonnie's doubtful look, she tacked on the end, "It'll be fine, Bonnie."

"Are you still mad at me?" Well, that was a quick change of topic. "For what I did at the start of lunch?"

Even though she wasn't mad in the first place, Marceline replied, "Of course not. It's okay."

Bonnie sighed again, her fingers lazily playing with Marceline's. "I don't want you to be sick. It makes me sad."

Marceline sent Bonnie a sad smile. "Yeah, I'm not too thrilled about it either." After a short pause, she added, "You don't need to be worried about me, Bonnie. I'll be okay."

Bonnie wanted to shake her head, "I worry about you anyway. You're my best friend. And my girlfriend."

Marceline flashed a small smile. "I know." In the hopes of changing the subject, she added, "What're you going to do when you get home?"

"My Mom wants to take me back up to her work and get my head checked out and get this," She motioned to the bloody gash on the side of her head, "stitched up. Then after that my Dad will have finished work so he'll pick me up and take me home. I think I'll probably try and take a nap. Have some chamomile tea or something."

"Sounds like a good plan." Marceline commented. "I'll come over after school if you want."

Bonnie slowly nodded, whispering, "Yeah. That sounds nice."

"Do you want me to bring anything?" Marceline asked. "Like, some snacks or drinks?"

Bonnie hummed in thought. "McDonald's. Extra-large Big Mac meal. Chicken nuggets for you, yeah?"

"Okay." Marceline agreed. She stopped Bonnie as she tried forcing some money into her palm. "I have money, you don't need to pay."

"You don't need to be chivalrous, Marcy." Bonnibel responded, pushing the ten dollar bill into the tight front pocket of Marceline's jeans. She patted it for…reassurance? Marceline couldn't tell. "I think my Mom is here."

Sure enough, a few seconds after that the door to the nurse's office pushed open and Lynn walked in. "Bonnibel! Who did this to you?"

Yet _another_ sigh from Bonnie. "I don't know. They – _she_ called me a dyke, Mom."

Lynn sat in the chair on Bonnie's other side and pulled her in for a tight hug. "Ignore her. I won't let anybody hurt you like they did at your old school." Catching Marceline's eye, she asked, "Do you have any idea who would do this?"

Marceline shook her head. "Nope. And the only lead the principal had was _me_ , so…"

Lynn looked surprised at her response, but _thankfully_ didn't comment. Instead, she helped a dizzy Bonnibel up and towards the door. "Thank you for keeping her company, Marceline."

"No worries." Marceline stood up and sent Bonnie an easy smile. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"

Bonnie sent her a dazed smile, bobbing her head in confirmation. "Yeah." She held her arms out for a hug, wiggling her fingers. "Come here."

Marceline pulled Bonnie in for a hug, subtly pressing her lips to Bonnie's throat. "I'll see you later."

"Bye, Marcy." Bonnie squeezed Marceline tightly around the middle.

Marceline softly smiled as Bonnie walked out of the nurse's office, slinging her backpack over her shoulder as she headed in the direction of her next class, promising herself that the person who did this wouldn't get away with it.

Not while she was on watch, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in case you didn't get it, lemongrab is the principal.


	51. fifty-one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie and marceline go out on a triple date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings - eating disorder (implied)

**Saturday 4** **th** **October 2014**

Bonnie's fingers traced over the gash on the side of her head and she winced. That was just one of the irritating things about this triple date. The other was that she really didn't want to go anyway. She just wanted to lay in bed with Marceline and take her mind off of the incident from the other day. She'd spent _hours_ thinking about who it could've been. Nobody other than her friends knew she was gay, so why did the person call her that _horrible_ word? It couldn't have been a coincidence, could it?

She shook her head to push the thought from her mind. _Just have fun with your friends, Bonnibel._ _Don't think about it_.

Bonnibel felt a pair of arms snake around her waist, and a soft smile played at her lips. "Don't you _dare_ try to tickle me, Marceline."

"I wasn't going to." Marceline pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, "but now that you mention it," she dug her fingers into Bonnie's side, making her squeal and jab an elbow into Marceline's ribs.

"Hey, I still hurt from falling." Bonnie held her hands up in defence. Honestly, she wasn't lying – she had a few bruises on her right side and it ached to move. "And the elbowing is a reflex."

Marceline pouted and obnoxiously rubbed the spot that Bonnie had jabbed her elbow into. "Well, now we _both_ hurt. Bitch."

"You're the bitch." Bonnibel folded her arms across her chest, wincing a little at the dull ache in her side. "You told me you didn't like me on my _first day_ at a new school. I'm sure that's pretty bitchy."

Marceline scoffed, her eyes rolling skyward. "You're _never_ going to let that go, are you?"

Bonnie hummed in thought, brushing through her pink locks with her fingers. Eventually she rolled her shoulders back in a shrug. "Probably not, no. It amuses me to push your buttons."

"I don't have buttons to push." Marceline mimicked Bonnie from earlier and folded her arms across her chest. "I'm chill."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes and put her hairbrush down on her dresser. She pushed Marceline's hair behind her ear, fiddling with the intimidating black spike in her girlfriend's earlobe. "I know you are."

Changing the subject, Marceline wove her fingers between Bonnie's and guided her hand away from her ear. "What exactly are we doing on this weird triple date then?"

"Well, Finn was the one who picked and he decided on driving out to the city for a bite to eat and then laser tag. Maybe walk around the lakes after." Bonnie said, "Which I assumed you'll enjoy."

"The laser tag part, yes." Marceline responded. Maybe she'd skip out on the first part. Go for a walk or something.

Bonnibel sent her a strange look; a mixture of sympathy and…was that confusion? "You don't have to -"

Marceline cut her off. She didn't want this conversation here. Not now. "I know." She let out a soft breath of air and asked, "What are we doing after?"

"We as in you and me or we as in all of us?" Bonnie asked. Then she realised the implication behind Marceline's statement was pretty obvious. "You and me. Forget I asked. Whatever you want to do."

Marceline bobbed her head in acknowledgement and flashed a small smile. "Cool. We could get ice cream after if you want."

Bonnie hummed in thought, her eyes narrowing. "I don't trust you around ice cream. You'll probably start some sort of ice cream fight just to bug me."

Marceline flashed a toothy grin. "Damn. You know me too well. So well that you should probably know I'm going to _crush_ you at laser tag today."

Bonnibel harrumphed, spinning on her heels and pulling her bedroom door open. "Dream on, Abadeer. I'll be the one doing the crushing, thanks."

Marceline laughed as she followed Bonnibel out of her bedroom. "In your dreams, babe. I'm superior in all ways."

"Superior in idiocy, maybe." Bonnie teased as she walked down the stairs, grabbing her coat from where she'd left it laid out on the banister rail. "A bit of friendly competition between girlfriends never did anyone any harm. How about a bet?"

Marceline raised an eyebrow as she followed Bonnie out of the house. "That depends. What are the terms of this bet?"

Bonnie bit on her lip as she jumped into the passenger side of Marceline's car, humming in thought. "If you win, I'll do your science work for a month." Bonnie noted that Marceline's eyes sparked with interest at that. "If _I_ win…you have to join me for a science and math study session every weekday for a month."

"Oh my god, no." Marceline shot back, "You picked your punishment, so I should be able to pick mine."

Bonnie quirked an eyebrow up in interest. "What do you have in mind?"

"Um…no science for a month? _That_ would upset me a lot." The left corner of Marceline's mouth curved up in a smirk, "You know how much I love all of that sciency junk."

Bonnie's eyes rolled skyward. "Yeah, we're sticking with my idea. We'll get your grades up to an A in both science and math by the end of the month. See, you benefit from my punishment."

Marceline scoffed, "Hardly. I'll have died of boredom after the first week."

Bonnie shook her head quickly. "No, science is _fun_! You can help me with my experiments and we can investigate things together!"

Marceline laughed. "So you're going to try and turn me into your little science lackey, basically?"

Bonnie shrugged nonchalantly, laughing. "Pretty much."

The cute little giggle her girlfriend let out had Marceline sold on the idea. "Fine. Bet on."

Bonnie flashed her a bright grin as Marceline took a hand off of the steering wheel to shake hers. "I can't wait for you to be helping me out with experiments. I might even get you your own lab coat."

"Don't be so sure that you'll win. I might have some secret talents." Marceline smirked at her; that irritating smirk that let Bonnie know she was planning on being difficult. "I'll laser you under the table, Butler."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes, "Like I said earlier – in your _dreams_."

* * *

"Marceline, Bubblegum!" Finn bounded over to them, his usual enthusiasm multiplied. Probably because he was on a kind-of date with Phoebe. Bonnie could understand that – she remembered how she felt back when she first started dating Marceline.

"Hey, Finn." Bonnie sent him a bright grin, linking her fingers with Marceline's, "How are you?"

"Great! Phoebe isn't here yet, but she's meeting us in ten minutes." Finn didn't seem put off by this at all.

Marceline laughed a little, "You're really into her, huh?"

Judging by his blush, she was right. "I…shut up, Marceline."

Marceline quirked an eyebrow up. A year ago he wouldn't have dared saying hi to her, and now the kid was telling her to shut up? "Better watch your mouth, Finn. I'm supposed to be scary, aren't I?"

He rolled his eyes at her. He _actually_ rolled his eyes. She was in a state of disbelief. "You don't frighten me anymore, Marceline."

"Anymore?" Marceline smirked, "So I did before?"

"Before I knew you were nice, yeah." Finn nodded, "But now I know you're really cool. Cooler than your _brother_."

Marceline let out a snort of laughter, "I already knew that. I'm the alpha twin."

Bonnibel's gaze flicked over to Marceline and she softly asked, "Have you talked to your brother about what happened with Gumball?"

Realising that they were in earshot of Jake and Lady – who both looked pretty interested, Marceline wasn't sure if she should respond. Eventually, she just shrugged. "I _tried_ to, but he just told me to go away and left. He's been staying at Guy's pretty much every night since it happened to avoid me."

Both Bonnibel and Marceline noted how Jake gritted his teeth and his grip on Lady's hand tightened. "I still stand by what I said. You," He nodded at Marceline, "are still my favourite twin."

"Thanks for the update, I guess." Marceline responded. She slung an arm around Bonnie and nodded to the restaurant doors. "Are we going in?"

Lady nodded, "Yeah. We can wait for Phoebe inside." As she pushed the restaurant doors open, she turned to Bonnibel, "Does she know about you and Marceline?"

"Not yet." Bonnie responded, "I'm just going to let her figure it out for herself. It'll be made pretty obvious, probably."

Jake eyed Bonnie's left hand, which was linked with Marceline's, "This has been going on since we went to England and half of our friends _still_ don't know about it?"

Marceline shrugged, "Like she said the other day, Bonnie isn't ready to come out yet."

Bonnibel let out a small sigh, hoping it would go unnoticed. What was the point in hiding her relationship with Marceline if the person who pushed her down already knew she was gay? At least, that's what she thought. Why would they have called her what they did if they didn't know? Which posed the question, _how_ did they know?

Bonnie felt Marceline's grip on her hand tighten, "You okay?"

Bonnibel blinked at her. "Yeah. Fine." _Totally not thinking about how someone who I don't even know might know I'm gay_.

It was clear that Marceline didn't believe her. "Try to relax, Bonnie. Just focus on what we're going to do today. Okay?"

After a moment of hesitation, Bonnibel nodded, "Alright," She squeezed Marceline's hand back and sat down on one of the not at _all_ comfortable chairs at the restaurant table, "I'll try not to think about it. Talk to me about stuff?"

"Stuff," Marceline repeated. She drummed her fingers on the table in thought, "What kind of stuff?"

"Any stuff. Funny stuff." Bonnibel shrugged. She pushed her hair back from her eyes and let out a soft sigh; she didn't think that anything could take her mind off of what happened at school. She'd thought about it every day for the past week. "I don't know."

"You want to hear about funny stuff?" Finn asked. Apparently their conversation was more interesting than Jake and Lady's. Maybe once Phoebe arrived, Marceline and Bonnibel would get privacy to some degree. "One time I crashed Jake's Dad's car when he let me drive it this one time."

"Joshua was _pissed_." Lady reinforced, "And Finn hasn't even been allowed in the garage since. He didn't get too big of a telling off though."

Finn smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, that's true. He's my Uncle and he felt bad for me so I only had to pay for half of the repairs."

"And _I_ had to pay for the other half." Jake scowled over the menu at Finn. "Apparently I was partially guilty for letting him drive it. I had to pay over $1000 and it set me back _five months_ of my savings. I wanted to buy myself a new car since I'd been using my Mom's old one. It sucked."

"I gave you some cash!" Finn held up his hands in defence, "and I said I was sorry. Besides, you got the car in the end."

"Like half a year later than I should have." Jake put the menu down and folded his arms across his chest, "Hardly a funny story."

Bonnibel smiled. That had taken her mind off things a little bit. "How old were you when this happened?"

Jake's eyes rolled skyward in thought, "I was sixteen and Finn was fourteen."

With a laugh, Bonnie looked pointedly at Finn, "You probably should've waited a couple of years before starting driving lessons."

"Someone here was driving before they turned sixteen." Lady pointed out. Both her gaze and Finn and Jake's landed on Marceline, and Bonnibel's eyes widened and she turned to her guilty looking girlfriend.

After a few moments of everyone's eyes burning holes into Marceline, she looked up and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I drove a car when I was fifteen. Get over it."

"That's against the law, Marceline." Bonnie pointed out. "You could have been caught."

"But I wasn't." Marceline shot back. It wasn't like she had a car and drove every day. She only did it two or three times to help Keila. "I didn't do it regularly."

"That's not what I heard from LSP." Lady had a sort of _teasing_ smirk on her face. She probably thought she'd caught Marceline in the middle of some huge lie.

"Since when has she had inside information on my life? She doesn't know me." Marceline picked up a menu and pretended to gaze over it, "I did it three times. Maybe four."

"How did you even know _how_?" Jake asked. "You can't have had any lessons before you turned sixteen."

"My friend Keila taught me the basics." Marceline explained, "The only reason I did it was to take her home from parties when she was too drunk to move." For good measure, she added on the end, "I didn't even get my driver's license until just after my seventeenth birthday."

Bonnibel frowned, "Why didn't you learn sooner?"

"It sounds kind of weird but it made my panic disorder act up." Marceline admitted. _Still kind of does, but it's whatever._ "I'm fine now though."

"Hold on," Finn, who had been having some sort of cutlery sword fight with Jake while Marceline was telling her story, dropped his butter knife and leaned forward, "You have panic disorder?"

 _That's just one part of the terrifying mess that is my mental health,_ Marceline thought. "Yeah. I'm okay though."

"How long have you had it?" Lady asked. Marceline picked up on how she actually looked _concerned_. That was unexpected. "If you don't mind me asking."

Marceline shrugged nonchalantly, hoping that they wouldn't make a big deal out of it. "Since I was seven. Ten years."

The way that everyone aside from Bonnie looked at her made it perfectly clear that they were all going to make a big deal out of it. The eye widening, the way they all leaned forward in both interest and…was that concern? Not good.

If Phoebe hadn't collapsed into the chair next to Finn, Marceline would have probably bitten out a harsh comment and left. "Hey, guys. Where is everyone else?"

Jake cleared his throat and sat back against his chair. "Gumball is still locked in his room, Fionna is busy doing something she wouldn't tell us about, Cake is with LSP and Melissa and Marshall lost his invite to any future events."

"So it's just us." Finn finished for him, sending the redhead one of his usual enthusiastic smiles, "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Phoebe shrugged off her coat and looked around the rest of the group, "How are you guys?"

There was a chorus of "good" from everyone else, and Bonnibel opened up the menu that Marceline had left rested on the table. "Shall we work out our orders?"

"Yeah, sure." Lady moved Jake's hand and placed the menu between them, her finger gliding across the first page.

Bonnie set her menu in front of both her and Marceline. Treading carefully, she asked, "What do you want to eat?"

Marceline's stomach wanted everything on the menu to satisfy the gnawing hunger in the pit of it. Marceline's head didn't want anything. "I'm fine."

Bonnie turned the page on the menu, "They have chicken strips. You like those."

Marceline didn't want to have this conversation here. Not in front of Bonnibel's friends. She couldn't afford them finding out about anything. "Can we not talk about this here?"

Bonnie nodded in understanding. "Okay." Flicking the page over, she said, "Do you want to share some chicken strips and a side order of fries?"

Bonnie was trying to make it easier on Marceline – she knew that sharing might make eating lunch a little easier for her. She'd sacrifice having a meal to herself to make Marceline feel better. She would do anything to help.

"Yeah." Marceline softly responded, "Okay. We'll do that."

Bonnibel's hand came to rest on Marceline's thigh and she gave it a soft squeeze. "Good." She drummed her fingers on the table, "So it turns out I'm dating a criminal."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "Come _on_ , Bonnie. So what, I drove three times before it was legal? I had vodka _last night_. Pretty sure that's illegal and you already knew about that."

Bonnibel laughed, knowing that this topic was good. It was taking Marceline's – and her – mind off things. "You know I'm just kidding."

"Yeah," Marceline leaned back on her chair and smiled, "Laser tag should be fun."

"Don't forget about our bet." Bonnie teased, "Like I said, you might get your own lab coat. That'll be adorable."

"Why are you always so certain that you'll beat me? I have skills." Marceline folded her arms across her chest. "And you're going down."

A scoff. An incredibly _loud_ scoff that gathered the attention of everyone on the table. "Don't get your hopes up, _punk_."

"About what?" Jake asked.

"We have a bet going –" Marceline went to explain, but she was cut off by Bonnibel.

"A bet I'm going to _win_ ," Bonnie interjected, "Wherein if I beat her at laser tag, she has to be my science assistant for a month. If I lose, I have to do all of her science work for a month."

Finn smiled, "I can't wait to see you guys in competition."

"It's not pretty," Marceline rested her head on her palm, "at least on my end."

A soft smile tugged at the corners of Bonnie's mouth and her hand linked with Marceline's on top of the table. "I think it's adorable when you get all competitive."

She saw Phoebe's frown in her peripheral vision, but the redhead didn't pry. Lady spoke up before she could, "So you guys are going to have to be on separate teams, yeah?"

Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation, "Yep. Maybe you, me and Phoebe versus Jake, Marceline and Finn." _That way we'll all be playing our dates_.

"After that we can switch up the teams. Maybe do three teams of two." Finn suggested. Probably so he could spend more time with Phoebe. "Although I'm not sure if letting Marceline and Bubblegum team up is a good idea."

Marceline cackled, "It's a great idea."

Lady rolled her eyes, " _Please_. They'd probably just sneak off and be antisocial together and end up winning because they hid so well."

"We _are_ pretty good at being social recluses." Bonnie concurred, "I think it'll be a good idea once we figure out who wins the bet."

Marceline coughed, "Me."

She got an elbow to the ribs for that one. "No, it'll be _me_."

Another eye roll, from Jake this time, "You two argue like a married couple sometimes."

"Maybe we eloped," Marceline joked, slinging an arm around Bonnibel's shoulders. "You don't know the extent of our relationship."

Finally, Phoebe broke her silence, "Wait, hold on." She looked around the room before leaning in closer to the group, "Are you two," She motioned between Marceline and Bonnie with her hand, "together?"

Bonnibel bobbed her head in confirmation, "Yes, we are. It's kind of a secret, though."

"Do the rest of the group know?" Phoebe asked.

"No. Only the people here." Bonnie explained. Sensing a little tension from Marceline, she supplemented, "We'll be coming out soon, though."

"Oh, okay. I won't tell." Phoebe turned back to Finn then, and Bonnie allowed herself a laugh at his flushed cheeks. _Did I look like that when I talked to Marceline before we dated?_

"Why are you looking over there?" Marceline poked her in the bicep, "Your super-hot girlfriend is over here."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes, but couldn't conceal her smile. "I'm not going to argue with that."

* * *

A buzzer rang through the room, signalling the end of their game of laser tag. And Bonnibel had lost. When she saw the light on her vest go off, she'd assumed it was just because it was the end of the game, so naturally when the buzzer went off and the realisation that she'd lost the game hit her, she fired at Marceline with her disarmed gun in the hope that it'd work.

(It didn't.)

"Well, Bonnie," Marceline sauntered over to her with a smirk plastered on her face, "I guess you're going to be having extra science to do for this next month. Have fun with that."

Bonnibel scowled at her, "I was so confident that I'd win! I didn't know you were going to ambush me at the last second."

"I timed it just right, didn't I," Marceline threw an arm around Bonnie's shoulders, following their friends out of the door, "and now you have to do my work for me."

"Shut up. You won the bet, I'll do your science work for you." Bonnie shoved her away. "Just keep quiet, okay?"

Finn walked over, high-fiving Marceline, "Because you got Bubblegum, our team won on a hundred point lead. You're so on my team next game."

"What happened to you wanting to hang out with Phoebe?" Marceline put on a teasing smirk, laughing as red crept up his neck and into his cheeks. "Just ask her out, dude. She's _hardly_ scary."

His eyes widened like that was the stupidest idea he'd ever heard; which in his mind, it was. "No _way_ , Marceline. She doesn't like me like that."

"You found it easy to ask Bonnie out." Marceline pointed out.

Bonnibel nodded in concurrence. "Seriously, go ask her to hang out with you sometime." When the look of apprehension didn't fade, she added, "I know from experience that it's scary. But if I can ask Marceline out, you can ask her out."

Marceline barked out a laugh. "I like how you're saying that like I'm scary."

"About as scary as a kitten." Bonnie rolled her eyes at her girlfriend as she unclipped the laser tag vest, "But you – for some reason – like _pretending_ to be scary. If I can get past that and ask you out, he can _easily_ ask Phoebe. She's nice."

Marceline quirked an eyebrow up. She held an irritated expression for a few seconds before it crumpled into amusement, "I can't even glare at you anymore. Dammit."

As Marceline dumped her laser gun in the basket, Bonnie laughed, "You had no problem doing that back in January."

"That's because I didn't smile every time I saw you back then. Now I do." Then, Marceline's cheeks went a subtle pink, "Ignore that."

"I am _not_ ignoring that. You _like_ me." Bonnie teased, tugging Marceline over to the table their friends had sat down on.

"You've known that for a while now."

Marceline's sarcastic monotone wasn't stopping Bonnie. "Aw, you dork. I think it's sweet."

The eye roll was expected. "Shut up. I still beat you at laser tag."

Bonnibel collapsed into the chair next to Jake, "Whatever." Before Marceline could retort, she looked to Lady, "Are we ordering drinks?"

Finn was the one to answer. "Yeah, we're going to get some drinks and then go back in for another round."

Bonnie stretched out so her feet were touching the legs of Marceline's chair. She tugged her pink t-shirt away from her chest; it was clinging to her with sweat, "Count me out for the next round. I'm spent."

Before Finn could try to convince her otherwise, Marceline spoke up, "Yeah, me too. I'll stay with you."

Lady stood up, "What drinks do you guys want?"

Bonnie was surprised she didn't try to convince her and Marceline to play the next round, but then noticed that Lady probably understood why they didn't want to – she was pretty red-faced and looked like she'd just run a marathon herself.

"I'll have a root beer." Marceline said. She looked to Bonnie, "She'll have a lemonade."

As Lady nodded and walked off with their orders, Bonnie turned to Marceline with an astonished look, "How did you know what I wanted?"

"You always get lemonade." Marceline shrugged, "It's not that hard to pick up on."

Actually, now that she thought about it, the only other time she'd seen Bonnie drink something else was when she made her a strawberry milkshake. Weird.

Bonnie didn't have time to respond – she'd noticed people had been interjecting a lot today – as Jake spoke up, changing the subject entirely.

"What are you guys doing for Halloween?" He asked, "We don't have plans yet but we usually all get together."

Phoebe shrugged, "I'll just join you guys and do whatever. My parents shouldn't mind."

"Same," Finn agreed, "I usually hang out with you guys anyway. Will it be a costumed thing again?"

"Of course, it's Halloween." Jake rolled his eyes, like it was the most obvious thing in the world – which it kind of was. "What about you two?"

Bonnibel shrugged, "I'm probably going to be doing something with Marceline."

"Inviting yourself, are you?" Marceline shot back, "I'm hanging with Keila, since it's my birthday."

"Your birthday is _not_ Halloween." Finn laughed – he must've thought she was joking. Marceline didn't really get why it was funny. "No way, dude."

Marceline raised a challenging eyebrow, "Want to look at my birth certificate?"

"But your brother's," Bonnie noted Jake's scowl as he mentioned Marshall, "is on November 1st, and you guys are twins. You're screwing with us."

"Nope." Marceline shook her head, "I was born at 11:56PM, October 31st. He was born at 12:05AM, November 1st. There's nine minutes between us but _technically_ I'm a day older. So we have different birthdays."

Jake blinked at her, "Weird."

Marceline examined her fingernails – probably looking to see if there were any left to bite – and Bonnie tapped her on the arm, "Am I really not invited to your birthday hangout with Keila?"

"You can come if you want because you have a permanent invite to my house," Marceline shrugged, "but we'll probably both be drunk."

Bonnibel smiled, "Sure, I'll come. Hanging out with you guys is fun and drunk you is a cutie, so…"

"Drunk me is a cutie?" Marceline repeated. She knew she was blushing at that and she could feel Bonnie's friends smirking at her. Great.

"Yep," Bonnibel nodded, "So yeah – my Halloween plans are to hang out with Marceline and her friend."

Marceline – quietly, so if they didn't hear she could pretend it never happened – spoke up. "You guys can come too, if you want."

Finn beamed at her. _Great_ , she thought, _they heard_. "Hell yeah! What do you want for your birthday?"

"Nothing." Marceline shook her head, "You don't have to get me anything. I'm just saying that if you guys wanted to use my house as a venue for your nerd thing, that's fine."

Jake clapped his hands together, "Great. Now we have plans – party for your birthday. Are we wearing costumes?"

"I…if you want, I guess." Marceline shrugged. She didn't think they'd want to come. This was all too surreal.

"Cool." Finn smiled, before his expression darkened – only slightly – and he dropped his voice, "Will Marshall be there?"

Yet another scowl from Jake. "No. He's going out with Guy and Bongo for Halloween. Usually Keila and I would go with but we want to get wasted and watch horror movies."

"That's fine, then." Jake said, "Who exactly has an invite?"

Phoebe looked pretty nervous, "Can I come?"

Marceline nodded at her, "Sure," before turning to Jake, "Well, you guys, Lady, Gumball, and Fionna."

Lady asked as she came over to the table and set drinks down in the centre. "What about Cake?"

Marceline scowled a little as she grabbed her root beer. "I don't like her."

"Why not?" Phoebe asked, "I mean, you're friends with her aren't you?"

Marceline let out a bitter laugh, "God, no. She bullied me with LSP until halfway through ninth grade."

"Fionna did too. You seem to have let that slide." Finn nervously pointed out. He didn't think that this was something she'd talk to him nicely about.

"She apologised." Marceline responded, "So we're cool."

Finn nodded. All he had to do was get Cake and LSP to apologise and then maybe everyone could be friends. It was kind of a long shot, but he was willing. "Alright."

Phoebe looked around the table, "So you guys weren't all friends before I moved here?"

Jake shook his head, nodding to Marceline, "Not with her. She used to scare me."

Marceline trained her gaze on her drink as she sucked it up through the red bendy straw. She wasn't going to comment.

"Yeah, then I came along." Bonnibel said. "I made friends with Marcy and she slowly became part of the group."

"And now she doesn't scare us." Finn concluded. Marceline shot him a look. "Well, most of us."

"Why did you scare them?" Phoebe glanced over at Marceline.

Marceline placed her drink to one side and shrugged. She didn't really know if she was being honest, but she assumed it was because of Ash. "I broke my ex-boyfriend's wrist in the middle of school and I guess they thought I'd do the same to them for the bullying and for some of them being associated with the bullies."

Judging by the way Phoebe's eyes widened to the point that they looked like they were about to pop out of her skull, she hadn't been expecting that. "Oh. Okay. Now you kind of scare me."

Marceline laughed, "Don't worry, man. I'm weak."

"It's true." Bonnibel reinforced, "She smacked my arm once and it felt like a tiny little bug had just bitten me."

"Okay, shut it." Marceline sent Bonnie a scowl which quickly dissolved into an adorable grin, "I could take you, Butler."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, "I doubt that."

"O _kay_." Lady cut in, "Before these two start bickering, we're going back in for another game. Sure you guys don't want to come?"

Marceline answered for both of them. "We're sure."

"We'll see you in twenty minutes." Finn said as they stood up and headed back over to the counter to pay for another game.

Once Bonnie had seen them don the vests and laser guns and disappear into the laser zone, she turned back to Marceline with a teasing smile. "You're having fun."

To Bonnie's surprise, Marceline didn't argue. She just shrugged, fiddling with the straw in her root beer. "I know."

And to Bonnie, that meant a lot.


	52. fifty-two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline gets a surprise visit.

**Monday 13** **t** **h** **October 2014  
**

Marceline hated Mondays. She was fairly certain she always had; Monday was the worst day of the week. She firmly held the belief that there should be a three day weekend and that Mondays should be deleted so that the school week and the weekend would both be three days long.

But Marceline wasn't in any sort of position of power, so that rule would have to wait until she was crowned queen of the world.

(Or something along those lines.)

This Monday in particular hadn't been great. For starters, Bonnie's friends had decided that either Finn or Jake needed to be with her all times until they found out who gave her that concussion two weeks prior, and Marceline hadn't had any alone time with Bonnie all week. She was just grateful that it was Finn and Jake and not a teacher – Marceline and teachers had never really gotten along. Especially if the teacher was from the P.E department. That would be an awkward situation.

The other thing was that she wasn't on the greatest terms with her brother – he'd been cold with her ever since he and Gumball had had that…argument? She wasn't sure if that was the right word. Ever since he had been an asshole to one of his friends for no reason. Yeah, that worked.

He'd been avoiding her at school for siding with Bonnie's friends - really, what else was she supposed to do? – and when she got home it wasn't much better. He'd just lock himself in his room and ignore her when she tried talking to him, even if she was doing something as mundane as telling him dinner was ready. It was really getting on her nerves.

She drove him home from school as usual, and once she unlocked the front door he'd stormed up the stairs and into his room. She'd expected that.

What she hadn't expected was her Dad to walk out of the front room. "Marceline."

She blinked, hoping that he was just a figment of her imagination. That he'd just disappear when she opened her eyes again and her day wouldn't be ruined. "Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Go and get your brother. It's important." He stalked back into the living room without any further explanation, leaving her even more confused than she was when he walked out.

Marceline slowly made her way upstairs, not bothering to knock on Marshall's bedroom door. When he saw it was her, he glared. God, was she sick of this. "I have nothing to say to you."

She rolled her eyes. Even though he was her brother, she wasn't going to put up with this, "Dad's here. He wants to talk to us."

The glare morphed into a frown, but he didn't say anything as he pushed past her and made his way downstairs. Marceline followed him, but when she was halfway down she pulled her phone from her pocket and sent a text to Bonnie. _Better to be prepared_.

_**Marceline (3:46PM): my dad is here so I might need you soon** _

Then she hid her phone in her pocket and walked into the living room with a sigh. She knew that this would probably end in an argument.

(When did talks with her Dad end with anything else?)

She sat down on the sofa with her brother, surprised when Simon was stood next to her Dad. Didn't he have a staff meeting tonight? That was how she realised that this actually _was_ serious and important. And that was why she became all the more apprehensive.

For a moment she just stared up at her Dad, waiting for him to speak. Eventually, he crossed over to the other couch and sat down, his back straight and his hands clamped together. Simon stayed standing. "Over the past few months I've been trying to make a decision about something. Simon and I have been talking things over and we've come to a conclusion."

"What's this decision about?" Marshall asked. Marceline wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"Well…about you guys." Simon said, looking towards Hunson as if that was his cue to continue.

"I'd like you to move in with me." Hunson stated, his gaze flicking to Marceline, "Both of you."

Marshall's face lit up as though he'd just been told Christmas had come early. Marceline's stayed neutral and indifferent. He wanted them to move in with him? Her insides twisted in what she wasn't sure was a good way or a bad way and she could feel her heart speeding up, pounding against her rib cage in…fear? Excitement? She really couldn't tell.

Marshall was the one to break the silence. "Seriously! That's great! When?"

"As soon as possible." Hunson answered, "Obviously we won't switch your schools to the one closest to my house since it's your last year, but I think it would be a good idea."

Marceline didn't know what to think. She wasn't going to lie – the first thought that went through her mind was _there's no way in hell that's happening_ , and then there was just nothing. Most of all she just wanted to know his motives. He'd ditched them nearly eleven years ago and he chose _now_ to ask them to come back? It didn't make sense.

Marshall jumped up, "I'll start packing right now." He tapped – well, it was more like repeated smacks of enthusiasm - Marceline on the shoulder, apparently forgetting that he was angry at her, "Come on, Marce. We need to pack."

Marceline ignored him, staring up at her Dad. Her expression didn't switch from cold and apathetic. "Why do you suddenly want us back?"

Hunson said that as if the answer was obvious. "You're my _children_."

That did nothing to ease Marceline's suspicion. "We've been your children this entire time. Why is it any different now?"

Hunson let out a heavy sigh, one that usually signalled that he was getting tired of whatever Marceline was trying to tell him. "Why does that matter? Go upstairs and start packing."

Marceline stayed put, "I'm not going anywhere."

He raised a challenging eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"Unless you give me a good reason, I'm not going anywhere with you. Why should I?" Marceline sat up straighter, holding her stare, willing herself to hide her feelings. _You don't care, you don't care, don't let him trick you into going with him._ "You've never done anything for me. You act like helping me is some sort of _chore_. You refuse to pay for any therapy or medications to help my mental illnesses. I'm not moving in with you."

Hunson stared at her, his mouth opening and closing in an attempt to form a response. Really, he just looked like a fish out of water. "Simon, talk some sense into her. I'm going to help Marshall pack up some stuff."

With that, he stalked out of the room, flattening his tie down and straightening up his jacket with Marshall trailing after him like a lost puppy.

 _Wow, look at that_ , Marceline thought, _he can't even be bothered to talk me into it himself_ , _and he wonders why I don't want to go with him_. Usually something like that would feel like a kick in the teeth, but she was used to him not caring anymore. She did feel a little sting in her chest, almost like a bug bite, gnawing away bit by bit until there was nothing left of her for her Dad to hurt.

Marceline's head fell into her hands and she didn't look up until she felt the couch sink down next to her. She _hated_ her Dad's visits; usually she cleared out of the house until he'd gone. She couldn't deal with him full time. He'd probably throw out all of her musical instruments when she was at school one day and force her to wear shirts and ties every day. No thanks.

"Marcy…" Simon sounded uncertain, like he didn't understand what had just happened. Neither did she, if she was being honest. "I'm not saying you should go with him. But he is your Dad – you could maybe stay there for a week or so and see if you like it and -"

"No way in _hell._ " Marceline folded her arms across her chest. She couldn't believe he was saying this. "Is it because you want us gone? Is that why you're siding with him?"

Simon's eyes widened and he shook his head so much that Marceline was worried he'd give himself whiplash. "Of course not. You know I love having you two around." He paused then, sighing like he knew she wouldn't like what he was going to say, "I know you two don't get along, and I know you have conflicting views but he's really trying this time. I think you should give him a chance."

"I don't want to." Marceline murmured, "He doesn't love me, so what's the point?"

She felt Simon pull her in for a hug and rub comforting circles on her back, "He does. He just does things sometimes that don't work out well because he hasn't been around you enough to know what's best for you."

Marceline shook her head, "I don't want to talk about it. I'm not going."

As she pulled away from him, he sent her a gentle smile, "I'm not going to make you go. You can maybe spend a weekend there every so often. Would that be better?"

Marceline considered this for a moment. On the list of things she hated, spending time with her Dad was pretty high up there. "Maybe."

Simon craned his neck to look out of the living room door, "He's still upstairs if you want to get out of the house."

"Did you just offer me the chance to escape?" Marceline felt herself cheering up at the idea. She might go round to Bonnie's and see if she was there. That'd make her feel better.

He smiled knowingly. "Maybe. Be home by seven, though. That's when we're having dinner."

She gave him another hug before jumping up, "Thanks, Simon. Bye."

* * *

Marceline knocked on the front door of Bonnie's house, fiddling with the guitar pick she carried in her pocket for good luck. She didn't look up until she saw the door swing open, smiling when she came face to face with Peter. "Hi. Is Bonnie here?"

"She's upstairs," He stepped aside to let her pass him, "She's just doing her homework."

 _Of course she is_ , Marceline thought to herself. When was Bonnie ever doing anything else? "As per usual, then."

He laughed as she kicked her shoes off. "Does she know you're coming over?"

Because _no, my probably could be classed as evil Dad showed up unexpectedly and now I need emotional support_ wasn't a good answer, Marceline shrugged and said, "Nah, I thought I'd surprise her."

He smiled, "Well, I'm sure she'll be happy to see you."

Marceline made her way up the stairs to Bonnibel's room, knocking on the door before pushing it open. Bonnie closed her notebook and sat up as Marceline walked into the room, closing the door behind her with her foot. "Hey."

Bonnie frowned, "Hey. What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering, Marceline flopped down on her bed and shrugged, "I texted you."

Bonnie quickly shuffled forwards and grabbed her schoolbag, pulling her phone from the front pocket. She squinted at the screen and her eyes widened as she read over the texts, pulling her girlfriend in for a hug, "Are you okay?"

"I've been better," Marceline said as Bonnie tightly squeezed her around the midriff, "but I've been worse. I don't really know what to think."

"What did he say to you?" Bonnie pulled back but kept her arms around Marceline in case she needed to pull her in for another hug.

"He wants me and my brother to move back in with him." Marceline replied, "And I don't want to go."

"But Marshall does." Bonnie finished for her. She'd assumed from Marceline's tone that something else was bugging her, "How do you feel about that?"

"Honestly, I don't know." Marceline shuffled so that Bonnie was holding her, her fingers carefully weaving through her hair. "I just don't get why he wants to go. My Dad has screwed him over almost as much as he has me."

Bonnie gave Marceline a gentle squeeze, "Did you tell your Dad you don't want to?"

"Yeah. He asked Simon to _talk some sense into me_." Marceline scoffed. She _hated_ that her Dad didn't care about her and she hated that she cared too much about how he didn't. She just wished her Mom was still here. "Simon told me I don't have to go."

Slowly, Bonnie let go of Marceline and leaned forward, reopening her school notebook and finishing up the paragraph she'd just been writing. "I have to get this done for tomorrow. It should only take me five minutes, and after that I'm all yours, okay?"

Marceline nodded, "Okay. Can I play on your Dad's guitar to occupy myself?"

Bonnibel nodded, "Sure. You know where it is."

Marceline shuffled from Bonnie's bed, leaning over and kissing her girlfriend on the cheek, before she slipped out of the room and walked across the hall to Peter's office. She knocked on the door before walking in, but the room was empty, so she picked up the guitar and walked back into Bonnie's room.

She got herself comfortable on the bed – naturally she sat next to Bonnie – and rested the guitar against her stomach, plucking at the open strings to check the tuning. "I can't believe how out of tune this is."

Bonnie didn't look round, but she laughed, "Mentally I'm picturing you cringing."

"You're not far off," Marceline responded, twiddling the little silver knobs at the top of the guitar to get it back into tune. One of her biggest pet peeves was an out of tune instrument.

Somewhere in the middle of her tuning the guitar, Bonnibel dropped her pen on her notebook and closed it, stuffing it back in her pink school bag. "I've finished my work."

Marceline plucked the A string, satisfied that she'd tuned it correctly, before setting the guitar down against Bonnie's bed and sending her girlfriend a smile. "Good. Work your magic and cheer me up."

Bonnie smiled, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Marceline's lips. "Did that work?"

Marceline pouted; Bonnibel assumed it didn't. "Do something interesting."

Bonnie pursed her lips in thought, shuffling closer to Marceline. Marceline's arm went around her shoulders and she drummed her fingers on her lap. She came up short, "Well, your idea of interesting is different to mine. I could do a science experiment but I doubt that would cheer you up."

"More like bore me to death." Marceline muttered, just loud enough for Bonnibel to catch it and give her a gentle smack on the arm, "Hey! I was kidding."

Bonnie's eyes rolled skyward and she pushed her hair behind her ears, "Just give me an idea. What do you want to do?"

"Anything." Marceline said. Before Bonnibel could tell her how unhelpful that was, Marceline's hand moved up to the gash on the side of Bonnie's head and her fingers gently grazed across it, "Does it still hurt?"

"Not unless you press really hard." Bonnie replied. She touched the side of her head and shrugged, "I'm more concerned about the fact that there's someone in school that isn't my friend who knows that I'm gay."

"You don't know that. They could've just been using a homophobic slur without knowing anything." Marceline knew that was a long shot, but she was trying to make Bonnie forget about it. Nothing else had happened since then, so it had to have been a one-time thing. Right?

It was pretty obvious that Bonnibel didn't believe her. "Why would they? The only instance I can think of for that is if I looked like the stereotypical 'butch' lesbian. But I don't." Bonnie smoothed out her pink dress for emphasis, "Someone knows, Marceline. For all I know, they know that we're together too."

Marceline wanted to say _so what if they know, I don't care what they think_ , but she just bit on her lip and nodded, "Yeah. I guess so. We'll be okay, though. People are too scared of me so they won't say anything to you."

Bonnie shrugged, letting her hair cover the cut up. That was if people didn't figure out that under the tough exterior, Marceline was a marshmallow. "We'd better hope people don't find out you're secretly a teddy bear, then."

Marceline just shrugged, leaning up and kissing Bonnie. Bonnibel closed her eyes for a moment and tried to get rid of her little anxieties – Marceline was the one that needed cheering up.

When they pulled apart, Bonnie sighed in content. She'd never get tired of kissing Marceline. Nope. Not going to happen.

"What are you thinking about?"

Marceline's voice cut her out of her little dream world. Bonnie blinked in surprise, her hand moving to link with her girlfriend's. Rather than being incredibly lovesick and telling Marceline she'd been thinking about her, she shrugged and nodded to her laptop which was open on her desk. "Just thinking about how I'm going to introduce you to Orphan Black."

Bonnibel slid off of her bed and picked up her laptop, disconnecting it from her charger. She placed it in front of them and opened up her browser.

Marceline watched her with a frown, "Orphan Black?"

"It's a television show about clones." Bonnie said. That was all she was giving away; she didn't want to let slip any accidental spoilers. Ignoring any further questions from Marceline, she slid off the bed. "I'm going to get some popcorn. I'll be right back."

And as Marceline watched her slip out of her half-open bedroom door, she realised how lucky she was to have a girlfriend like Bonnie.

She just wished she could tell everyone.


	53. fifty-three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie go on an after school outing.

**Wednesday 22** **nd** **October 2014**

In the past, Bonnie had never been a Halloween person. She'd never done anything with Bea, so once she'd grown too old for trick or treating, Halloween became a bore. It never really meant anything to her - dressing up? Not her thing. Scary movies? No _way_ could she sit through one of those. The free candy was pretty great, though.

With Marceline, it was a different story.

Bonnie had Halloween plans for the first time since she was about ten – omitting a few Halloweens after that when she'd had a few responsibilities - as Marceline had invited her over on Halloween as she was having a sort-of party for her birthday. So, Bonnie needed a costume. Which is why the second the final bell rang at school, Bonnibel ran out to the parking lot and met Marceline by her car, demanding – very kindly with lots of pleas (so it was basically begging) – that Marceline take her into town so she could do a bit of looking.

And that's where they were now.

She flicked through the rail of Halloween costumes, trying to find something to go with her planned outfit. She wasn't expecting there to be much choice, especially with what she decided to go as.

(Maybe she should just dress up as a witch. It'd be easier.)

Marceline half watched Bonnie and half bit at her fingernails with a raised eyebrow, making her look slightly interested in what Bonnie was doing, "What are you looking for, exactly?"

Bonnibel glanced up at Marceline – swatting her girlfriend's hand from her mouth – before her gaze returned to the rail. "I'm going as a mad scientist, so I need something other than my old lab coat to wear. What are you going as?"

"I don't know. I might just do what I did last year and put some fake fangs in and mess around with fake blood so I can claim I'm a vampire." Marceline rolled her shoulders back in a shrug. She didn't usually dress up for Halloween unless she was going to a party. Last year she'd gone to one at Guy's house, but the year before all she'd done was hung out with her bandmates and watched horror movies while they were drunk. She thought they were funnier that way.

"Thought you already _were_ a vampire," Bonnie teased, nudging Marceline in the side with her elbow. Her gaze shifted to the shelf that was full of different wigs. Maybe she'd get one to make it look like an experiment had gone wrong.

Marceline laughed, "Very funny, Bonnie. I think Keila's doing the same thing."

"You're both so boring." Bonnie commented as she picked up a short white wig. She turned it over in her hands – this might work if she messed it up and maybe put a little bit of fake blood on the ends. She checked the price tag and smiled, "I'm getting this."

Marceline only spared the wig in her hands a passing glance. "I'm thinking about dyeing my hair green again."

As Bonnie stood in front of the self-service checkout, she frowned, "Again? I don't recall you having green hair before."

"I dip-dyed it green last Halloween. I might do that again." As an afterthought, she added, "It faded by the end of November, though."

"I need to re-dye my hair, actually." Bonnie absently responded as she scanned the tag on wig and put in a bag. She put her money in the slot and turned back to Marceline while she waited for her change and receipt. "My roots are starting to show. It's annoying."

Marceline raised an eyebrow and her gaze not-so-subtly flicked up to Bonnie's hair. She could see a little bit of blonde coming through, but it wasn't too obvious. "You look fine." After short pause, she added, "I could dye it for you."

Bonnibel smiled, taking her change and receipt from the checkout and picking her plastic bag up, resting it on her wrist by the handle. "That'd be nice. We can dye our hair together. That'd be cute."

Marceline rolled her eyes, although the idea _did_ appeal to her. "Whatever you say, Bonnie." She checked her phone for the time and gestured to her right, "I have to go to the music store before we go. I need some new strings for my mandolin."

"Okay. Is Keila working?" Bonnie asked. Out of habit, she began swinging the plastic bag around on her wrist. Probably not the best idea, but at least there wasn't something valuable in there.

Marceline shrugged. She didn't talk to Keila about her shifts at work. Usually they just bickered over which bands were better and which musicians were hotter. "I don't know. Maybe."

"As long as that Braco guy isn't there, I'll come in with you." Bonnibel said, "Although I don't think he'll hit on me after what happened at the arcade a few months ago."

Marceline's hand linked with Bonnie's free one. "What happened? I don't think you told me about this."

"LSP set me up with him. She thought it'd _fix_ me or something." Bonnibel shrugged. Bonnie didn't blame her, but at least she wasn't _as_ weird about it now. She knew that the reason she wasn't invited to sleepovers when LSP was present was because she was still a little creeped. She tried not to care.

Marceline barked out a laugh. "That's ridiculous."

"I know it is." Bonnibel responded, "Which is why I don't want to see him. I feel like even though he knows I like girls he'll hit on me."

Marceline shook her head. "Don't worry about that. He won't if I'm around."

"Why?" Bonnibel blinked in realisation, "Does he hit on _you_?"

Marceline frowned. That sounded almost derogatory. "Why would that be so surprising?" Bonnibel opened her mouth to make amends, but Marceline shrugged her off, "He _did_. Once. I told him I'd strangle him with an amp cable if he didn't fuck off."

Bonnibel laughed. Hard. "Oh my god. That might be a _little_ extreme, don't you think?"

"I don't have time for fuckboys." Marceline easily responded, "It's better to get them away quickly."

Bonnie held her gaze for a moment, before shrugging. "I guess so. It's not like their flirting would have any sort of effect, anyways. Girls are all that float my boat."

"Good thing I'm one of those then, huh?"

Bonnie boosted herself up on her tiptoes to kiss Marceline's cheek. "It's a _very_ good thing."

Marceline hoped Bonnie wouldn't mention the pink glow to her cheeks as she walked into the music store and saw Keila behind the counter tuning a Fender Telecaster. She'd be teased endlessly. Keila seemed to find amusement in her embarrassment. It was traumatising, and she knew Bonnie would get a kick out of it too.

Bonnie was the one to get Keila's attention. "Hi, Keila!"

Keila looked up from the guitar, her face splitting into a huge grin. "Hey guys. I didn't know you were coming. I'm actually closing in like ten minutes."

"I just need some mandolin strings." Marceline explained. She didn't really need to; Keila had already placed them on the counter.

"I know you do. I was with you when you snapped one." Keila rolled her eyes as she took Marceline's ten dollars and stuffed it into the cash register. She gave Marceline two dollars back – she always let her use her staff discount. It'd probably saved her a lot of money over the years.

"Whatever." Marceline dropped the strings into Bonnie's plastic bag – she'd held it open for her. "Do you want us to wait until you close? I can help you tune stuff and I'll give you a ride home."

Keila beamed, "You're the best." Her gaze flicked to Bonnibel, "I'm just going to assume you don't know much about music, right?"

Bonnie laughed, "You're absolutely right. Shall I just sit behind the counter while you two sort everything out?"

Keila slipped out from behind the counter, taking the guitar with her. "Go for it." Then she jabbed a finger into Marceline's shoulder, "I can't tune violins. The one on the end over there needs tuning."

"How out is it?" Marceline plucked the violin from where it was hanging on the wall, bringing the bow with it. She seated herself on the piano bench and played a few notes, figuring it out for herself. Keila didn't need to respond. "That's not too bad."

She tested all the strings, cringing when she brought the bow across the G string. Keila was quick to explain. "Yeah, that one has been a regular offender. Can you sort it?"

"I can try." Marceline said, "But I might need to change the string if it keeps going out."

"Yeah, that's what I figured." Keila began making sure all the guitars were in their proper place, sorting out the amp that someone had used earlier to try one of the basses.

Bonnibel picked at her fingernails, trying to pass the time quicker. After a few minutes of peeling off her pink nail varnish, she looked up at Marceline, realising she'd never heard Marceline play violin before. And it didn't take her long to realise that Marceline was _really_ good.

It hadn't taken Marceline too long to get the string back into tune, and she was just playing simple melodies, seemingly without thinking about it. It seemed spontaneous; it was half classical, but there was this other ambiance underneath it that Bonnie couldn't put her finger on. The only thing to describe it was that it was ineffable.

Bonnie hadn't even realised that Marceline had stopped playing until she spoke, "What are you staring at?"

Bonnibel sat up, blinking. "Nothing. You're really good at that."

Marceline flashed her a toothy smile as Keila rolled her eyes, "Thanks."

Bonnibel watched as Marceline put the violin back in its proper place, her fingers unconsciously playing with a red guitar pick that Keila had left on the counter. "Do you want me to tidy the counter for you?"

Keila didn't look up from the guitar cable she was tidying up, "Yeah, go for it."

Bonnie nodded and picked up the _multiple_ guitar picks that were littered about the counter. She didn't really know why Keila needed more than one out, but didn't question it. She just put them in the little box that all the guitar picks were left in and straightened out a few leaflets advertising local gigs. Then she collapsed back into the chair, having to hold back the small squeal when she landed on Marceline's lap. "Trying to give me a lap dance, huh?"

"You could've _said_ that you were sat there." Bonnie was aware that her cheeks had turned a bright red. She tried to ignore Keila's laughter. "You're insufferable."

Marceline noted how Bonnie didn't move from her lap, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's waist. "Clearly not, since you haven't dumped me yet."

Bonnibel shrugged, twisting her head back to kiss Marceline, "You're a good kisser."

"That's your reason for keeping me around?" Marceline quirked an eyebrow up, "Glad to know it's not my dashing good looks and amazing personality."

Keila feigned a vomiting noise, "Shut up. God, go have eye sex somewhere else. Jeez."

Almost in perfect synchronisation, Marceline and Bonnie rolled their eyes, although Marceline's was accompanied by a scoff. "You shut up."

Regardless of Keila's comment, Bonnie slid off Marceline's lap and sat on the second chair, watching as Keila locked the door to the store and switched the sign from 'open' to 'closed'. "Are we heading off now?"

Keila nodded, pointing to a door to Marceline's right, "We have to go through the back door in the break room to get out, though. And I have to set the alarms and stuff."

"Bonnie and I will leave now and meet you outside," Marceline announced, standing up, "because I know I'll somehow fuck up and set the alarm off when leaving, so…"

Bonnibel followed Marceline into the break room and out of the back door, into a strange alley that she hadn't even known existed. At least not until now. "How come you offered Keila a ride?"

Marceline just shrugged, "I know that she walks here and we're hanging out at her parents' house tonight anyways so I figured it'd be easier. We can drop you off at home and then go to hers."

"Why are you going to her parents'?" Bonnie asked.

"She has family over and has to see them, and she hates family time because – aside from her parents – they all either ignore her or criticise her. I'm her buffer, I guess." Marceline responded.

It was the same routine every time Keila's family visited; Marceline would go over, act as Keila's safety net and excuse to hide out upstairs. She didn't mind it – she liked spending time with her best friend.

Keila slipped out of the back door before Bonnie could respond, locking it up. Then she turned to Marceline expectantly, "Are we going then?"

* * *

Marceline strummed a few chords on the acoustic guitar Keila kept at her parents' house, in no particular order. She wasn't really thinking about music at the moment; she was more concerned about Keila who – although usually perky – was sat on her old bed sulking, trying to ignore the loud voices from downstairs.

After a moment of staring, she finally spoke up, "Are you okay?"

Alright, so that was probably a stupid question. It was pretty obvious she wasn't okay. Marceline didn't think she was that great at comforting people.

(Although if you asked Bonnibel she'd probably tell you different.)

"Not at all," Keila sighed. She glanced up from her computer screen and shrugged, "You don't need to worry about me though. I'll be okay once they leave."

Marceline knew what had brought this bad mood on. The second they'd walked into the house, Keila's extended family – Marceline had assumed it was her aunt – had made some comment about Keila's pansexuality. Something about how she was only saying that to keep her options open because _dressing like a thug_ wouldn't get her any guys. Marceline could relate, even though she'd assured her Dad that she was straight to get him off her back.

Marceline moved from Keila's old desk chair to the bed, nudging her with her shoulder in a way she hoped was comforting. "Want to play Guitar Hero? That always cheers you up."

Keila shook her head, "The Wii is downstairs. I don't want to go there."

"We could go for a walk?" Again, another idiotic suggestion. Great.

"No." Keila fell sideways so her head was rested on Marceline's shoulder, "I don't want to do that. All we'd end up doing is talking about our feelings so my family would annoy me there, too."

"Do you want to write some music?" Marceline asked, "And be obnoxiously loud so they end up clearing out early?"

That got a smile out of Keila. "I would but my amps are all at my place. And I only have the one guitar here."

Marceline shrugged, "We could just put music on really loudly through your CD player. That could work."

The smile grew wider and Keila sat up, "I like your thinking." She shifted from the bed – ruffling up the sheets in the process – and knelt in front of the dusty CD collection in front of her old music player. "All Time Low?"

"Sure." Marceline shifted so she was sitting cross-legged, watching as Keila put the CD in the player and pressed play, cranking the volume up to maximum.

Keila flopped back onto the bed as the first note of _The Reckless and the Brave_ rang out. "What do you want to do now?"

"Anything." Marceline responded, mentally adding _anything that'll cheer you up_.

Keila smirked and alarm bells went off in Marceline's head. That was what she did when there was an onslaught of teasing about to happen. Hell no. "How about we talk about you and Bonnibel?"

"Me and Bonnie are fine." Marceline easily responded, "Nothing interesting to talk about there."

Keila just shrugged, and the smirk dissolved into a real smile. Marceline supposed this sudden mood change was because of how the music was drowning out her family's voices. "I'm just glad you're happy, okay? Now give me the details. You've avoided that since you guys started dating."

"What sort of details?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, "We hang out. That's it."

Keila smiled like _hanging out_ meant something different because Marceline and Bonnie were dating. Which it didn't, really. All that had changed was that they held hands in public now. And made out. A lot. "Yeah, okay."

"Seriously," Marceline reinforced, "She sits and does her homework and I play music and sometimes she'll take a break and we'll make out or whatever. That's it."

Keila rolled her eyes, "Whatever. You guys are cute, anyway."

"You've already told me that." Marceline pointed out. In the hopes of changing the subject, she added, "You're still coming over for my birthday, right?"

"Of course," Keila said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Is Bonnibel coming too?"

"Yeah." Marceline bobbed her head in confirmation, "Her friends are too." At Keila's look of shock, she adjoined, "Only some of them though. Not the ones that…you know."

Keila chewed on the inside of her cheek in thought, "That might be awkward."

"It's okay. I think I'm kind of…" She wasn't brave enough to call them friends yet, "okay with them all now. We get along, so…it should be fine."

Keila held her stare for a moment before finally shrugging, "Well, as long as you're certain it'll be okay." She paused for a moment before finishing, "So you sit with all of them at school and stuff?"

"Only when Bonnie's there." Marceline picked at her fingernails as an excuse not to meet Keila's gaze, "I don't know, man. They kind of freak me out. I doubt I would be able to hang out with them alone."

Keila didn't ask why. She knew that making friends was hard for Marceline. "I'll be there with you. So will Bonnibel."

"I know." Marceline quickly responded, "Besides, we'll both be pretty drunk. I'm more sociable when I'm drunk."

Keila laughed, "You're funny when you're drunk."

Marceline gasped and clapped a hand against her breastbone in feigned offence, "Am I not usually funny?"

Keila socked her in the arm, "Shut up. You know what I meant."

Marceline scowled and rubbed her arm, but her amused smile broke through no matter how hard she tried to hide it. And once her arm stopped stinging, she wondered how making her best friend happy cheered her up too.

(She didn't figure out the answer.)

* * *

**Saturday 25th October 2014**

"Ugh, it's dripping," Bonnie squeezed her eyes shut, "Grab a towel before this stuff goes in my eyes and blinds me!"

"I don't want to stain any towels with your bright pink hair dye," Marceline objected, "Just wipe it with your hands."

"But then I'll smear pink all over my face!" Bonnibel kept her blue eyes tightly closed, "Get me a towel! Are you saying you want your lovely girlfriend going _blind_ because you didn't want to stain a towel?"

"Ugh," Marceline scoffed and stopped rubbing the pink hair dye into Bonnie's scalp, "Fine. I'll be two seconds."

Bonnie felt Marceline's hands leave her hair and she heard her girlfriend's footsteps fading away before coming back again. Bonnie felt a small towel pressed into her hands and she frowned, dabbing it along her forehead to soak up any excess dye.

"Thank you," Bonnie opened her eyes and placed the towel on the side, glancing over at Marceline. They'd dip-dyed her hair earlier and the tips were a light green colour that Marceline had referred to as 'spooky'. Bonnie just thought it was cute.

They'd taken a small TV break between dying Marceline's hair and starting on Bonnie's, wherein they'd completely ignored the TV and kissed until Marshall had burst in, claiming he'd forgotten his amp cable in the move to his Dad's and needed to pick it up.

Bonnie had announced that Marshall's interruption was a sign that they should probably start on dyeing Bonnie's hair rather than relaxing on the couch and making out. Obviously Marceline had complained, but jumped up anyway to help Bonnie. She'd even provided an old t-shirt for Bonnie to wear so she didn't get dye on her purple dress. Naturally, she wasn't willing to lend Bonnie any jeans, which she could understand – Bonnie wouldn't fit in any of Marceline's jeans, anyway - and Marceline herself was wearing some old pyjamas.

"You're welcome," Marceline smiled at her, putting her gloves back on, "Do you think you need it rubbing in a bit more?"

"Um," Bonnie glanced over at herself in the mirror, "Just a little bit. Then you can help me wash it off under the showerhead."

Marceline smirked at her, "Showering together, huh? That's a little bit saucy for you, Bon."

"Oh, shut up," Bonnibel rolled her eyes, "You know what I meant. Besides, it's not like you haven't seen me in the nude before."

"You were in a bath, concealed by a bunch of bubbles." Marceline pointed out. "I don't think that counts. Do we count the time you walked in on me changing?"

"I think so," Bonnie said, "You didn't seem to care that you were topless and just continued talking about how much you _weren't_ planning on doing our literature essay while I stood in the corner blushing bright red. I was probably the most embarrassed one in that situation."

Marceline just shrugged, "Well, it's not like you've never seen a pair of boobs before, is it?"

"I'll have you know, I haven't," Bonnie folded her arms across her chest, "This is my first relationship, remember?"

"No, Bonnie, that's not -" Marceline laughed, shaking her head as she continued rubbing the hair dye through Bonnie's hair, "I meant like, you have them so you've – like, we both…" she gave up explaining when Bonnie tilted her head to the side in confusion, "You're such a nerd."

" _Oh_ ," Bonnibel's eyes widened in realisation, "I get it now. Sorry, yes, of course. I'm a little slow today, aren't I?"

"A little slow? Very slow," Marceline shook her head, moving her hands from Bonnie's hair and smiled, "Let's play would you rather while this sets in. Yeah?"

Bonnie nodded, "Sure. Can I go first?"

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Alright. Let's see what you've got in store for me, Butler."

"Okay, well," Bonnie hummed in thought, "Would you rather dye your hair pink or shave all of it off?"

Marceline burst out laughing, "Both of those mental images are absolutely hilarious. Honestly? No offence to you or anything, but I'd rather be bald than have pink hair."

Bonnie allowed herself a little scoff of feigned irritation, " _Thanks_. Good to know you like my hair."

"I never said I didn't. But on _me_?" Marceline sent her an incredulous look. "No thanks."

Bonnie just shrugged, "You might look good with it. Maybe if I loaned you one of my pink frilly dresses."

"Okay, _moving on_ ," Marceline cringed at the mental image, "Would you rather date a normal, attractive boy or date me? _But_ -" Marceline continued as Bonnie rolled her eyes and went to answer with the obvious, "I would be a giant tentacle monster."

"I would rather date tentacle monster Marcy than date a boy," Bonnie easily replied, apparently not even having to think about it, "You'd still be you. I don't care if you're giant and have tentacles."

Marceline raised a challenging eyebrow. "What if a witch came along and turned me into a slug?"

"I'd still love you." Bonnie smiled, squeezing her girlfriend's hand, "I'd carry little slug Marcy in my pocket."

Marceline beamed, "Aw, you're sweet."

"I know," Bonnie leaned up and pushed a kiss to Marceline's cheek. "Would you rather…never be able to play music again or only be able to eat roadkill for the rest of your life?"

"I'll take the roadkill." Marceline instantly replied. "Would you rather lose all of your IQ points or live out your life as a fruit fly?"

"Why a fruit fly specifically?" Bonnie asked before answering, "But that's a tough one. Because both of them would imply me not having an IQ, because flies don't -"

"No, you'd still be you. Just as a fly," Marceline corrected her, "Pick one, loser."

Bonnibel huffed, " _Fine_. I'd lose my IQ. I don't want to be a fly."

"Interesting. I honestly thought you'd go for the fly thing," Marceline told her, "since you care about academics and intelligence and stuff."

"Yes, but being a human is ten times better than being a fly. Flies have a life span of like, two weeks." Bonnie pointed out, "Would you rather be completely gay or completely straight?"

Marceline's teeth grazed her bottom lip as she thought, "Well, I'd have to be gay if I wanted to still be with you, but straight people never experience homophobia. Yeah, gay. I could deal with the homophobia with you. I mean, it wouldn't be much different than things now, aside from me constantly having to tell people that I'm _not_ a lesbian."

"It really sucks that you have to do that. I wish bi erasure wasn't a thing." Bonnie squeezed her hand. "It's your turn to ask me a question."

"Would you rather have hiccups for the rest of your life or fart rainbows?" Marceline asked her, automatically getting a laugh from Bonnie. "What? That's not that funny."

"It's hard!" Bonnie shot back, "I don't want eternal hiccups but I don't want everyone to know I farted."

"I'd go with the rainbows thing." Marceline admitted, "You'd never have to come out to anyone if you did."

Bonnie snorted with laughter, "That's ridiculous. Yeah, alright. I'd rather fart rainbows. Would you rather put a toothpick under the toenail on your big toe and kick a wall or have to stub your little toe on every single thing you walked past?"

"Oh my god. Neither," Marceline crossed her arms, "Both of those sound horrible."

"You have to pick one." Bonnie poked her in the side, "It's the rules."

Marceline huffed, "Fine. Probably the big toenail and toothpick thing, because that's only a one-time thing. Less painful."

"Yeah, I'd pick that one too," Bonnie nodded, glancing in the mirror, "Can I wash the dye off now? After that we can marathon some movies. How about some musicals?"

"Not a fan of musicals, to be honest," Marceline admitted, "We could watch the Scream series though. I know they're horrors, but they're not too bad."

"No _way_ ," Bonnie shook her head, "I'd get nightmares. How about…the Back to the Future series? Those are always fun to watch."

Marceline nodded, crossing over to the bathtub to switch the showerhead on. "Sounds like a plan. I'll make the popcorn and grab the sodas while you wash your hair?"

Bonnie nodded, boosting herself up on her tiptoes to kiss Marceline. "Awesome. I'll see you downstairs?"

"Yep. See you downstairs, dork," Marceline slipped out the door, mock saluting her before she disappeared around the frame.

Bonnibel just smiled to herself as she started washing her hair.


	54. fifty-four.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> halloween parties can be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning - eating disorder (mention)

**Friday 31** **st** **October 2014**

"You're _sure_ this won't be awkward?" Keila asked for the umpteenth time as she put her black Playstation controller down and picked up her can of beer.

Honestly, Marceline had no idea if it would be awkward or if everything would run smoothly. She'd kind of stopped caring. Bonnie would make sure that everything went well. Besides, if Marceline's plan went accordingly, she and Keila would spend Halloween as they always did – drinking and watching scary movies – while Bonnie and her friends did whatever nerdy things they did in their free time.

(Marceline still didn't really get why Bonnibel's friends wanted to come, if she was being truthful.)

After a while, Marceline sipped her beer – drinking at 4PM was a new record for her – and shrugged, "Fairly certain. They all seemed happy enough to come so I think it'll be okay."

Keila stared at her for a moment, an eyebrow raised and the usual smile absent. She looked doubtful, like she didn't believe Marceline _at all_.

(A few months ago Marceline probably wouldn't have believed it either.)

"I'm not going to question you. If you think it'll be fine, we'll see how things go." Keila pressed play on the game again and Marceline hurriedly put her beer can back down on the cheery yellow coaster on the coffee table, picking up her controller and moving her character along the screen. "Do you want me to be nice to them?"

Marceline scoffed. Like that was even an _option_. "You're nice to everyone." The doubtful expression returned, so Marceline pressed on, pausing the game again, "You _are_. You were nice to Bonnie when you first met her, and I know for a fact you'll be nice to everyone else. _I'm_ the bitchy one, remember?"

Keila looked away from the television screen and in Marceline's direction, "I was nice to Bonnibel because I knew that you had a massive crush on her. Half of the people that are going to be here were horrible to you a few years ago. How have you just _forgotten_ that?"

Marceline knew this side of Keila well. The protective best friend came out whenever Marceline so much as mentioned Bonnie's friends, and she really didn't like it. Marceline could take care of herself, and although it was nice to know that Keila cared, she wasn't a child.

Keila's walls were going to be up for the night and Marceline knew it, which meant she was going to have to be the accommodating, happy one. That happened every once in a blue moon, and it would end up happening if Marceline didn't manage to convince Keila that Bonnie's friends actually were – _shockingly –_ nice.

Marceline sighed, "I haven't forgotten it." She didn't think she ever could. "One of them apologised to me and I didn't invite the other two. You can be nice to the others."

Keila eyed her warily, "Alright," She leaned forward and grabbed her beer again, downing the can's contents, "but I'm going to have to be a little tipsy."

Marceline laughed, taking the controller from Keila's lap before she could start their game up again, and pulled her best friend in for a hug. She gave her a little squeeze for emphasis. "Thank you."

She felt Keila sigh against her, and the older girl's arms slowly wrapped around her midriff, "Don't worry about it." Keila pulled back and sent her a full blown grin – _this_ was more like her. "You know I'd do anything for you."

"Thanks," Marceline repeated herself. She felt a little better knowing that her usually extroverted best friend planned on being her chatty, welcoming self. "They're coming round soon. I told them four, so they should be here in a few. Knowing Bonnie, they should only be a few minutes."

"From that I'm going to guess that Bonnibel is super prompt all the time and stuff."

Marceline nodded, widening her eyes for effect, "Oh _yeah_. She's insanely organised. It's kind of scary." After Keila's laugh and a moment of silence, Marceline added, "In a cute way, of course."

Keila opened her mouth to retort – probably some comment about how smitten Marceline was – but there was a knock on the front door and Marceline jumped up to answer it.

(She wasn't in the mood for any potentially embarrassing comments.)

Marceline slipped out of the front room and grabbed the front door keys – since she and Keila were home alone, they'd locked the door – and unlocked it. Immediately, Marceline grinned at the Bonnie-shaped outline on the outside of the door. There were others there too, but for a moment Marceline didn't care because Bonnie was smiling at her through the glass and that smile could make Marceline forget about anything.

"Hey!" Bonnie instantly enveloped Marceline in a hug, "You're eighteen."

"Really? I didn't know." Marceline rolled her eyes as she pulled back; the sarcastic comment earned her an adorable little glare from Bonnie that evaporated into a smile in nanoseconds. "Hey, dork."

Bonnibel boosted herself up onto her tiptoes and pecked Marceline on the lips, pressing a gift-wrapped box into her hands, "Happy birthday. Here's your present."

Marceline frowned at the – unsurprisingly – neatly wrapped box. "You didn't have to get me anything."

"Yes I did." Bonnibel rolled her eyes as she slipped her shoes off. Lady and Jake – who had come with her – mirrored her action. "I would be a terrible girlfriend if I hadn't. You're _eighteen_ , Marcy. That's important."

Marceline laughed, "Hardly," Nodding down at the gift, she smiled, "but thanks."

As Bonnie shrugged her coat off, Lady turned to Marceline and pulled her in for an unexpected hug. "Happy birthday, Marceline." Lady squeezed her before pulling back, "You'll be happy to hear that Jake and I got you some Twizzlers. Bubblegum told us they were your favourites."

"You _really_ didn't need to do that." Marceline responded, "I told you guys not to."

Lady waved her off like it was no big deal. Marceline didn't think she understood why this was the _biggest_ deal. "Shush. It's your birthday, you deserve presents."

Marceline gestured towards the living room. "Keila's in there. We're playing video games."

As they made their way into the living room ahead of her, Marceline finally got a good look at their costumes. Lady was dressed as a witch, donning a weird, clearly store-bought purple dress and a messed up black wig that was topped with a crooked witch's hat. Jake was a werewolf – Marceline assumed he'd just taken an old shirt and ripped it, shoving bits of store-bought fur under there. And he'd gone a little crazy with the fake blood. In Marceline's opinion, Bonnie's costume was the cutest.

(And that wasn't because she was biased.)

Bonnie's pink locks were covered by the wig she'd bought when they went to town the other week – although there was a loose strand near the back that Marceline should probably tell her about – and she was wearing some black pants that were a little short on her, along with a buttoned up lab coat that Bonnibel had dabbed bright red splotches of fake blood on. She'd torn some holes in it – purposely, Marceline assumed – and she'd used face paint to make herself appear paler.

 _Yep,_ Marceline thought, _absolutely adorable._

Marceline took her spot on the floor next to Keila and nodded up to Bonnie's friends, "Say hi."

Keila shot her a little glare, although Marceline could tell that it was only half-serious. "Fine," She looked up to Bonnibel, Lady and Jake and sent them a smile, "Hi."

Rolling her eyes, Marceline said, "This is Keila. She's my best friend."

Lady sent Keila a bright smile, "I'm Lady, and this is my boyfriend Jake. It's nice to meet you. I think I met you at the mall one time?"

"A few months back, yeah." Keila bobbed her head in confirmation. Marceline could tell that she was still a little wary, but she appreciated Keila's kindness.

Jake frowned at her, "Do you like pretending that you're scary too, or is that just Marceline?"

Keila laughed as Marceline glowered, "That's just her. She doesn't like talking to people."

"Okay," Marceline cut in. She didn't want the conversation going down that road, "Let's talk about something else, yeah? Something not about me."

Bonnibel sat down on Marceline's left, "We can talk about how you two aren't in costumes."

"Yeah," Lady backed Bonnie up, "Where's your Halloween spirit?"

Marceline and Keila exchanged a glance. Sure, they both had vampire fangs and fake blood upstairs, but they didn't plan on wearing actual _costumes_. That was too much effort for just hanging around the house watching scary movies. Plus, they weren't the dressing up type.

Eventually, Marceline held up her beer can, which was nearly empty, "Here's my Halloween spirit."

Bonnibel jabbed her elbow into Marceline's ribs. "Come on. You said you were going to be a vampire or something."

Marceline shrugged, "I'm scary enough. I don't need a costume."

Bonnie found Marceline's hand, "You're about as scary as a kitten." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind Marceline's ear, "At least go put in those fake fangs and I'll put fake blood on you."

Marceline let out a heavy sigh, "Fine."

Bonnibel stretched and stood up, pulling Marceline up by her hand, "Come on. Let's go upstairs and I'll make you look scary."

"I'm not sure that's what you want your _girlfriend_ to do." Marceline pointed out as she trailed after Bonnibel, towards the front room door, "If anyone else comes, the keys are in the door."

Jake nodded in acknowledgement and Marceline sent Keila one last smile before Bonnie's fingers clasped around her wrist and she was pulled out of the room and up the stairs.

Bonnibel opened the door to Marceline's room with her foot, noticing the two sets of fake vampire fangs and the little tube of fake blood on her dresser. She scooped up the fake blood and the fangs, setting one set aside on Marceline's bedside table. "Sit down."

Marceline sat down on her bed, Bonnie sitting next to her. "What're you planning on doing?"

Bonnie dodged the question completely, "Do you have any cotton balls? Or cotton swabs? I need something I can dip in the fake blood that won't spill everywhere."

Marceline bobbed her head in confirmation, "I have some cotton swabs in the bathroom. They're in the box under the sink."

Bonnibel stood up with the intention of going into the bathroom, but Marceline's fingers slowly wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back, "What's wrong?"

Bonnie perched on the edge of the bed and sent Marceline a reassuring smile. She couldn't read her girlfriend's expression – Marceline was staring at her with a weird, neutral look, and not even her eyes were showing emotion, which was weird for her.

"Nothing's wrong." Marceline said, "Just…" She ducked her head downwards and stared at her lap, "thanks for everything."

Bonnibel blinked in confusion, "Where's this coming from?"

Marceline rolled her shoulders back in a shrug, still not daring to look in Bonnie's direction. "I don't know, it's just…" Marceline blew air out of her nose in…was that annoyance? Bonnie couldn't tell. "This is super embarrassing but like…if it wasn't for you I feel like I wouldn't be as happy and I'd probably still be alone and stuff and I just want you to know that I appreciate you a lot even if I joke around and say stupid things. So thanks. Because if it wasn't for you not giving up on me, I doubt tonight would be happening."

Bonnie's face broke out into a grin and she leaned forward, pushing Marceline's face up by her chin to make her girlfriend meet her gaze. She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Marceline's lips. "You don't need to thank me for…being your friend, I guess. I think," Bonnibel pulled Marceline in for a hug, playing with her soft hair, "it totally sucks that you were alone at school and I hate thinking about it because I just…I remember that you've been hurt in the past and it's so - it…"

"Sucks?" Marceline finished for her, finally looking up at Bonnie voluntarily. "Thanks for not making fun of me for that confession."

"Why would I make fun of you?" Bonnie's eyebrows shot up behind the hairline of the wig she was wearing.

Marceline shrugged, "I don't know. Because I'm not good with the feelings thing, I guess?"

Bonnibel smiled, "You're fine with the feelings thing when you get to know someone. Like me, for instance. You trusted me enough to tell me about your eating disorder, and -"

" _Don't_." Marceline cut in, a little harshly. Bonnie was taken aback. "Please don't refer to it directly. It makes me uncomfortable."

Bonnie felt a little pang of guilt in her chest, "Sorry. I didn't mean to."

Bonnie couldn't help but notice how Marceline had collapsed into herself at the mention of it, hiding like a tortoise in its shell at the sight of a predator. Her gaze dropped to her feet and she brought her knees against her chest as some sort of protection from anyone nearby.

And that _terrified_ Bonnie.

"It's okay. You didn't know." Marceline murmured eventually, resting her chin on her knees. "Don't you need to go and get a cotton swab?"

"Oh, right," Bonnibel blinked in remembrance and jumped up from her spot on the bed. She awkwardly motioned towards the door, "I'll be two seconds."

Marceline picked at a loose thread on her bedsheets, "Okay."

Bonnie slid out of the room and into the bathroom, finding the cotton swabs exactly where Marceline had told her they'd be. Then she pushed the door open and sat back down on the bed, picking up the tube of fake blood.

She glanced up at Marceline, feeling someone pull on the invisible string in her chest. She felt sick. Marceline seemed fixated on the thread on her bed, and Bonnie knew she was trying to stop thinking about what she'd said.

Dryly, Bonnie let out a strangled, "I hate what it does to you."

Bonnie saw Marceline's throat jump with a gulp, and she looked up at her. "Me too."

"Can we just," Bonnibel looked down to the fake blood in her hand, "try and talk about something happy? I'm really sorry for everything."

"Don't be sorry." It was quiet – barely audible – but Bonnie caught it. "It's not your fault."

"Yeah, and it's not yours." Bonnie dropped the fake blood and held Marceline's cool, pale hand in her own, "I'm stupid for saying stuff that might affect you."

Marceline blinked at her. She knew that Bonnie wouldn't let her apologise, and she wouldn't accept it if Marceline told her she was okay. Bonnie was stubborn like that.

Marceline took a while formulating a response. She didn't want the conversation to stay on this topic – she didn't want a panic attack on her birthday. That would suck. Instead, she decided on changing the subject; it would make things easier on both of them. "Have you started watching Buffy yet?"

Bonnie's face sunk into a frown, but Marceline knew she'd catch on. Bonnie knew her almost as well as she knew herself. "Not really, no. I think I watched two or three episodes of season one."

Marceline let out a scoff. It wasn't as effective as usual, but it worked. "Hurry up. Then you'll be able to understand all my references."

Bonnibel sighed. She was so angry at herself for upsetting Marceline on her birthday. God, she was an idiot. "Watch it with me? We can have a binge-watching session next time we have a sleepover."

"Okay." Marceline nodded as Bonnie dipped a cotton swab into the tube of fake blood, "Sounds like a plan. I'll bring my DVDs."

"You have all the seasons on DVD?" Bonnie sent her an incredulous look as she started dabbing little droplets of fake blood around the corner of Marceline's mouth to make her look as though she'd just been drinking blood. "Didn't that cost a lot of money?"

"Not really," Marceline was hesitant to reply in case she ruined what Bonnie was trying to do, "because it's a 90's and early 2000's show it didn't cost as much."

"That's pretty cool," Bonnie commented, "We can watch it on my laptop and snuggle."

Marceline smiled. That sounded like fun. "Yeah, alright."

* * *

"You know what? I'm going to call you Marceline the Vampire Queen." Bonnie said as she sat down next to Marceline on the couch with her third can of coke. She poked at the – now dry – fake blood and smiled, "You're a cute vampire."

Marceline beamed at her, leaning in and kissing her on the neck. Bonnie was fairly certain that if Marceline was sober, she would've been yelling about how she wasn't cute and arguing with her. "Thanks. You're a pretty scientist."

Bonnie grinned, "Good thing that one can be applied to everyday life, isn't it?"

Marceline shifted so her head was on Bonnie's lap, her legs spread across the sofa. "You're cute more than you're pretty though. Which is weird because you're super pretty."

Bonnie laughed. Marceline had been giving her vaguely coherent compliments all night – she'd come back over to her after hanging out with a drunken Keila and give her a strange compliment that would make Bonnie smile or call her adorable. Probably both.

Bonnie weaved her hands through Marceline's soft hair, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well…you're all short and cute. You're like a little gnome." Marceline rolled over so she was facing the ceiling and traced patterns on Bonnie's thigh through the too-small black pants she'd borrowed from her Mom, "You're my little gnome. Science gnome."

Bonnibel smiled as Marceline sat herself up, "I'm not sure whether I should take that as an insult or a compliment."

Marceline looked so offended that Bonnie wanted to laugh even harder than she already had been, "Compliment. You're a tiny cutie pie."

"I'm not _that_ small." Bonnie laughed, "I'm 5'3 and pudgy. Unless you meant height wise, I'm not tiny."

Marceline let out an adorable little giggle that made Bonnie momentarily forget her basic bodily functions and just sit there and stare at her because _god, was her drunk girlfriend adorable_. "Pudgy is a funny word."

"You're so…" Bonnie bit on her lip and kissed Marceline on the forehead, "It is a funny word, isn't it?" She poked herself in the side, "See? Pudgy."

Marceline cuddled up to her, "Pudgy gnome."

"How long are we going to stick with the gnome thing?" Bonnie asked. Marceline had called her an elf for about fifteen minutes and referred to her as Princess Peach for another ten, so Bonnie guessed that this would last for something similar to that.

"Forever." Marceline murmured into Bonnie's neck, "You're my science gnome."

Bonnie still didn't think that the nickname would last for more than half an hour; Marceline had assured she'd keep calling her an elf until the end of time, and that had died out pretty quickly.

"Alright then," Bonnie smiled, "I'm your science gnome. Do you want to go back and see Keila?"

Marceline glanced over to Keila, who was laid out on the other sofa, half asleep. Bonnie was pretty sure she'd called her Mom and told her to pick her up at eleven; everyone else had gone home at ten. Although, it was almost midnight. Bonnie supposed they'd probably need a stretcher to get Keila into the car, if anyone showed up.

"No. I'm happy here." Marceline looked back to her and that fuzzy, drunken smile came back. "You're a pretty gnome."

Bonnie laughed, "You've told me that already, Marcy. I appreciate the compliments, though."

"When I look at you," Marceline grabbed Bonnie's arm and draped it over herself, "I feel all fuzzy. Like I can't think. And I like it a lot."

Bonnie pushed her lips against Marceline's cheek and brushed her hair from her face, "I know. I get that too." Bonnie let out a happy sigh and continued, "It's great, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Marceline nodded into her neck and began playing with Bonnie's pink hair, "You're great. You're my ghoulfriend."

Bonnie shrugged, "Horrible puns aside - you're greater." At Marceline's doubtful snort, Bonnie persisted, "You _are_. And you're all mine."

"Well, not _all_ yours." Marceline said, and for a moment Bonnie thought the worst and her heart jumped to her throat and she felt like she was going to be sick, "Other people get some pieces too. Like Simon and Betty. They can have…an arm. And Keila can have a leg. My brother might get a toenail. You get the most, though."

Bonnibel felt a cool sense of relief wash over her like a tidal wave. "What parts do I get?"

"Um…the remaining arm and leg and toenails," Marceline bit on her lip in thought, "and everything else."

Out of curiosity, Bonnie asked, "What does your Dad get?"

Marceline made a noise that was half a snort and half a scoff, "An eyelash."

Bonnie let out a short laugh, "You're so sweet when you're drunk. Sober Marcy just tries to be all cool and punk rock all the time. This is nice."

"I _am_ punk rock." Marceline insisted while pouting, which was probably the _least_ punk rock thing she could've done. "And you're…you're probably Taylor Swift pop."

Bonnie guessed that would be the new nickname for the next fifteen minutes. "You'll be happy to know that I really like Taylor Swift, so that's pretty accurate."

"Her latest album is like my favourite thing in the world right now," Marceline replied, "What's your favourite song?"

"I'll only tell you if you promise not to laugh," Okay, so asking a drunk person not to laugh was probably pretty stupid, but Bonnie didn't care, "Wildest Dreams is my favourite. Maybe You Are In Love, too."

Marceline frowned at her, tilting her head to the side like a confused puppy, "Why is that funny?"

"Because I'm probably the gayest person alive and I like singing along to a song that's about a guy who is _so tall and handsome as hell_. I usually change the pronouns when I sing it." Bonnibel rolled her eyes. It really wasn't all that funny, but drunk people laughed at anything. "What about you? What's your favourite?"

Marceline hummed in thought, "I Know Places."

"That one is pretty cool," Bonnie commented, running a hand through Marceline's hair. "What's your favourite song of hers in general? Mine's Sweeter than Fiction. Or Back to December."

"Crazier or Stay Stay Stay," Marceline yawned and Bonnie smiled that soft smile that usually only made an appearance when she was thinking about how cute Marceline was.

(Naturally, it made a lot of appearances.)

"I want to take a nap." Marceline announced, shuffling away from Bonnibel and standing up. She stretched, staggering a little bit, but to Bonnie's relief she regained her footing. "Are you coming?"

Bonnibel bobbed her head in confirmation. "Yeah, just stay there."

Bonnie grabbed a blanket from where it was folded at the top of the couch and unfolded it, draping it over Keila. Then she spun on her heels and smiled at Marceline.

"Are we going?" Marceline asked. She looked so innocent and confused and Bonnie knew that soft smile was back.

Bonnie walked over and grabbed hold of her girlfriend's hand, leading her towards the door, "Yep, we are."

Getting Marceline up the stairs wasn't _too_ tricky – although she nearly tripped over her own feet two or three times – and before she knew it, Bonnie was helping her step into her pyjama bottoms.

Bonnie dug around in Marceline's drawers and pulled out an older, baggier t-shirt, handing it over to her girlfriend who was sat on her bed wearing her sweatpants and a black bra, swinging her legs off the edge.

Marceline took the shirt from her and pulled it over her head – well, sort of. She got about halfway when her head got stuck.

"Marceline, sweetie, that's the arm hole." Bonnie laughed, walking over to her girlfriend. It was hard to untangle the mess of black hair that was in and out of the shirt – Bonnie didn't know how Marceline had managed that – and helped her head through the right part of the shirt.

Marceline managed to get the rest of the shirt on by herself and then shuffled back on her bed, snuggling under the covers. She patted the spot next to her and beamed when Bonnibel – who hadn't planned on sleeping over – took off the black pants, lab coat and wig and got into bed in her shirt and underwear. She supposed that would have to do; she didn't want to leave an intoxicated Marceline by herself. Although Bonnie knew she'd probably been alone while drunk before, she couldn't help but think of horrible scenarios in which she'd hurt herself or worse, and she wasn't going to let any of those happen. No way. Not if she had a say in it.

She felt Marceline's arms snake around her and her girlfriend buried her face in her neck, "Night, Bonnie."

Bonnibel smiled at her, "Night, Marcy."

Marceline beamed up at her, "You're still wearing your Halloween makeup."

"I'll stay here until you fall asleep and then take it off," Bonnie said. At least, she would if she didn't fall asleep herself. Which she probably would.

Marceline's eyelids were heavy and starting to slowly droop until they were closed, and Bonnie quickly licked her thumb and began rubbing at the fake blood she'd dabbed on the corners of Marceline's mouth. "You're still wearing your Halloween makeup, too."

Marceline mumbled something in response, but Bonnie didn't quite catch it; before she could ask Marceline to repeat herself, her girlfriend was fast asleep, like someone had marched inside of Marceline's head and flipped a switch to send her to dreamland.

It wasn't long before that same someone flipped the switch in Bonnie's head, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one of those taylor swift songs has relevance. have fun guessing which.


	55. fifty-five.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie go camping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings - anxiety/panic attacks, eating disorder (implied)

**Friday 7** **th** **November 2014**

Marceline flicked the basement light on and walked down the creaky wooden stairs, "I think it's down here. I don't really know."

"You're  _sure_  you have a tent? Because if you don't it's not too late to go to the store and buy one." Bonnibel assured, following Marceline down the stairs and into the basement.

"Fairly certain," Marceline replied, pushing a few boxes to the side and craning her neck to see, "I went camping with Keila once so I think we still have the tent. If not, she has it."

Bonnibel cringed, pulling Marceline away from a corner where a big spider was hanging from the ceiling, "Your basement is so…spidery."

Marceline shuddered and linked her fingers with Bonnie's, "I hate spiders. Let's just find the tent and get out of here."

Bonnie nodded, pointing over to a blue cylindrical bag, "Is that it?"

Marceline's face sunk into a frown and she shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe." She stepped closer to it, her hand hovering over the handle of the bag that the presumed tent was in. "I'm scared to touch it in case there's a spider or something under there."

Bonnibel laughed, placing a hand on Marceline's breastbone and pushing her backwards to make room for herself. She picked the bag up, holding it up to the light to check for any bugs, before she opened it up and looked inside. There was a rolled up sheet of plastic material and a couple of tent poles poking out.

Bonnie dumped the bag in Marceline's arms, "Yep, that's it. You go and put that in the car and I'll get our clothes and stuff."

"We don't need to drive, you know." Marceline pointed out, "The lakes are in walking distance."

Bonnie blew air out of her nose and shrugged, "Well, your car can be used as a storage room. Maybe if we get cold we can go in there and put the heating on."

" _If_  we get cold?" Marceline laughed. It was November, what was Bonnie expecting? " _When_  we get cold. It's pretty much winter, which is why I don't get why your friends want to go camping by the lakes  _now_. Couldn't they have done that in summer?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but it wasn't very effective in conveying faux annoyance due to the soft smile on her face, "I get what you mean, but we'll be fine. We'll have our sleeping bags and we can cuddle to preserve warmth."

"Nice excuse to cuddle me, nerd." Marceline teased her, that dorky, irritating smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"I don't need an excuse to cuddle you," Bonnie shot back as she followed Marceline back up the stairs, "You're my girlfriend. I'm pretty sure I have 100% cuddle privileges."

Marceline snorted, "That's not up to you to decide," but after a short pause she let out a soft chuckle and said, "but it's true. You can always hug me."

Bonnibel beamed, leaning over the tent bag and pecking Marceline on the lips, "Can I do that always, too?"

Marceline squeezed her eyes shut and bit on her lip to stop herself from smiling – because  _that_  would make her look like a completely smitten idiot.

(Not that she wasn't, but still. She had  _some_ dignity left.)

"Of course you can." Marceline eventually replied, opening her eyes and flashing Bonnie a toothy grin. "You can always do that."

Bonnie flicked the light switch off and closed the basement door, walking Marceline through the lounge and towards the front door. She opened the door for her – having to hold Schwabl back – and waited for Marceline to put the tent in the car's trunk, scratching the little poodle behind his ear and murmuring, "Marcy will be back in a second, calm down."

When Marceline stepped over the threshold and kicked the door shut, she leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of Schwabl's head, "Hey, puppy. Stop attacking Bonnie."

"He's not  _attacking_  me," Bonnie assured, although the little dog was squirming around and had probably caused a few scratches on her arm, "he's just excited."

Marceline frowned as Bonnie put the little dog on the floor and he ran back into the living room and sat in his basket. "He's weird."

Bonnie linked her fingers through Marceline's and shrugged, "He's cute. You know, back before we were friends I'd never expected  _you_  to have a poodle. Maybe a scary Rottweiler."

Marceline snorted with laughter as she pulled her girlfriend up the stairs, "I bet now you understand that Schwabl is my kind of dog. Tiny and rat-like."

"He's not  _rat-like_." Bonnie shot back, "He's cute and fluffy. Like you."

Marceline had to bite back her laughter, "I'm not cute."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. She knew that was a lie. "Really? Because when you were drunk you had  _no_  problems accepting that compliment."

"I don't think that drunk me is a reliable source." Marceline said, falling on her bed in an ungraceful manner that could only be described as  _flopping_ , "One time she thought she could do a backflip and literally just fell over and nearly broke her wrist."

Bonnie laughed, shaking her head, "Drunk you is so cute." Pausing to correct herself, she added, "All of you is cute."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "Can we stop with all of the sappiness, please? It's starting to gross me out."

"You and I both know that you're  _incredibly_  sappy, Marcy." Bonnie said, "But I don't mind moving onto other topics if it's making you feel weird."

"Thanks, nerd," Marceline flashed her a smile as Bonnie grabbed Marceline's pyjamas and dropped them in the bag they'd reserved for clothes. "Why did your friends even invite me to this thing, anyway?"

"Because they're your friends too." Bonnie said, "And I was asked who I wanted to share a tent with, so…"

"What, you just casually announced that I would be there?" Marceline raised an eyebrow and fiddled with the drawstrings on her hoodie, "Sounds a little rude, don't you think?"

"Lady had asked if you would be there and I said yes. The tent thing happened afterwards." Bonnie explained, "So it was fine."

"Well, who exactly is going to be at this shindig?" Marceline asked. She didn't meet Bonnie's gaze – apparently the drawstrings of her hoodie were incredibly interesting.

Bonnie was extremely tempted to bring up Marceline's word choice, because  _shindig? Really, Marceline? This isn't the 80's,_ but she just smiled to herself, feeling a soft warmth glowing in her chest. She was so lucky, and not just because her girlfriend was arguably the cutest person alive, but because she was probably one of the only two or three people in the world that got to see this side of Marceline – her adorable, dorky, unguarded side. And even though Bonnie loved all of Marceline, this side was definitely one of her favourites.

 _Yep,_ Bonnie thought as Marceline glanced up and flashed her one of her endearing toothy grins,  _so lucky_.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if LSP will be there, but I know that Cake definitely will be," Bonnie finally answered, "And the usual group are coming, and you're friends with them."

"I'm not -" Bonnie cut her off with a scoff and a roll of her eyes, and Marceline sent her a sheepish smile and finished, "Okay. Fine."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, doing a solid imitation of Marceline's teasing smirk, "You admit that they're your friends?"

"I'm admitting  _nothing_." Marceline folded her arms across her chests, "But I'm not denying anything, either."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. She knew that Marceline liked them; it actually kind of reminded her of how they were back in January, when people would accuse Marceline of liking her and she'd deny it, probably scoffing about how ridiculous that was.

But now that Bonnie knew Marceline had a huge secret crush on her back then, she was seeing right through the façade. Not that it was very good in the first place.

(Marceline was pretty terrible at hiding her feelings around Bonnie.)

"Whatever, Marcy." Bonnie responded, throwing a sock at her girlfriend, "You can't fool me. I'm a genius, remember?"

"I'm going to regret saying that, aren't I?" Marceline let out an over-dramatic, elongated sigh.

Bonnie flashed her a bright grin – half of it was genuine, but the other half was playful and teasing. "Probably. And I know you meant it, because you wrote it in your journal before we were even friends. You compared me to Einstein."

Marceline rolled her eyes, launching the sock back in Bonnie's direction, "You're so irritating. Why do I hang out with you?"

"Because you  _like like_  me." Bonnie teased, dropping the sock into Marceline's laundry basket and stepping over a discarded t-shirt to press a soft kiss to her girlfriend's lips, "Don't you, Marcy?"

Marceline avoided the question, but the soft blush on her cheeks was enough of an answer for Bonnie. "Why do you keep calling me Marcy all of a sudden? Usually it's just Marceline. Sometimes you call me a bitch, though."

Bonnie laughed, "That makes me sound mean," she felt Marceline rest her head on her shoulder and weaved her fingers through her girlfriend's soft black hair, "but to answer your question, I like the idea of a nickname. I know it's not very creative but I like it when you call me Bonnie – you're actually the only person who does that – so I figured I might as well. Unless it makes you uncomfortable or anything, but I know that Simon calls you it so -"

"You're cute when you ramble," Marceline cut her off, "I don't mind it. Nicknames usually aren't my thing; I only really let Keila get away with it because I've known her since I was five, my brother does what he wants no matter what I say and Simon is…well, Simon. He's basically a Dad to me so…"

"So it  _does_  make you uncomfortable." At least, that's what Bonnie took from that little explanation.

"Not when it comes from someone I care about." Marceline glanced up at her, "I'm pretty sure you fit in that category."

Bonnie grinned, "You're so sweet. Besides, I think it's alright for me to call you Marcy. You have  _plenty_  of nicknames for me."

Marceline frowned in confusion. Bonnie had to refrain from awing at her. "I don't. I only call you Bonnie."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, smirking, "Have you forgotten about the times you've called me  _babe_? And that time you called me a gumdrop. You called me Bon at my Aunt's wedding, and I can recall you referring to me as  _Bonnibutt_  and  _pinkie_ about a week and a half after we met," finally, she closed the case with, "and let's not forget about the infamous  _princess_."

Marceline laughed, smiling sheepishly. Bonnie wasn't sure if the blush on her cheeks was an embarrassed one or not. "Yeah. Sorry about all that. If it was annoying you, why didn't you tell me?"

"The majority of them don't annoy me." Bonnie assured, "Princess was irritating at first, but I kind of…I don't know, I guess I kind of like it now. It's sort of a compliment, I guess? You were basically saying I'm royalty. And it was the original nickname. Kind of nostalgic, isn't it?"

Marceline frowned, "You  _like_  remembering when we weren't friends and I was a total bitch to you?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Of course not, you weirdo. I just…with the knowledge that you secretly had a crush on me, it's nice to know that princess is kind of…it's like, sort of what you thought of me. Like, you thought that I was good enough to be royalty. And I think that's amazing."

Marceline was blushing even harder now, to her embarrassment. God, the nerd had a huge effect on her. "But you hate that nickname."

"I literally  _just_  told you that I like it now." Bonnie pointed out with a reassuring smile, " _Not_  that it gives you permission to start calling me it every other sentence again."

Marceline flashed Bonnie a toothy grin – that's how Bonnie knew she was really happy, when she smiled with her teeth. "I think the only reason I called you it back then was because you got all high strung and annoyed and it was amusing. But if you want to interpret it like that, go ahead."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. They both knew that Marceline was lying. "Yeah,  _okay_. Let's set off to the lakes, yeah? I told them we'd be there by six."

Marceline nodded, a stupid warm glow in her chest and an idiotic smile on her face, "Yeah, alright."

* * *

Marceline threw the tent pole on the ground in frustration and folded her arms across her chest, "I can't do it. Stupid fucking pole. It can't even pole right. It's a failure at life."

Bonnibel laughed at Marceline's upset pout and cute little frustrated frown, "Of course you can do it. Just put the tent pole through the hole."

"But it won't go through," Marceline complained, collapsing in a heap on the floor. Her hand rested on the bridge of her nose and she glanced up at Bonnie, "I give up. Get Jake to help you or something. Get someone actually competent."

Bonnie sighed, "But I thought it'd be a cute couple thing, for us to pitch the tent together."

Marceline sent her an incredulous look, barking out a laugh, "I doubt watching me swear at a tent pole is a cute couple thing." She sighed, dragging herself to her feet, "I'll get Jake. I'd rather not be half asleep and have a tent collapse on me because we did it wrong."

Bonnie opened her mouth to protest – she wanted to do the tent with her girlfriend – but she supposed Marceline was right. Besides, Jake had finished pitching his and Lady's tent quickly; he went camping with his Dad a lot, apparently. Maybe it would be better to have the help of a semi-professional.

So when Marceline returned with Jake, Bonnie didn't complain.

(Much.)

"You know, we could've done it. Maybe if I was the one to put the poles in and if you held it up for me." Bonnie pointed out, watching as Jake put the tent pole Marceline had been struggling with in with ease, "You didn't  _have_  to get Jake."

"Yeah, well I'm a musician, not Bear Grylls." Marceline shot back, folding her arms across her chest, "What were you expecting? It would've been midnight before we'd sorted it, let's face it."

Bonnie huffed, "Nice to know you have faith in me."

"Oh, shut up," That probably would've had more of an effect if Marceline wasn't smiling, but she found it physically impossible to look at Bonnie and  _not_  smile, "Even though you're impossibly good at everything else, I don't think you'd just  _magically_  know how to put up a tent."

Bonnie  _wanted_  to retort that she  _did_  know how to put up a tent – she'd gone on a camping trip with her family once and while her Mom and Dad had put up their tent, she'd figured out how to do it with her tent buddy – but thinking about that holiday was much too upsetting and she knew that if she looked the tiniest bit sad, Marceline would pick up on it and ask her questions that she didn't particularly want to answer.

Instead, she decided to steer as far as she could from the subject of her tent pitching skills, "I'm not  _impossibly good_  at everything. I don't have a creative bone in my body. I can't play an instrument or draw a picture."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "You can play four chords on ukulele. And you did perfectly well on that creative writing assignment in English class last year. Everyone can be a little bit creative. Just some people have more creativity than others."

"I  _could_  play four chords on ukulele for about an hour," Bonnie said, "And I got a B on the writing thing and Betty said I needed to use more imagination and creativity. I prefer academic stuff with strict rules," She explained, a soft frown on her face when she realised, "Isn't  _music_  a thing that has strict rules?"

Marceline chewed on the inside of her cheek in thought, "Not really. There  _are_  rules, like keys and stuff, but they don't always fit. And you can get away with having no idea what you're doing. I guess it's a half and half situation."

Bonnie bobbed her head in understanding, "Ah, okay. With science you can't really wing it. You'd probably make something explode if you did."

Marceline laughed, "I kind of want to see you blow something up. You need to live up to your mad scientist Halloween costume."

"Does that mean you need to magically transform into a vampire, then?" Bonnie teased.

Marceline scoffed, "Thought I already was one?"

Bonnie opened her mouth to retort, but Jake beat her to it as he hammered the last tent peg into the ground, "There you go, guys. All done."

Marceline flashed him a smile. It wasn't as cheerful as her smiles when she looked at Bonnie, but it was still genuine. "Thanks, dude."

"Yeah, thanks Jake," Bonnie reinforced, "Is it okay if I take a look inside?"

"Yeah, of course." He grinned back, lifting up the tent flap and pinning it up so it was easier for Bonnie to crawl in and take a look inside.

Honestly, Bonnie was hoping that Marceline's magical cheering-her-up powers were  _actual_  magic powers, and the tent would be the size of a small house on the inside like in Harry Potter, but to her dismay it was just a regular tent. Dammit. At least it was big enough for the both of them to have some space.

(Not that they'd use it, but still.)

Bonnie crawled out of the tent backwards and grabbed the two sleeping bags that she and Marceline had left next to their previously flattened tent, tossing them inside. Then she zipped up the tent from the outside to stop any bugs from getting in and stood up, brushing any residual dirt from her jeans, and walked back to Marceline's side, "What's the plan now?"

She noted that Jake had walked back over to the rest of the group, who were watching as Phoebe started sorting out a fire, "I think they're all going to roast marshmallows, sit around a campfire and sing kumbaya."

Bonnie laughed at Marceline's sarcastic monotone, "Very funny. What are they  _actually_  doing?"

"I wasn't joking." Marceline said, linking their fingers together, "They have three bags of marshmallows and they're making a fire." At Bonnie's pointed look, she added, "The kumbaya thing was a bit of a stretch, though."

Bonnie smiled at her, squeezing her hand as they walked over to the rest of the group, "Are you going to have a marshmallow?"

"I don't like them," Marceline replied, trying to ignore Bonnie's doubtful look. Bonnie thought she was lying, and that stung a little, "I brought a couple of candy bars with me from the cupboard, though."

This seemed to satisfy Bonnie, "That's okay, then. We'll share those later, if you want."

Marceline nodded, "Yeah, okay. In the tent."

"In the tent," Bonnie confirmed. She dropped Marceline's hand as she sat next to Fionna on the ground, about a metre away from where Phoebe was working on the fire, "Hey. How long is she saying the fire is going to take?"

"She said it'll just be a few more minutes," Fionna explained. She smiled at both Bonnie and Marceline, addressing the latter of the two, "Hi, Marceline. Half of us didn't expect you'd actually show, since LSP and Cake are here."

Marceline's previously cheerful expression morphed into one of pure horror, " _What_?" She spun around to look at Bonnie, "You said she wouldn't be here."

"I didn't think she would be!" Bonnie held her hands up in defence. She knew it'd been mentioned, but she'd not been told for certain, "I  _did_  say she might be here."

Marceline sighed, a heavy puff of air coming out of her nose, "I should go. I should go  _now_."

"No, you shouldn't." Lady sat down on Marceline's right before Bonnie had a chance to argue with her, "We've told her not to say anything bad to you, and if she does, she's uninvited."

Marceline looked like she didn't believe that  _at all_. "She's been your friend since kindergarten and you'd do that? I doubt it."

Lady sighed, "Why can't you get it through your head that we like you?"

Marceline opened her mouth to answer but closed it and stopped herself, because  _I have anxiety disorder and it fucks with my head and there are times when I doubt Bonnie even likes me so shut the fuck up_  isn't exactly a good answer. "I don't know."

Bonnibel rested her hand on Marceline's thigh and Marceline was fairly certain she knew  _something_ , and that scared her, because if Bonnie could figure it out, what's to say that Lady couldn't?

Marceline moved away from Bonnie and looked over at her car; it was just visible to her. "I –"

"Do you want space?" Marceline stopped talking when she heard Bonnie's voice in her ear, soft and reassuring.

"I don't know." Marceline replied, equally as soft but nowhere  _near_  as assured. "I just -"

"Hey, guys! I brought Melissa, is that okay?" LSP announced as she sat down, shooting a venomous glare Marceline's way.

Marceline sent Bonnie a look and stood up, briskly heading for her car. Bonnie followed. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she was meant to. Maybe the look Marceline sent her was more of a 'leave me alone' sort of thing. It was almost indecipherable.

Bonnie climbed into Marceline's car and closed the door, stopping her girlfriend before she could put the key in the ignition, "Hey, stop. Talk to me."

"I can't." Marceline looked at her hopelessly, "It's pointless. I just…I don't want to ruin your night, so I should leave before I get any worse."

"Do you feel like you might have a panic attack?" Bonnie carefully asked; she knew that talking about things like that was like stepping on hot coals, "Is that why you want to leave?"

Marceline nodded. Bonnie could tell she was having a hard time keeping her breathing regulated and her speech came out rushed and shaky. "The only reason I came was because  _she_  wouldn't be here. I'm sort of comfortable with your friends now, but I just  _can't_  be there if she is. I can't do it."

Bonnie sent her a reassuring smile, "It's okay. We can stay here until you cool off and then go back. It'll be fine, I promise."

"I don't know if I want to go back." Marceline let out a soft sigh, "I'm sorry, I -"

"If that last part is going to finish in some sort of self-deprecating comment, I'm going to stop you right there." Bonnie interjected, slowly easing Marceline's hand from the car steering wheel, "You have  _nothing_  to apologise for. I know that certain things are hard for you and I'm not going to leave you just because you don't feel like you can do something. I'm here for you. Always."

Marceline tried a smile. It came out more like a pained grimace. "I don't want to ruin your night."

"You're not ruining anything." Bonnie assured, squeezing Marceline's hand, "If you want to leave, we can leave. Just say so."

"You don't need to come with me." It was said in a quiet, broken murmur that made Bonnie's heart smash into a million pieces.

"Of course I do." Bonnie pulled Marceline close to her, kissing the top of her head, "I'm not leaving you by yourself, no matter where we go. I can go and get our sleeping bags and tent if you want to leave."

"I'm not –" Marceline stopped herself, sighing, "We don't have to leave. I just need some time alone."

"Okay," Bonnie let go of Marceline and put her hand on the car door, "Text me when you're coming back."

"I didn't mean I wanted you to leave." Marceline stopped her by grabbing onto her wrist, "I meant to say time alone with you."

Bonnie beamed, taking her girlfriend's hand and squeezing it, "Alright. We can talk about some other stuff if you want."

Marceline nodded, "That'd be good. Thanks."

Bonnie smiled at her, before she began recounting a story about the time she got stuck in a tree as a kid and her Mom nearly called the fire department to get her down. The embarrassment of reliving  _that_  was worth it to see the soft smile on Marceline's face, because Marceline really  _was_  beautiful.

And when Marceline let out a soft laugh and kissed Bonnie on the cheek, she felt ten times happier with herself.

* * *

"It's kind of romantic, isn't it?"

"What is?"

Bonnie sighed, rolling onto her side in her sleeping bag to look over at Marceline, "Well, we're alone in a tent, away from the rest of civilisation. There's nothing to listen to other than the sounds of the crickets and the breeze, our phones are dead and we're huddled together for warmth."

"Sounds like the perfect setting for a horror movie." Marceline replied. That earned her a smack on the upper arm from Bonnie, "I'm right, though. All we need is the serial killer."

Bonnie huffed, "Thanks for that. You really know how to be romantic, Marceline."

Marceline laughed, giving Bonnie a soft squeeze around her midriff, "It's not  _really_  like a horror movie, but it's not like what you said either. I can hear Jake snoring from all the way over here, so we're hardly alone, and we can hear cars on the nearby highway. Sorry to burst your bubble."

Bonnie sighed, pouting, "Can we just pretend, please?"

"That we're in a horror movie?" Damn. Another smack.

" _No_ ," Bonnie rolled her eyes in irritation, tucking Marceline's hair behind her ear, "that we're alone and that this is perfectly romantic. Please?"

Marceline sighed, "Fine. We're completely isolated. What now?"

"Well," Bonnibel smiled, pressing a kiss to Marceline's cheek, "I could kiss you. Or we could talk about survival techniques in a scary movie like your car isn't five feet away from us."

Marceline let out a soft chuckle that made Bonnie's internal organs decide to do an extremely uncoordinated backflip, "Okay, sure. To both of those."

Bonnie grinned, "Okay." She thought for a moment – Marceline's comparison to a horror movie had given Bonnie a good idea for an imagined scenario, "Turns out all of our friends have gone missing and that's why it's so quiet. We decided to head to your car and it turns out someone has cut the battery out so we're stuck here. Then we hear a scream. What do you do next?"

Marceline responded with no hesitation. "Run in the opposite direction."

" _Marceline_. That's not -" Bonnie stopped herself with a sigh, "You're supposed to make it interesting. Like a story or something."

Marceline shuffled closer to her and huffed, " _Fine_. Who's screaming?"

"Why does it  _matter_  who the screaming is coming from?" Bonnie asked, "It's screaming. It means someone is in danger."

"Well I'm just saying, if it was like…Lady or someone, I'd probably go and help." Marceline explained, "But if it was LSP, I'd go and get a coffee or something."

Bonnie laughed, but smacked her girlfriend on the upper arm again – only lightly, of course. "That's mean, Marcy."

"It's the truth, though." Marceline folded her arms across her chest, but sighed, "If I heard a scream I'd go and help whoever it was."

"Thank you," Bonnie smiled, "Okay, so you go in the direction of the scream and come across all of our friends, tied up in a clearing near the water. One of them tells you that there's a killer on the loose and they just left. You hear a twig snap in the bushes behind you. What do you do?"

Marceline chewed on the inside of her lip, "Well – you're in this, right?"

"Yeah, I'm with you." Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation.

"Okay then," Marceline picked at her fingernails as she thought, "Saving you would be my first priority, so you and I would get out of sight before the killer comes back, but stay close enough so we'd be able to see what happens in case we need to intervene."

"Okay," Bonnie considered her answer, "We see the killer come back and they have a knife, so you and I quickly duck out of sight so we don't get caught. The killer grabs…Lady, and holds the knife to her throat. Everyone else is tied up and can't do anything. What next?"

"This is a  _total_  lie, but it's a story so…" Marceline found Bonnie's hand, "I'd tell you how much I care about you and then jump the killer, wrestling the knife off them and using it to defend us."

"I call 911 on my phone -"

"I thought your phone was dead." Marceline pointed out her continuity error.

Bonnie just rolled her eyes. "Let's pretend it isn't. I call 911 and you pin the masked killer down, ripping off their mask. Who is it?"

Marceline hummed in thought, "Well, I don't think that LSP is capable of murder. Maybe – no, I've got something – Melissa was upset because LSP made fun of her outfit, so she went on a killing spree in revenge."

Bonnie laughed; actually, that wasn't too far-fetched. LSP and Melissa argued virtually every day. "You have the opportunity to stab her. Do you?"

"I'm not the serial killer. No." Marceline replied, "You untie our friends while I keep her pinned down until the cops show up. They arrest her, I get loads of money and guitars and stuff as a reward and then you and I go live in a fancy mansion. The end."

Bonnie didn't comment on how Marceline had said  _our friends_  and smiled, "Aw, you gave us a happy ending. That was cute." Bonnie paused in thought, trying to come up with another game they could play to pass the time. "We could play a different game, if you'd like?"

Marceline nodded into the crook between Bonnie's neck and shoulder, "Sure. Fuck marry kill? If you're not comfortable we can change it."

"I can play a hypothetical game," Bonnie assured, "You go first."

"Okay." Marceline bit down on her lip in thought, "Me, LSP, Finn."

Bonnibel stared at her as though she'd just kicked a puppy, "You can't make it that hard on my first go."

Marceline rolled her shoulders back in a careless shrug, "Tough luck. Go on, pick."

Bonnie sighed at her, "Um…do I have to say the naughty word that you put in every other sentence?"

Marceline  _wanted_  to point out that Bonnie had said the word before, but instead she just shook her head, "No. Just say them in the order you'd do them."

"Okay," Bonnie looked uncertain, "You, Finn, LSP."

"Alright," Because Marceline was curious, she put on the end, "Why'd you pick that?"

Bonnie sent Marceline a soft, not intimidating at  _all_  glare, "Well, I'm in a relationship and feel very strongly about you, and although I can never be sexually attracted to you, it's pretty obvious that the only person I'd ever be intimate with is you. I could marry Finn and then divorce him because he's too sweet to kill. And then I don't think I could do either with LSP, so…"

"You'd fuck me?" Marceline blurted out.  _Okay, so that probably wasn't the best thing to ask your asexual girlfriend, idiot_.

Marceline picked up on the bright red blush on Bonnie's cheeks, and she felt kind of bad for asking. Honestly, it was more of a blurted out in surprise thing. Marceline never really  _thought_  before she talked, which was probably something she needed to get under control.

"I…well, you're – I think…" Bonnie stammered, looking anywhere but her girlfriend. She didn't really know how to say  _not until I know I'm in love with you and want to give you that_  in a subtle way, so she just shrugged and looked at her sleeping bag covered feet, "I think so. I don't know. Not yet."

Marceline blinked at her. She'd been expecting a flat-out  _no_. "Oh. Okay."

Bonnie looked up with shining eyes and Marceline worried she was going to cry as she let out a strangled, "What do you mean? Are you upset with me?"

Trying to ignore the fact that her heart was beating ten times faster than usual, Marceline just shrugged, "No. I'm just surprised. I just kind of assumed we'd never…"

 _Yeah, she's definitely about to cry. God, you idiot_ , Marceline mentally scolded herself as she stared at Bonnie, "I know that it's an inconvenience and I'm sorry about that, but -"

Marceline was quick to interject, "It isn't an inconvenience. It's your sexuality. You can't change that. I was just a little surprised that there's a chance, is all."

"I don't – I know that in traditional relationships, people expect it, and I can't give you that. Not until I'm ready to give you that, because it's not like I'd be doing it for me or anything. Not until…" Bonnie trailed off with a sigh, "I'm going to sleep. Goodnight, Marceline."

"No, wait." Marceline pulled Bonnie back to her, "Not until what?"

Bonnie hesitated, trying to rephrase the words going around in her head. "Until I know that I feel strongly enough about you to be able to – to give myself to you completely. To be able to be intimate with you."

She sighed, kissing Marceline's forehead. She knew what that probably sounded like in Marceline's head –  _I don't like you enough_ , or  _you're not good enough_  or something along those lines. She needed to reword that.

"What I mean is that I'm not just going to wake up and be sexually attracted to you. I have no sex drive whatsoever and you know that. But if I…" She stopped herself. That's not what she wanted to say, "I'm absolutely  _crazy_  about you but I need to be – I have to know that you're the person that I…"  _Please fill in the gaps, Marceline. Please,_  Bonnie thought, forcing herself not to say what she was thinking, "Things have to be really, really serious."

Marceline moved forward, pushing her lips against Bonnie's, "Okay. I understand. I'll see you in the morning."

Bonnie stopped her, "You're not upset?"

"Of course I'm not upset." Marceline rolled her eyes, "I get it, okay? And I respect that. I know what you're talking about, and I'm not going to try and convince you otherwise or anything."

Bonnibel beamed, "I am way too lucky to have you. Thanks."

"Don't worry about it." Marceline replied, "Get some sleep, alright, nerd?"

And with that, she cuddled herself up close to Bonnie and left her girlfriend smiling stupidly into the darkness.


	56. fifty-six.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marceline and bonnie bake cakes at 2am.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings - eating disorder (mention/implied), depression (mention).

**Friday 14t** **h** **November 2014**

Bonnie sat up in Marceline's bed and supressed a yawn.  _What time was it_? She reached over a sleeping Marceline – not without pausing to fuss over her sleeping girlfriend's adorableness – and pressed a button on her phone. The screen cast an eerie glowing light across the room as she squinted and read the time; 2AM. She yawned again, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, before she let go of her phone and laid back down again, closing her eyes.

Naturally, her brain chose then to make her stomach growl. She was hungry.  _Seriously,_ she thought to herself,  _at 2AM on a school night?_

She slid out of Marceline's slack, sleeping grip – carefully, so she didn't disturb her – and slipped out of a crack in Marceline's bedroom door, big enough for her to fit through.

She quietly pattered down the stairs and tiptoed into the kitchen, turning the lights on and following the quiet electrical hum of the fridge. She opened up the door and scanned the shelves – nothing that she wanted. Dammit.

She filled herself up a little glass of water and climbed the stairs – avoiding certain places she knew they creaked – and slid back into Marceline's room. She fumbled about in the darkness, trying to find Marceline's bedside table, when the light flickered on and a tired Marceline looked up at her from the bed. "Bonnie?"

"Hey," Bonnie put her water down and quickly climbed back into bed, taking her spot behind Marceline and throwing a protective arm over her girlfriend's waist, "Go back to sleep. I was just hungry. I had a particular craving for some cake but you guys don't have any."

Ignoring Bonnie's request, as per usual, Marceline sat up and pushed her messy hair from her face, "We could bake some."

Bonnie caught sight of the dark shadows under Marceline's eyes and shook her head, "Nah, you need sleep."

Marceline waved a hand in dismissal, "I'm fine. Let's bake."

Bonnie rolled her eyes but sat up the bed, smoothing out the black rock shirt Marceline had given her nearly a year ago. Marceline was much more stubborn than she was and would probably win if they argued over staying up and baking. "Are you  _ever_  going to listen to anything I say?"

Marceline hummed in thought, staring past Bonnibel at nothing in particular, "Probably not. Do you want cake or not?"

Bonnie hesitated – she  _did_  want cake, but they had to be up for school five hours and they'd only just gone to sleep at midnight. "No, it's okay. It's too late. We'll make some when we get finish school tomorrow."

Marceline shook her head, the first eye roll of the day taking place, "I'm not going to deny you cake. I'll be like forty minutes." With that, Marceline stood up and walked towards the bedroom door, pausing before she left, "You coming, or what?"

After a moment of hesitation, Bonnie huffed and followed her out of the room. "You're  _way_  too stubborn."

"That's coming from  _you_?" Marceline shot her an incredulous look as they made their way downstairs. She flicked on the kitchen light and stretched against the counter, "You're the one who bugged me for a month straight until I decided I'd put up with you."

"Hey, you didn't  _put up_ with me, you liked me!" Bonnie shot back, folding her arms in defiance – Marceline thought that was adorable, "You had a crush on me the  _entire_  time."

Marceline laughed and shot Bonnie a mock look of distaste, "Don't flatter yourself, babe."

"You literally wrote it in your journal that you had a crush on me." Bonnie persisted, "So I  _will_  flatter myself, thanks."

Marceline's disgusted expression dissolved into a smile as she distracted herself by looking in the fridge for eggs, "If there were other people here it'd probably sound weird that you've read my journal."

"Technically I haven't." Bonnie pointed out, ducking under a cupboard door as she looked for a mixing bowl, "You read it  _to_  me at 4AM."

Marceline smiled at the memory, putting the eggs and butter on the counter, "I'll read you some more of my awkward gushing if you want. It's pretty funny. Maybe I'll do a dramatic reading of my emo journal from when I was like thirteen."

"Your  _emo_  journal?" Bonnie repeated, spinning on her heels to look over at Marceline, who was pulling a bag of flour from the cupboard, "What does that even mean?"

"It means I basically talked about how much I fucking hated everything and called everyone stupid," Marceline explained, "The frigid winds of pre-teen angst at its finest."

Bonnie laughed as she grabbed a pot of sugar and brought it over to Marceline. She grabbed a whisk from a drawer and stopped for a second to marvel at how she knew exactly where everything was without thinking about it, before brushing back up against Marceline's side as the taller girl cracked the eggs, "That sounds weirdly fun. Sure. If I had a journal I'd do a dramatic reading of it for you, but I never kept one for longer than a week."

"Really? Writing in mine is like a routine," Marceline didn't meet Bonnie's eyes as she weighed out the sugar – Bonnie occupied herself with mixing the eggs up, "I do it every night before I go to bed and talk about the day. It helps to get things out."

Bonnie hummed in surprise, "I never really thought about it in that way. Maybe I should try and keep one, too. It'd probably be cool to look back on when I'm 80. I can read it to my twenty cats."

" _Our_  twenty cats." Marceline corrected – Bonnie didn't have a chance to comment as she continued, "Do you want chocolate cake or can it be plain?"

"Plain is fine," Bonnie responded. She assumed Marceline had changed the subject for a reason. "Have you got any chocolate chips?"

"No, we'd have to smash a chocolate bar and I think that'd probably be pretty loud." Marceline replied, pouring the sugar in with the eggs.

Bonnie began whisking the sugar together with the eggs as Marceline began weighing out the flour, "Okay, no chocolate chips. Just plain vanilla. I'm cool with that."

"I can't believe you didn't put up more of a fight when I proposed baking at 2AM on a school night," Marceline shook her head, trying to conceal that gorgeous smile which made Bonnie's heart stutter, "Aren't you supposed to be all nerdy and responsible? Are you some sort of alien imposter or something?"

Bonnie laughed, "Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not. What are you going to do about it?"

"Kick your ass and get my Bonnie back." Marceline simply responded as she passed Bonnie the correct amount of flour.

"Marceline, you have literal  _toothpicks_  for arms. I doubt you could beat up an alien." Bonnie poured the flour in the bowl and began mixing as Marceline quickly weighed out the butter.

Marceline scoffed as she put the butter in the microwave to melt it, "Nice to know you have faith in me, Bonnie."

"I'm just stating facts," Bonnie replied, "I  _did_  beat you in an arm wrestle that one time, and that was just normal human me. If I was an alien imposter I'd probably have super strength and a bunch of other powers."

Marceline's eyes widened as she pounced and pressed the button to stop the microwave before it beeped and woke up the entire household. "You said you'd never speak of that again."

"I think it might crop up if I ever need you to do something for me." Bonnie teased, watching as Marceline poured the melted butter into their cake mixture.

Marceline made a disinterested grunt and rolled her shoulders back in a nonchalant shrug, "You've already ruined my reputation of being a heartless bitch. I don't think you could do any more damage."

"You know, sometimes it hits me that I was scared of you at one point in my life," Bonnie let out a small chuckle as she stirred the cake mix – Marceline hopped up and sat on the counter, "And then I laugh a lot, because  _how_  was I ever afraid of you?"

"Hey, I can be pretty intimidating if I want." Marceline crossed her arms in defiance, "You should know, you're intimi _dating_  me."

Bonnie rolled her eyes as Marceline burst out laughing at her own joke. "You're an idiot."

Marceline's laughter subsided and she flashed Bonnie a toothy grin, "I'm  _your_  idiot."

"Unfortunately," Bonnie shot Marceline a teasing smirk, "That's true."

* * *

Bonnie peeled off the wrapper on what seemed like her fourth or fifth cake, while Marceline sat next to her on the couch, "It's nearly 3AM and you've already eaten more cake than I have in a month."

Bonnie lightly shrugged, although Marceline's statement caused a little stab of pain in her stomach, "It's not my fault you're extremely good at baking cakes. They're tasty. Are you sure you don't want one?"

Marceline shook her head, "Nah. Maybe for breakfast or something."

Bonnie decided she'd hold Marceline to that when they woke up, and broke off a piece of her cupcake, holding it out in Marceline's direction, "Open up."

Surprisingly, Marceline complied, and took the cake between her teeth, eating it, "Damn, I  _am_  good. I can see why you're trying to eat up the entire supply before it gets light out."

Bonnie passed Marceline the remainder of her cupcake, "You have this one, and I'll go and get another."

Bonnie didn't hear any complaints as she skipped into the kitchen and grabbed another cupcake from the kitchen counter, and when she arrived back, Marceline was eating it - albeit slowly. She felt a proud grin spread across her face as she sat down on the couch and began eating her next cupcake.

(She devoured it in about two bites.)

Bonnie played with the fingers on Marceline's free hand as the other girl finished off her cupcake. She decided not to express how proud she was to her girlfriend – she knew it made Marceline uncomfortable. "Do you want to go back upstairs and go to sleep?"

Marceline picked up her phone from the coffee table and checked the time; 3:24AM, "We've got about three and a half hours to try to get back to sleep. Think we can do it?"

Bonnie just shrugged, "Maybe, if we don't end up talking all night."

"I wouldn't have much of a problem with that," Marceline said as she stood up, "I like talking to you. You could keep me up all night talking about…I don't know, vegetables and I'd probably listen."

Bonnie smiled as she followed Marceline out of the living room – Schwabl, who was laid in his basket, looked up attentively, but quickly got himself comfortable again. Apparently they weren't interesting enough to follow. "I can assure you there won't be any vegetable related topics tonight. You can tell me about little Marcy, if you want. That's always fun."

"And little Marcy means…?" Marceline trailed off and allowed Bonnie to fill the gaps.

"Well," Bonnie paused as she overtook Marceline on the stairs and jogged to the top, "Like, you aged ten or below."

Marceline let out an adorable laugh – Bonnie quickly had to hush her, as it was quite loud and they were right outside Simon's bedroom. "Okay, that should be fun. I was weird when I was little."

" _Was_  weird?" Bonnie teased, flopping herself down on Marceline's bed.

Marceline sent her a mock scowl before pulling the sheets over the both of them and snuggling up to Bonnie, "What do you want to know?"

"Uh…anything," Bonnie gestured vaguely towards the ceiling as though it would give her an answer, "What your first day of kindergarten was like, what your relationship with my friends was like, what you were like. Stuff like that."

Marceline stifled a yawn and stretched in Bonnie's arms, "Okay. Well…I don't really remember my first day of kindergarten that much. I think I basically just sat in the reading corner and cried because I was scared of everyone. Sometimes I'd go and bug my Mom but she'd be like 'no, Marcy, go and make friends,' and then I'd go back to the reading corner and talk to Hambo."

Bonnie's mouth dropped open, "Aw! I would've been your friend."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "I probably wouldn't have talked to you. I was  _deathly_  afraid of people. Kind of like Gracie."

Bonnie shot Marceline a doubtful look, "Come on, I would've just come over and bugged you until you got used to me. You know how persistent I can be."

Marceline shook her head, "Nah, you would've cleared off pretty soon – which brings me to the next question; my relationship with your friends. They shoved me around because I was so…I don't know. I guess it was because I was so quiet and never fought back so they just figured I was an easy target."

"Wait, all of them?" Bonnie asked, "Finn, Jake, Lady -,"

"No, in kindergarten it was just LSP." Marceline explained, "Lady was their friend at that point but didn't get involved and it was kindergarten so they all thought boys had cooties. It continued in first grade when Fionna and Cake showed up and they joined in with her."

"So it was LSP, Fionna and Cake?" Bonnie asked.

"Yup," Marceline confirmed, "Lady and the guys never got involved. It was on and off through elementary and middle school, and then when I broke Ash's wrist in the middle of the hallway it stopped completely. So…yeah. Now you know why I don't like those three. I never even did anything to deserve it. Bitches."

"You like Fionna," Bonnie pointed out. At least, she  _thought_  Marceline liked Fionna.

Marceline made a noise that Bonnie assumed translated as  _good point_. "Yeah, you're right. She actually apologised to me, though. The others haven't and I don't think they plan on it, either."

"Why did they make fun of you?" Bonnie traced comforting patterns on Marceline's pale skin; she'd been hoping for some funny stories – she  _hadn't_  wanted to learn that her friends bullied her girlfriend for no reason.

"Well…because of how quiet I was. In middle school because of the phase best described as awkward. After the car crash. I don't know."

As Marceline hid her face in Bonnie's neck, the pink haired girl realised something.  _"Because of the phase best described as awkward."_  Marceline had told her  _multiple_  times that she was overweight in middle school, and Bonnie was  _praying_  that her eating disorder hadn't started because of her friends. Bonnie didn't think she'd be able to get over hearing that.

Carefully, she spoke; she knew she was stepping into dangerous territory, "Marceline? Did my friends ever make fun of you for being overweight?"

Marceline nodded into her neck, "Yeah."

Bonnie's throat closed over.  _Please, no_. "Is that why you have an eating disorder? Did you stop eating so they wouldn't make fun of you?"

"No." Marceline quietly admitted, "But it was why it got worse."

Bonnie nodded acknowledgement, hesitating before she continued – would Marceline tell her what caused it? "If I asked what caused it, would you tell me?"

Marceline stilled for a moment, before nodding, "It was in late eighth grade; pre-Ash. I started feeling really down all the time - which was the depression, but I didn't find that out until December of freshman year - and my panic disorder got really bad. Everything seemed so out of control and eating was the only thing I had any sort of hold on. It was the only thing I was in control of. So I started almost…monitoring what I ate, I guess? I started noticing I was losing weight and then it got out of hand and I would go  _days_  without eating and I would refuse any food people offered me and it got so bad and now I'm all fucked up and I can't -"

"Hey," Bonnie interjected; even though she wanted to cry, she kept her voice firm, "You aren't. You're not...fucked up, okay? You're ill, that's all. It's just an illness, and you  _will_  get better. I know you can get better. You've improved  _a lot_  since I found out about it, and I'm proud of you."

"But I still…my head still tells me I can't eat no matter how hungry I am. That I  _shouldn't_." Marceline murmured.

"Just…treat those thoughts like an annoying friend you secretly dislike." Bonnie advised, "They'll say something and you'll tell them to eff off and ignore them. Call them stupid for good measure."

Marceline sent her a shaky attempt at a smile, but it meant a lot all the same. "I've never thought about it like that. Thanks, Bonnie."

"I'm happy to help, you know that." Bonnie gave Marceline a gentle squeeze and a kiss on the cheek. "Do you want to get some sleep so we're not both zombies at school?"

Marceline's body shook with a small laugh, inwardly praying to every powerful force she could think of in the hopes that the three word phrase she was feeling wouldn't spill out of her mouth. "Yeah. Night, Bonnie."

Bonnie waited until she heard Marceline's breathing fall into a soft, steady rhythm before she even considered going to sleep. She finally closed her eyes after watching over Marceline in the grey light of the room, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head as she felt the calm embrace of sleep take her.


	57. fifty-seven.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie doesn't have a very good day at school.

**Monday 17** **th** **November 2014**

Unlike most people on the planet, Bonnibel actually  _liked_  Mondays, and that wasn't just because she had school; although that was a contributing factor. No, Bonnie liked Mondays because – aside from her last lesson – she got to spend the entire day with Marceline.

(And in Bonnie's mind, that was awesome.)

Her Mom dropped her off at school in the morning – usually Marceline took her in, but she wanted to get in early – and she spent a good portion of her time before class doing a little extra reading in the science section. Of course, she checked her pink wristwatch to keep the time on her mind, and headed off to her math class ten minutes early.

What she didn't expect to see when she walked in was Marceline, leaning over her notebook, similarly to how she'd been scribbling in it on Bonnie's first day of school.

Bonnibel let the classroom door shut loudly to announce her presence, but Marceline didn't bother looking round, "Hey."

Marceline's back straightened and she closed her notebook, "Bonnie?"

"No, it's Voldemort." Bonnie rolled her eyes and headed for her seat, shrugging her pink backpack from her shoulders and placing it on the desk. "Of course it's me. What're you doing in your notebook?"

"Writing." Marceline just shrugged, drumming her fingers on the closed cover, "Writing songs. Just music, though. This is my music notebook, so…"

"Were you writing songs on my first day?" Bonnie asked as she pulled her stuff from her bag, "I remember you were writing in a notebook before you told me you didn't like me."

Marceline sighed – not in a bad way, to Bonnie's relief – and finally looked up to reveal a small smile and the fact that she was wearing  _glasses_. "You know I didn't mean that. And yes, to answer your question. I was."

Bonnie's brain seemed to have gone haywire and she automatically forgot her entire vocabulary, her mouth gaping open like a fish out of water, because  _damn,_ Marceline in glasses was attractive. So attractive that Bonnie didn't think she'd make it through the day if Marceline kept them on.

Stupidly, the only thing she actually managed to blurt out was, "Glasses."

Marceline laughed, "They're really that bad, huh? I know. I don't wear them usually but I actually need to see the board, so…"

Bonnie shook her head quickly.  _No, they're the opposite of bad, you look adorable, keep them on forever_  is what she wanted to say, but she was still so stunned. A little warning that Marceline was going to get cuter would've been nice, because now she looked like a bumbling idiot.

"You look nice,"  _Wow, great compliment there. You have such a way with words_ , Bonnie mentally scolded herself, "I mean, they're cute. They look good on you."

Marceline beamed at her, "Thank you. If we weren't at school, I'd kiss you right now."

"If we weren't at school, I'd kiss you back," Bonnie seemed to have gotten over the initial shock of seeing Marceline in  _glasses_ , "Why don't you like wearing them? You look so cute!"

"I do  _not_." Marceline folded her arms in annoyance and shook her head, "I just don't like the way I look in glasses."

Bonnie could think of numerous reasons why Marceline should keep her glasses on until the end of time, but she knew they'd all get shot down by her annoyingly stubborn girlfriend. "Well, whatever. I like them."

Marceline rolled her eyes, but she didn't take the glasses off. Bonnie paused for a moment to appreciate the sight fully, before opening her notebook to a fresh page as the bell rung. She got out all of the appropriate equipment while Marceline scribbled around in her notebook beside her.

"You really like them?"

Bonnie glanced up as she tucked her bag under the table, "Of course I do. Why do you think I forgot my basic human functions when I looked at you?"

Marceline laughed, the insecure look completely falling from her face, "Okay. That's good. Cool."

Phoebe interrupted Bonnie's planned retort, pulling out her usual chair and sitting down, "Hi. How are you two? You weren't at Lady's film day on Saturday."

Bonnie shook her head, drumming her fingers on the table, "No, we don't usually go to movie day. We hung out and watched conspiracy theory documentaries all day because I was left home alone by my parents. It was fun."

"I thought it'd be pretty boring," Marceline admitted, finally putting her music notebook back into her black backpack, "but it was actually really cool and it got me thinking. We watched this one about the Black Knight satellite that was really interesting."

Bonnie jabbed a thumb in Marceline's direction, "She wouldn't shut up about it for at least half an hour. It was amusing to see her go off on a little rant."

Marceline shrugged, "I just had opinions on some of the stuff they said in the documentary. Which theory I believed and all that."

"It actually managed to get to the point where," Bonnie lowered her voice so the small number of classmates that had arrived wouldn't hear her, "I'd go to kiss her and she'd shove me off and say 'not now, this is important,' and I'd end up sitting on the end of the couch by myself."

"It  _was_  important," Marceline folded her arms across her chest in defiance, "It was explaining the possible origins."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, whatever," Then, she sent Phoebe a smile, "How was movie day?"

"It was alright," Phoebe nonchalantly shrugged as Jake collapsed into the seat next to her, "We mostly just watched superhero films and I don't really like those, but Finn talked to me a little so I wasn't too bored."

Bonnie exchanged a glance with Marceline, "Oh, really? Are you two making friends?"

"I'm making friends with everybody," Phoebe frowned at her, "So yeah. We are."

"That's good," Bonnibel commented. She turned to Marceline and sent her girlfriend a soft smile, "You should always try to make new friends, even if they're outside of the group."

Marceline rolled her eyes at her. Bonnie made that sound like their friendship came easily. "I know what you're trying to reference there, dork. You're not fooling me."

Bonnie just shrugged, "I'm just saying, if I hadn't made friends with you I wouldn't have a girlfriend right now. And that would suck."

"I wasn't even sure you actually liked me in a friend way until at least April," Marceline admitted. It was true – she'd just assumed that Bonnie had felt sorry for her or something, and she couldn't stand to have a pity friendship. That would've been horrible.

"Of course I liked you," Bonnie rolled her eyes. "If I didn't, I wouldn't have been so persistent and bugged you every day and invited you over and stuff when you finally admitted we were friends."

"I know that now." Marceline assured, fiddling with her pen, "I was just uncertain because nobody had ever really tried that hard to be friends with me before, so it was weird."

 _Nobody had ever tried that hard_. The small murmur that Marceline had said it in made Bonnie's heart shatter into a million pieces, because  _honestly,_  Marceline deserved so much more than what she had. In Bonnie's mind, she deserved the world.

Bonnie tried to play it off like that didn't upset her, because she wasn't the one that was allowed to be upset over that, "Well, I didn't have any scary ulterior motives. I just thought you were cool."

Marceline took Bonnie completely off guard and snorted with laughter, leaning over the table with her hand half covering her mouth, "Oh my god, remember that time you called me  _aloof_  and  _mysterious_?"

Bonnie sighed, rolling her eyes at her girlfriend, "I didn't know you very well then, so  _technically_  you were mysterious. I wouldn't describe you as that anymore, though."

Marceline arched an eyebrow up. Admittedly, she was a little curious to know what Bonnie would describe her as to other people. Hopefully it wouldn't be something too embarrassing. "What would you describe me as, then?"

Bonnie hummed in thought, drumming her fingers on the table. There were a few words she'd use to describe Marceline to others; cute, funny, cuddly, smart,  _incredibly_  attractive, talented – but she knew that Marceline would probably roll her eyes and deny most of them, and tell her to say she was scary and punk rock to anyone who asked.

Eventually she sighed, her chosen adjectives rolling off her tongue with ease, "Funny, gorgeous, talented. Smart." And, to push her luck, "Cute."

Marceline sent her a doubtful look, but she didn't try to deny anything, to Bonnie's surprise, "Thank you."

"No worries," Bonnie smiled.  _You asked, after all_. "Are you busy after school?"

"Probably not, unless Simon decides we're going out for dinner or something." Marceline shrugged, "Which you'd probably be invited to since my brother moved out."

Bonnie knew that Marceline was still pretty upset about that – even if she tried to mask it by saying she didn't care what Marshall did – so she tried to have a more positive outlook. She decided to focus on good things, things that would make Marceline happy.

"Hey, he's coming back for a month in December," Bonnie pointed out, omitting the part where Marceline's Dad would be there too, "For Christmas and all. And you still get to see him at school."

"It's not -" Marceline stopped herself before she could say  _it's not the same, it feels like we're just acquaintances and not siblings_ , "He barely talks to me at school. I hate to say it but I miss him."

Bonnie tried not to mention how she could relate to that. Missing people was the worst. "I know, Marcy. But you'll get used to it. It's barely been a month. It'll be fine, I promise."

Marceline let out a soft huff, not mentioning how she wished that she was closer to her brother. How she wished he hadn't left, jumping at the chance to move back in with their Dad. Maybe if her Dad wasn't her Dad, she would've gone with him. Maybe if her family wasn't so messed up.

But her Dad didn't care about her, and her family was her family. She just had to make the best of the hand she'd been dealt.

"Hey," Bonnie bumped her knee against Marceline's in a way she  _hoped_  was comforting, "If you get lonely, I'll move in with you and bug you around the clock. 24/7."

Marceline laughed, "Very funny. You know I wouldn't mind it if you moved in. You're great."

Bonnie hummed, a happy smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "It's good to know you think that. I might turn up at your house with suitcases if my Mom gets any more overly protective than she already is."

"Protective parents suck." Marceline commented. She'd had experiences with a protective Simon before; he'd always let her brother go to parties but she had to say at home. When he'd explained to her why he used to be like that, it was because she seemed  _younger_. Whatever that meant. "Just tell her to chill out a bit. You're eighteen in less than two weeks."

Bonnie just shrugged. Sometimes her Mom's protectiveness got on her nerves, but other times she was okay with it. "She has her reasons."

Marceline raised an eyebrow. "What? Were you an unruly kid or something and got into trouble? Did the stuck-in-tree situation freak her out?"

"No, it didn't." Bonnie said it so harshly that it was almost  _snapped_ , and Marceline looked a little taken aback. More softly, she added, "She just has her reasons."

Marceline sighed, "Well, if you need time away from that, you know my door is always open."

Bonnibel flashed her a light smile to show Marceline that she wasn't angry or upset; she felt kind of guilty for snapping at her girlfriend. "Yeah, I know. And I really appreciate that."

Marceline smiled back at her; she still looked a little confused, probably because she  _knew_  that there was something Bonnie wasn't telling her, but she wasn't going to push. She didn't like it when people pushed her to talk about things that upset her, so as a rule she never did that to anybody else.

"Thanks for not pushing me," It was like Bonnie had read her mind, "It means a lot since I kind of pushed you to open up about other things."

Marceline just shrugged, "As long as it isn't something that endangers you, I won't push for an answer."

Bonnie's smile sunk into a frown, "What do you mean by  _endangers_  me?"

Marceline rubbed her chin in thought, trying to come up with a decent example, "Like..."  _Okay, so maybe this one is a little far-fetched,_  "say your family was being hunted down by an assassin or something. That'd endanger you and be a good reason for Mom to be protective."

Bonnibel laughed, her hand squeezing Marceline's under the table, "I can promise you it doesn't endanger me, then. It's just…bad memories."

When Bonnie turned her attention to their teacher, Marceline couldn't help but wonder what  _bad memories_  meant. What was so bad that Bonnie couldn't tell her? They were together; they weren't supposed to have secrets, and she was kind of worried that Bonnie didn't trust her enough to explain this to her. It didn't seem like such a big deal. She worried that something bad had happened to her girlfriend, something potentially  _scarring,_  and that really freaked her out.

But most of all, she wondered if she'd ever find out.

* * *

"Are you meeting Marceline after school?" Finn asked her as he hit the lever under his computer chair, moving himself up and down.

"Yeah, I am." Bonnie said, copying and pasting a little line of text from one of her open documents into a new one, "She gives me a ride home from school every day. I thought you knew that."

"I sort of did. I've seen you getting in her car a few times." He replied. He spun the chair this time; apparently going up and down had stopped entertaining him.

She shrugged, not looking away from her computer screen. At least, aside from when she glanced down at the keyboard. She hadn't quite mastered the skill of typing without looking yet. She didn't spend much time on the internet. "She gives me her keys when she knows she's going to be a little late out." As proof, she pulled Marceline's car keys from her cardigan pocket, which Marceline had given to her at the end of break. "See?"

"She trusts you with her car keys?" He seemed a little shocked by that; she didn't know if she should be offended or not.

"Yeah. I can't drive, so it's not like I'm going to steal her car and drive back to New York." Bonnie replied, clicking the  _save_  button on a word document; she always got a little paranoid if she didn't save every so often, and she didn't exactly trust the school systems – last year in English, the computers had all crashed and half of her class lost a lot of work.

"Huh." Finn turned back to his computer, "She won't even trust me enough to tell me what instruments she plays."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, because  _really, Marceline? A little immature_ , and the list came out of her mouth before she could stop it, "Violin, guitar, bass, piano, keyboard, banjo, ukulele, harp and…I  _think_  she just finished learning mandolin. I'll have to check about that last one."

"Whoa," Finn stared at her, partly shocked at how many instruments Marceline could play and partly surprised that Bonnie had the full list memorised, "I don't even know what a mandolin  _is_."

Bonnibel laughed, "Honestly, Finn? Neither do I."

She saw the wide smile double in brightness when the bell rang to signal the end of the school day, and people began packing their things away, "Well, that's good." He pushed his things off the table with his arm, letting them fall into his open backpack, "I'll see you tomorrow, Bubblegum."

As he slung his backpack over his shoulder, she smiled at him, "Bye, Finn."

He walked out of the room with a smile on his face – as usual – and she sat waiting for her computer to shut down before she began packing away her things. She was just happy that the only thing she got out for this lesson was a notepad and pen – they rarely ever used anything other than the computers for work. Sometimes she made additional notes, but not often.

She zipped up her backpack, keeping Marceline's keys in her hand, when she felt a rough hand on her shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

She brushed it off with a laugh, expecting it to just be Marceline or one of her friends trying to scare her, "Marceline, that wasn't funny. You almost gave me a heart attack."

She was taken off guard completely when a harsh, female voice replied, "Your little girlfriend isn't here."

Bonnie recognised the voice. She was absolutely  _certain_  that she did. It was hard to forget when that same voice had spat out a horrible slur at her, right before giving her a concussion. And that  _terrified_  her.

She'd like to say she got up and ran for a teacher, or defended herself in a fist fight and came out victorious, but she'd be lying.

She froze.

Her brain seemed to have paralysed every single inch of her body – she didn't run, she didn't even turn around to see who it was. She just sat there, staring at the dark computer screen. Fight or flight? More like fight, flight or  _freeze_. "What do you want?"

The hand left her shoulder then, and she felt her chair spin around – instead of her staring at a blank computer screen, she came face to face with a pale girl with chestnut brown hair. Her face was warped into a scowl, but Bonnie recognised her. She couldn't remember the girl's name, but she knew that she'd been on the History trip, hanging around with LSP. And from just that tiny piece of knowledge about the girl, Bonnie was scared. What had LSP told her?

The girl dropped two binders filled with paper into her lap, "You're going to do that for me."

Bonnie blinked at her.  _What the hell_?  _Who does this girl think she is?_  "Are you asking me to do your  _homework_? I don't think that's -"

Although the fact that the girl wasn't threatening her because she was  _gay_ was reassuring, she still wasn't going to do someone else's homework. Maybe if she offered to tutor –

The girl's voice cut her train of thought's journey short.

"I don't care what you  _think_." The girl spat at her, folding her arms across her chest, "It's not homework. If I don't make up that work, I don't get to graduate, and I think there's a little something about you that you don't want getting out."

Bonnie's stomach sank so far down she was fairly certain she was standing on it. That would explain how heavy it felt.  _Oh,_ Bonnie thought,  _so she is threatening me for being gay._  Great.

"Are you  _blackmailing_  me?" Bonnibel held up a defiant glare, hoping that the girl couldn't tell how terrified she was, how her heart was beating way too fast and she felt dizzy, like she was going to pass out. She stood up, the binders falling from her lap and onto the floor, papers spilling everywhere. She folded her arms across her chest. "I'm not going to do that."

The girl's glare was even more terrifying than the ones Marceline had sent her from before they were friends, and Bonnie wasn't certain that this girl wouldn't kick her teeth in. In fact, she looked like she was about to.

 _Oh no,_  Bonnie thought _, you've made her angry, you idiot. Run, run now_.

But stupidly, Bonnie ignored her brain and made a completely idiotic move as the girl moved towards her and her actual fight or flight kicked in. She genuinely believed that from the angry, hateful look on the girl's face that she would be  _dead_  in a maximum of two seconds, so naturally she tried to defend herself. So she punched her.

Sort of.

It came out more like a slap, accompanied by an irritatingly girlish squeal as her hand came in contact with the girl's freckled cheek. Bonnie barely even registered what she'd done until after she'd done it, and she knew she'd made everything ten times worse.

That's when everything went fuzzy.

The first thing she noticed was a blinding pain centred on the left side of her face, mostly in the eye. All she could see was stars, and she knew if she was a cartoon character there'd probably be birds flying around her head. Her hand went up to her face in a far too late attempt at protecting herself and then she grabbed her backpack, slinging it over one shoulder and drunkenly ran from the classroom, away from the girl.

She was certain that her eye was swelling shut, and  _fast_ , so she opened it as best she could – her vision distorted and choppy – and ran to the parking lot, feeling like someone was following her the whole way there.

Out of paranoia, she spun around to see if the girl was following her, but she didn't stop running for a second. Naturally, when she collided with someone and their arms wrapped around her, her mind jumped to the worst and she froze in fear. "Please don't hurt me."

"Hey, Bonnie! It's just me."

Every single muscle in Bonnibel's body relaxed, and she finally looked up to see a very concerned Marceline. Relief washed over her like a tsunami and she threw her arms around Marceline's neck, burying her face in her girlfriend's shoulder.

She didn't know how long she cried for.

* * *

"Tell me what happened." Marceline asked for what seemed to be like millionth time. "Please, Bonnie. I need to murder whoever gave you a black eye."

Her eye was now swollen shut completely – she still hadn't gone home to tell her parents, and she'd been refusing to tell Marceline anything for the past hour or so, in the hopes that the person who knew she was gay wouldn't tell anyone if they didn't get into trouble.

(She knew it was a long shot, but it was worth a try.)

"I can't," She sighed at her fuzzy reflection in Marceline's car window.

"I'm not letting you out of this car unless you tell me what happened," Marceline folded her arms across her chest, locking the doors from where she was sat to prove she was serious. "Just tell me. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

That last part appealed to her a lot. "Some girl…knows I'm gay. And she knows that you're my girlfriend. She was the one who gave me the concussion last month. She was going to use that to get me to do all of this school work for her."

"You need to tell the principal." Marceline sighed, "She can't just blackmail you. Did you see who it was?"

"I  _can't_  tell the principal. If she gets into trouble she'll tell everyone I'm gay." Bonnie huffed, "I don't want that to happen. If I just let her get away with it –"

"You  _can't_  just let someone get away with giving you a fucking black eye." Marceline snapped at her. "I'm not going to let anyone get away with that. You either tell me, or tell the principal."

Bonnie stared at her. She knew Marceline would go straight to the principal if Bonnie told her who it was, or she'd get angry and do something stupid and probably get herself suspended. Bonnie couldn't win. She had to keep this to herself if she wanted to come out relatively unscathed.

"No." Bonnie shook her head, "I'm not telling anyone. Not you, not the principal. Nobody."

"You do realise your parents aren't going to miss the fact that your eye is  _swollen shut_ , right?" Marceline pointed out, and Bonnie had to admit that she had a point. Mom wouldn't leave her alone until she told, and she'd definitely go to the principal. "You can't just let this slide, Bonnie."

Bonnie thought about it. She didn't want the person who did this to out her, so if she just ignored it and acted like the bigger person, she'd be fine. Right? If she told her parents, they'd freak out and ring school straight away, and the girl would  _definitely_  get into trouble. Her Mom would make sure of that. Marceline might just threaten her and get her to leave her alone.

"You…" Bonnie sucked in a deep breath, "You have to  _promise_  me that you won't go running to the principal the second you find out. And that you won't get angry and do something you'll regret."

"I promise," Marceline squeezed Bonnie's hand in reassurance, "Just tell me who did this."

"You know the girl that LSP was with on the History trip? I think you narrated her life when we were waiting to get into the theme park." Bonnie tried to prompt Marceline's memory, "It was her. She knows somehow."

Marceline's face sunk into a frown. "Maja?" She gripped onto the steering wheel tightly, "I mean, she's always been a bitch but I just assumed she was harmless. I didn't think she could…" She trailed off, staring at the red bruising that was forming around Bonnie's left eye, "Does it hurt a lot?"

"Yeah," Bonnie nodded, flinching as Marceline gently probed the bruised area, "Should we get some ice for it?"

"I think we should," Marceline glanced towards Bonnie's house – they'd been parked outside for the past forty minutes, "Are your parents in?"

"I don't know." Bonnie shrugged, "I think my Mom is. She was working the early shift at the hospital today so she should be home."

Marceline unlocked the car doors, "Are you going to try and hide it?"

Bonnie shook her head. Her Mom would figure something like that out eventually. And she was a doctor, so she could help. "My parents would notice if I didn't show my face until it healed. I'd probably manage about ten seconds. I'll just tell them we've sorted it and told a teacher."

Marceline really didn't want to go along with that plan. She knew she should tell the principal, and she was incredibly tempted to find Maja and give her a matching black eye, but she'd promised Bonnie and she was going to stick to that. At least until she got home.

(Bonnie never said anything about not telling Simon.)

Marceline followed Bonnie inside, and as Bonnibel had predicted, her mother was home. As usual, she came out from the living room to see how Bonnie's day had gone, and her curious expression morphed into one of horror. "Bonnibel?"

Bonnie awkwardly sent her a smile, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible. "Oh. Hey, Mom."

Lynn didn't buy that act for a second, "What the  _hell_  happened to you?"

Bonnie saw her take a quick glance at Marceline - who had sat on the staircase and was struggling to untie her shoelaces – and she knew what her Mom was thinking. She quickly shot that down, "No, no, Mom. It's fine. Seriously. Nothing happened."

"I wouldn't call a black eye  _nothing_ , Bonnibel." Lynn folded her arms across her chest and sent Bonnie a hard stare. Bonnie knew that translated roughly into  _you're not leaving until you tell me everything_.

Marceline glanced up at Bonnie. To be honest, she wanted to second Lynn's statement and tell the truth right there, but Bonnie sent her that pleading look and she sighed, "Yeah, Bonnie's telling the truth. Everything is fine."

Bonnie nodded in concurrence, "Yeah. Some girl hit me but we told the principal and he's going to sort it. I just want to get some ice on my eye, please."

Lynn sighed, and Bonnie knew she wasn't satisfied with that answer. Whatever, she'd make something else up later. She just wanted her Mom off her case, and she was extremely thankful when she left them alone to get some ice for Bonnie.

Bonnie kicked off her shoes and turned to Marceline, nodding towards the lounge, "Do you want to come in?"

Marceline stood up, "Yeah, sure. I don't think it's a good idea to lie to your parents about this, Bon. This is serious."

"It's  _fine_. If I don't get her into trouble, she won't out me." Bonnibel insisted, repeating "It's fine," for emphasis.

Marceline blew air from her nose as she sat down on the couch next to Bonnie, "It's…we have to tell someone the truth and actually sort this out. You can't just let her do this to you and walk away without at  _least_  a detention."

"A  _detention_  isn't going to stop her from outing me." Bonnibel argued, "I  _hit_  her, Marceline. That's why she did this to me."

To Bonnie's complete surprise, Marceline laughed, "You hit her? I'm impressed." Marceline sent her a soft smile and kissed her on the temple, just above the bruise, "I hope you did some damage. I expect to see half her teeth knocked out tomorrow."

 _And there she goes again, working her magical cheering-up powers_ , Bonnie thought as she actually laughed at Marceline's declaration. "I didn't hit her hard. It was more of a slap, really. All it did was make her angry and that's why she did this, but if I tell the principal I'll get in trouble for picking a fight."

Marceline laughed even harder at that, " _You_  in detention for fighting? That's hilarious." Marceline gave her a soft squeeze, "God, I'm being a terrible influence on you. First thing you're getting into fights and soon you'll be ditching class to get piercings and drink alcohol."

Bonnie rolled her eyes – well, eye – but her smile mitigated its effect, "Shut up. I'm hurt, don't make fun of me."

"It's cheering you up though, isn't it?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, "The thought of you breaking any rules is funny enough to cheer up an entire  _nation_ , because you've so obviously never broken a rule in your life."

"I've…I  _have_ ," Bonnie scoffed, "not that that's any of your business."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "Of course it's my business. You're my business."

"That would've been romantic if you weren't such a jerk," Bonnie replied as her Mom handed her a bag of frozen peas and she held them to her eye, relaxing in relief.  _That_  felt good.

"Wow. I'm hurt." Marceline clapped a hand to her breastbone in mock offence, "I'm romantic all the time. How could you doubt me?"

Bonnie huffed, "You're  _jerky_  all the time. Not romantic." Marceline sent her a mock pout, and she felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "But there are worse people to be stuck with."

Marceline sent her a bright smile, "You're sweet. I'll buy you some  _get better soon_  candy to make you feel better, yeah?"

Bonnie hummed in thought, "Yeah, I'd like that. Get me some Nerds, please."

Marceline sent her an obviously feigned look of horror, "I can't do that! Isn't that basically cannibalism?"

That one earned her one of Bonnie's soft smacks to her arm, "Shut up."

"What? No witty comeback including a synonym of  _annoying_?" Marceline frowned at her like she was trying to figure something out, "God, she must've knocked something loose in there." She tapped on Bonnie's skull for emphasis.

"Oh, shush." Bonnie swatted Marceline's hand away from her, "You're exasperating. Irksome. Tiring. Bothersome. Vexing. Are you happy now?"

"Glad to know you're okay," Marceline said, sinking down on the couch. They sat in silence for a moment and Bonnie was certain that her Mom was going to start questioning them again, and she felt incredibly relieved when Marceline laughed.

But because the outburst was completely random, Bonnie was curious, "What?"

"Is it bad that -" She stopped herself with a laugh, "Is it bad that I really want to see you slapping her on the CCTV? If there is any where it happened, anyway. I feel like that'd be hilarious and I keep imagining it in my head and I really want to see that, oh my god."

Bonnie sent her the best glare she could in her condition, "You're about to witness one of my slaps live if you don't stop laughing."

Marceline managed to control her laughter for long enough to send Bonnie a challenging stare, "Is that a threat, Butler?"

"It might be." Bonnie folded her arms across her chest, "What are you going to do about it?"

Marceline opened her mouth to retort, but Lynn cut in before she could send a  _hardly_  intimidating, probably adorable threat Bonnie's way. "Can you two stop bickering for long enough to tell me what happened?"

"It was nothing, Mom." Bonnie replied, "I already told you. A girl hit me and we told the principal about it. He's going to make sure everything gets sorted out."

"Sorted out  _how_?" Lynn stared Bonnie down, and for a moment she feared that her Mom knew she was lying.

"Um…" Bonnie glanced over at Marceline as she tried to think herself out of this, "I can't…I can't think…Marceline? Do you remember what he said?"

Bonnie felt  _horrible_  for dropping Marceline in there like that, but she knew that Marceline was a good liar. She could help.

"He said she was going to be suspended and then when she gets back she has detention until the next school holidays." Marceline easily responded. Inside, she felt horrible for lying to Bonnie's Mom. She could already feel the guilt in the pit of her stomach.

"Yeah," Bonnie nodded, "That's it."

Lynn squinted at them both, as though she was trying to find a hole in their fabricated story. "Okay." Bonnie tried not to make her sigh of relief seem that obvious, "But I think you need some rest, so…"

Marceline looked over at Bonnie, "I'll go."

Bonnie sighed, shuffling over and pressing a soft kiss to Marceline's cheek, "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. Are you still giving me a ride?"

"I always give you a ride. I'll see you tomorrow." Marceline squeezed her hand and got up from the couch, "Bye, Bonnie."

"Bye," Bonnibel watched after her until she disappeared from sight, and stared down at her lap. Maybe if she didn't make eye contact, her Mom wouldn't question her anymore.

The room stayed silent until they heard the front door close after Marceline. As though that was her cue to talk, Lynn sat down on the couch next to Bonnie and found her hand. "You can tell me anything, you know. I know that you were lying, and I'm not sure why you did that at all. The only reason I can think of is that you were trying to protect someone. Like Marceline."

Bonnie frowned at her, "Why would I be trying to protect  _Marcy_? I was the one that got hit, Mom. Not her."

"If she…" Lynn took in a deep breath and Bonnie could tell by the serious look on her face that she wasn't joking around. Not that her Mom ever really did that. "If she hurts you, you can tell me. You don't have to -"

"No, no, you've – you're totally mistaken, Mom. Marceline wouldn't – she'd  _never_  hurt me." Bonnie was shocked her Mom had even  _thought_  of that, "She couldn't if she tried."

"It's the most logical explanation, Bonnibel." Lynn argued, "And if you're trying to protect her, you  _shouldn't_."

" _It wasn't Marceline_!" Bonnie almost shouted, jumping up from the couch, "I was telling you the truth. You know the girl that gave me a concussion? It was her. She hit me."

Lynn looked sceptical, "Why did you seem like you were lying, then?"

"I -" Bonnie really didn't want to tell her Mom, but she'd rather have her parents tell the principal about Maja and get her outed than have them think Marceline was abusive.  _God_ , no. "We didn't go to the principal. I didn't want to get the person into trouble because they know about my relationship with Marceline and I don't – I'm not ready to be out yet. I convinced Marceline to go along with it, and she did, because she's amazingly sweet and cares about me a lot. Please don't call the school."

"We have to." Lynn folded her arms across her chest, "We have to tell them that you were hit on school grounds."

Bonnie just sighed, "If I don't get the girl into trouble, she might not out me. I don't want to tell." She stood up, making her way to the door, "And I don't want a lecture as to why I should. I already got one from Marceline. You know, that amazing, caring girlfriend of mine."

With that, she stalked out of the room and upstairs, where she proceeded to text Marceline a huge rant about how tomorrow at school everyone would probably know that they were girlfriends. She just hoped Marceline's reputation was enough to scare people off. It'd been enough to scare LSP from outing Bonnibel.

Yeah, they'd be okay.

(She hoped.)


	58. fifty-eight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bonnie gets a birthday surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings - eating disorder (implied)

**Wednesday 26** **th** **November 2014**

A week and two days. It'd been a week and two days since the incident with Maja, and not a word had been said about Marceline and Bonnie's relationship. At least until she got to school that morning and everything seemed  _different_.

Bonnie had never exactly been a person who turned a lot of heads when she walked by; aside from her pink hair, there wasn't anything that stood out about her. She was mostly average and it's not like she was a loud, outgoing person like Finn or Jake. But when she walked into school that morning, everyone was staring at her.

At first, she thought it was because it was her birthday. Maybe the school did things on people's birthdays. Maybe she would be getting a surprise later. She didn't know. She peacefully ignored the other possibility because it'd been over a week; she doubted Maja would wait that long. Right? Besides, Maja wasn't even back from her suspension.

Bonnie didn't know how that had happened, either. She'd guessed that her parents had called in, but when she'd asked them they'd denied it, and they had no reason to lie to her. Maybe Marceline had told someone. She knew there was some residual anger about last week's fiasco, so she wouldn't be surprised. Maybe just a little upset.

When Bonnie met up with Marceline by her locker – her girlfriend had headed to the music room to pick something up while Bonnie had gone straight into the main school building – the staring was suddenly accompanied by whispering. Whispering that set Bonnie on edge. Whispering that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Whispering that was so quiet, she couldn't tell if it was positive or negative.

Whispering that terrified her.

It didn't stop her from walking to class with Marceline, though. She acted natural – she kept a good amount of distance between herself and her girlfriend to make them look reasonably platonic – and when they sat down at their usual desk in Simon's room, she leaned in close and started whispering herself, "Everyone's acting weird. I keep getting stared at."

"I think they know something." Marceline said, supplying, "Something about us. I heard the word  _lesbians_  whispered a few minutes ago."

"But  _how_? How did this happen?" Bonnie asked aloud, before shaking her head. No, people couldn't know. She wasn't ready for people to know. They weren't allowed to know, so this couldn't be happening. "No. This isn't – people don't know about us, Marceline. It's fine."

"Maybe it's not such a bad thing," Marceline offered, "I mean, we can act like girlfriends at school. That'll be -"

"Unless we get people saying homophobic things to us. Unless it somehow gets to your Dad and we have to break up." Bonnie listed, "Unless…unless you get taken away from me somehow."

"Nobody can take me away from you." Marceline assured, a soft smile on her face, "I promise. We'll be okay."

Bonnibel sighed, "We're – I'm just going to act like your platonic friend until I'm  _sure_  people know. I'm just…scared."

"You shouldn't be scared of what other people think, Bon," Marceline murmured, tucking a loose strand of Bonnie's hair behind her ear, "That's a sucky way to live."

She thought about that all through physics. And English lit, too. Maybe it's because she had Marceline to stare at and think about. If she cared too much about other people judging her for who she dates, does that mean she'd be closeted forever? Would she lose Marceline if she wasn't open about her relationship? Would staying closeted make losing Marceline more likely than being out?

All the thinking gave her a dull ache in her temples and she was thankful for a breath of fresh air at break. Even though it was pretty cold out, her friends sat outside relaxing on two picnic benches, chatting as they usually would.

At least until Bonnie and Marceline sat down with them. They attempted to act natural; Finn and Jake engaged her in a conversation about a small get-together on Saturday to celebrate her birthday – she'd already made plans with Marceline for after school – but it didn't take Bonnie's mind off of how weird some of her friends were acting. Gumball, Fionna, Cake and – surprisingly – LSP were staring at her like the rest of the school. Apparently they were too polite to ask her about whatever was on their minds. Bonnie wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

Bonnibel was incredibly thankful when the bell rang, signalling her next lesson. She was about to set off for her IT class with Finn, but Fionna caught up with the two of them and pulled her aside. She looked a little worried, as though Bonnie would get angry at her for asking questions.

All she said was, "Is it true?"

Bonnie frowned at her, "Is what true?"

Fionna sighed, murmuring even more softly, "You and Marceline."

 _Oh_ , Bonnie thought as her throat closed over,  _people do know_. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, and wrung her hands together as a way of distracting herself from her panic. It didn't work all that well.

The only thing she could think of was  _how_.  _How_  did people know about it all of a sudden? Had Maja timed it just perfectly so her big birthday surprise was to be outed to the whole school? Now that she thought about it, it was actually kind of genius; turning a day that was supposed to be good into something horrible should be pretty effective for her. Great.

Eventually, Bonnie nodded and let out a strangled, "Yeah."

Fionna blinked at her. Apparently she hadn't been expecting that answer. "I thought she was straight."

"About as straight as a roundabout," Bonnibel muttered to herself in the hopes of cheering herself up. It didn't work. "She's bisexual. We've been dating for just over five months."

"Five – and you didn't tell us?" Fionna sent her an incredulous look, "Why didn't you want us to know?"

"I figured it'd get to LSP somehow," Bonnibel shrugged, "Lady, Finn, Jake, Marshall and Phoebe know, though. And the rest of Marceline's bandmates."

"You told  _Phoebe_  but you didn't tell me?" Fionna seemed more bothered about how Bonnie hadn't told her than the fact that she was dating Marceline, and honestly, Bonnie found that hilarious. Apparently her laughter did nothing to soothe Fionna, "Seriously? You could've told me!"

Bonnie just shrugged, the heavy feeling in her stomach slowly subsiding, "I just…I wasn't ready for it to get out. How did you find out?"

"The whole school knows." Fionna pointed out. Bonnie's chest tightened. "Everyone is kind of confused about if it's true or not. The people who've asked me have said that you two are cute, though."

Okay, that made her feel a little better. At least now she knew why people were staring. Of course, she was still pretty scared – other people may have bad reactions – but she was trying to do what Marceline had said in physics and not care what others thought. It was incredibly hard, but she was trying.

As long as she didn't get hurt in the process. As long as  _Marceline_  didn't get hurt, either. She just hoped that her classmates would be nice, and she knew that was a pretty big thing to expect from high school students, but she could dream. There was a small possibility.

"Well…" She sucked in a breath, "It's true. Marceline is my girlfriend."

 _God,_ did it feel weird saying that out loud in  _school_. It was sort of relieving, though. It felt like she was getting a huge weight off her chest as she said the words. Marceline was her girlfriend.

"I'm kind of surprised that it wasn't LSP who told everyone," Fionna laughed, "Apparently Maja told people. How did she know?"

Bonnie just shrugged, motioning up to her black eye that was  _mostly_  covered by her makeup. "I don't know, but she gave me this. I think Marceline might've told on her, because she got suspended for it."

"Okay, I was just making sure if it was true or not," Fionna sent her a smile, "I've got to get to biology. I'll see you in History."

"Bye," Bonnibel replied. She was kind of surprised by how easy that was to talk about, but she supposed it was because Fionna was already her friend and knew of her orientation anyways. Either way, she was happy that all of her friends finally knew.

The rest of the school? Not so much.

She made her way back over to Finn and flashed him a smile, "You want to get to IT?"

"Sure," He nodded, "You do realise we're late, right?"

And then her usual mentality kicked in and her eyes widened considerably. She grabbed onto his wrist and began pulling him towards the main school building, running as fast as she could. It was times like this when she regretted how little effort she put into P.E class.

"Bubblegum, chill out," Finn huffed as he followed her up the stairs and towards their classroom, "It's only five minutes. Our teacher won't care."

Bonnibel shook her head, "Finn, I've been stared at enough today. I don't need to be stared at while I'm walking into a classroom five minutes late, too."

Even her running wasn't worth it. She walked in with Finn and her classmates spun around. The whispering started again when they spotted her, and she honestly felt like an animal trapped in the zoo.  _Look at that, man. A wild lesbian appeared_. No thanks. That's not what she was at school for. She was there to learn, not to be the newest piece of gossip or something to gawk at.

She tried her best to ignore the whispers as she made her way to her seat and switched her computer on.

It was going to be a long lesson.

* * *

Marceline noticed something was up when two freshman nervously walked up to her when she was in the library in her study period before lunch. To be honest, she hadn't registered them at first. She was too wrapped up in the new lyrics she was writing, which were actually coming along quite well; she was going to show them to Keila soon.

She only noticed the two kids when they sat down in the chairs opposite her and she looked up and scowled, "There's an entire library that's basically empty. Do you  _really_  have to sit there?"

They looked a little taken aback, and as bad as she felt, Marceline really wasn't in the mood to deal with people today. She'd already had three people ask her if she was a lesbian in the span of an  _hour_ , and it was getting tiring.  _No, fuck off_  had been her answer.

"We just wanted to know if you're dating that girl you're always with." One of them said, "The one with the pink hair."

Marceline leaned over her notebook, scribbling out a string of words that didn't fit with the song she was working on, "I really don't think that's any of your business."

The smaller of the two spoke then – a young girl who was probably only fourteen. "It's just…I think I might be… _gay_ , and I don't know how to come out."

 _That's not my problem_ , Marceline wanted to say,  _I'm not the fucking counsellor._ Instead, her expression softened and she just shrugged, "Just tell the people you care about first. Either that or just act extremely gay and talk about hot girls until they get the hint." After a pause, she added, "Or you could do what I did."

Both of the girls seemed to relax then, and Marceline felt even worse about snapping at them before. "What did you do?"

"Well, I'd just been out in the rain and my hair went all frizzy and my best friend pointed it out by saying  _your hair's not straight_  and I just kind of shrugged and said  _neither am I_." Marceline recounted. She was with Keila  _and_  Simon then, and it was good to get the two people she cared about most out of the way first. "Treating it like a joke made it a lot easier because it didn't make it a big deal. Just go for whatever's easiest for you and start telling people in your really close circle of friends. And make sure it's safe."

The smaller girl smiled at her, "Thanks. So you  _are_  dating that girl?"

"I'm bi, that doesn't mean I'm dating her." Marceline scribbled down another line of lyrics before shrugging, "Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not. Either way, it shouldn't matter."

She didn't want to tell anyone without getting Bonnie's green light so she decided that being allusive was probably a good plan for now. Either way, the girls seemed satisfied with her answer and went back to their corner of the library, chattering about things Marceline couldn't be bothered to pay any attention to.

She was incredibly happy when her phone screen lit up with a text from Bonnie.

_**Bonnie (12:32PM): Hey! I got let out of history early so I can come and meet you in the library if you want. It's quiet in there so we can talk things over.** _

Talk things over? What the hell did that mean? Marceline wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.

_**Marceline (12:32PM): okay sure. what exactly are we talking over?** _

_**Bonnie (12:33PM): Well, what we're going to do. The whole school knows about us, apparently.** _

Marceline had guessed that pretty quickly. She'd nearly punched a guy for asking where her girlfriend was. Turns out that guy was her brother.

(Yep. He was still lashing out at her.)

_**Marceline (12:34PM): there's nothing to talk over, they know, that's it. I can't erase memories or anything** _

"I know that," Marceline nearly jumped out of her skin as Bonnie sat down next to her, "I'm not asking you to build a time machine and stop Maja's parents from having her. I just want to know how we're going to go about this."

"I still don't get what you mean." Marceline said, "We're out. It's done."

"I  _mean_ , how are we going to confirm it?" Bonnie rolled her eyes, "We can't just walk up to every single kid we see whispering and say  _we're dating, get over it_. You'd probably explode from human interaction overload."

"Well, I'll make out with you in a crowded area and I'm  _sure_  people will get the message." It was sarcastic, but Bonnibel seemed on board.

"Okay. So…we can just start acting like a couple?" Bonnie asked. She looked nervous, and Marceline picked up on this. It kind of reminded her of how Bonnie was acting right before Marceline asked her to be her girlfriend.

"I guess so." Marceline just shrugged casually, "We should be fine with that. We've been doing it for nearly six months."

Bonnibel beamed, "We have. Should we celebrate that, by the way? I figure six months is a pretty big milestone."

"I guess we could. If you want." Marceline just shrugged, "It's not until December 18th and I'll probably be screaming about Christmas so much that you probably won't want to be within fifty feet of me."

Bonnie laughed, "You know me. I'll probably think it's cute."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "I could kill a guy and you'd think it's cute."

Bonnibel grabbed Marceline's hand and shrugged. She wasn't going to argue with that. Marceline managed to make virtually everything cute, like wearing glasses. Bonnibel had been asking her to put her glasses back on all week, but of  _course_ , Marceline refused.

"Come on. Let's go find our friends." Bonnibel tugged at Marceline's hand, so she closed her notebook and stuffed it in her backpack, following her girlfriend out of the library.

And of  _course_  people stared at them. Marceline was surprised that she wasn't the one that thought  _fuck them_  and kissed her girlfriend. It was Bonnie. When the whispering stared up, Bonnie rolled her eyes and pulled Marceline down, kissing her right there in the middle of the hallway. And when they pulled apart, people were staring at them with wide eyes and open mouths.

At least the whispering stopped.

Marceline locked their fingers together and kept a straight face until they were outside and relatively alone. "You are so badass."

Bonnibel beamed at her, "Thank you."

"I can't believe you did that." Marceline breathed, "God, you're so amazing."

"I just don't get why people are making such a big deal out of it," Bonnie shrugged, "I don't think it's a big deal."

Okay, that's a lie. A  _total_  lie. She knew it was a big deal. She was terrified, and she hoped Marceline couldn't see that. "Our school has never exactly had a queer couple before. Pretty sure we're the first. The first that came out, anyways."

Bonnibel just sighed, "I don't want to think about how the whole school is probably talking about us right now. It's our relationship, not theirs. I just want to focus on my birthday. You're still coming over tonight, right?"

"Of course." Marceline bobbed her head forwards in confirmation, "I need to give you your present, nerd."

Bonnie tried to forget about how she was the school's latest piece of gossip and flashed her girlfriend a soft smile, "Cool. We can cuddle and watch movies if you want."

"That doesn't really seem very  _special_ , does it?" Marceline replied, "You're eighteen. Shouldn't you do something really exciting? We could go out on the town and party it up like the badasses we are."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, "You'd better be kidding."

"I'm totally going to get you hammered tonight." Marceline stated, sending Bonnie that annoying smirk that make her heart ache, "Maybe I'll slip a little bit of vodka into your lemonade or something."

Bonnie jabbed a finger into Marceline's chest, "Don't you dare. If you do that there'll be hell to pay."

"Wow, I'm so scared," Marceline mocked her, "Literally terrified of what  _hell to pay_  means. You'd probably just try to turn me into your little lab monkey."

"Either that or I'd just smack you." Bonnie shrugged, her face softening at Marceline's hurt expression, "Don't look so hurt. You know I like you too much to do that."

"Good to know my sad puppy-dog eyes have an effect on you," Marceline smirked, "We'll have some fun. I have a surprise in mind."

That wasn't reassuring in the slightest; Bonnibel hated surprises. Whatever. She could trust Marceline. She just had to wait a few hours to find out what was behind that infuriating smirk on her girlfriend's face.

She hoped it'd be worth it.

* * *

"You know I hate surprises, right?" Bonnie quirked an eyebrow up but kept her eyes shut as Marceline had instructed. She knew they were in the car and driving somewhere; for all she knew, Marceline was going to take her to an abandoned hut and leave her there.

(Okay, she knew Marceline wouldn't do that, but still.)

"I didn't until you just said so." Bonnie could hear the tension in Marceline's voice, "Fuck. I'm sorry."

"It's -" Bonnie cut herself off with a soft laugh, "You don't need to be sorry. I'm sure whatever you have planned is great and I'm looking forward to finding out what it is."

"If you don't like surprises I could just  _tell_ you." Marceline offered in a strange murmur that really wasn't at  _all_  like her. "I was planning on -"

"No, don't tell me." Bonnie stopped her quickly, "You wanted to surprise me, so I'm letting you surprise me."

"But it's  _your_ birthday, not mine." Marceline pointed out, "I don't want to -"

Bonnie stopped her before she could voice another one of her insecurities, "You're not going to ruin it by surprising me. I want this." After a short pause, she asked, "Can I open my eyes, though?"

"Um, sure," Marceline nodded in confirmation, "Yeah. We're almost there, anyways."

Bonnie opened her eyes and spun round to look at Marceline, and when she did she couldn't stop the wide smile bursting across her face. To be honest, she didn't really want to. Maybe she  _did_  like surprises after all; Marceline was wearing a crisp white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and a simple black tie loosely around her neck. Of course, the trademark black skinny jeans were still there, but that just made the outfit all the more  _Marceline_. And Bonnie couldn't be happier about it. If this was what Marceline's surprises usually entailed, Bonnie was  _really_  on board. God. Bonnie's heart positively  _ached_  just looking at her.

"You look really nice," Bonnie murmured, the part of her brain that dealt with forming coherent sentences and her usually wide vocabulary seemed to have fizzled out, "Wow."

Marceline blinked at her. Bonnie could see the blush on her cheeks even though it was already fairly dark out. "You really think so?"

"Yeah," Bonnie stared at her, trying to ignore the cheerful fluttery feeling in her chest, "You look…wow."

"I think you said that already." Marceline pointed out, her focus not as towards her driving as it should've been, "Thank you. I would say the same to you but you look  _wow_  all the time."

"Oh,  _you_ ," was all Bonnie could get out; her brain was still trying to recover from her initial glance at Marceline. And  _god_ , that was hard for it to do. Bonnie was pretty sure she'd still be recovering next week, "Is  _this_ ," she gestured towards Marceline, "the surprise or am I going to have an even better evening?"

"Well, instead of taking you out for a drive like I told your parents, I'm taking you to dinner," Marceline explained, "That was the surprise. Ta-da." She took one hand off the steering wheel and waved it as though she was presenting something to Bonnie.

Bonnie knew why it was a surprise. They'd kind of ruled out dinner dates since Marceline basically insisted they'd probably end up on a certain topic she liked to avoid as a general rule, and she knew that Bonnie would be concerned about her. So Bonnie didn't get dinner dates.

She didn't  _complain_  about that – aside from once when Lady had asked her if she and Marceline would like to join her and Jake on a dinner date – but she was actually quite happy that she was getting one. Even if it was probably a one-time thing.

Bonnie decided she'd steer clear from monitoring her girlfriend's eating just for one night. If Marceline actually  _wanted_  to take her to dinner, maybe that was a sign that she was getting better. At least, Bonnie tried to interpret it as that.

"Okay, I like this surprise. You're awesome." Bonnie flashed her a grin, "And so is that outfit. God,  _please_  wear a tux to prom. I'll literally beg you." As Marceline laughed at her comment, Bonnie paused in thought, "Although, you in a dress is equally as attractive. Wear both."

Marceline laughed even harder, "I don't think that's possible, Bonnie."

"You'll find a way." Bonnie was only half serious – if she was being honest, she'd rather Marceline wore a tux, because  _damn_. If Bonnie's mental image was correct, she'd look amazing. Bonnie could barely function right now just by looking at her. "You're making this birthday really amazing. You're doing better than Bea ever did already."

Marceline grinned in a triumphant, almost  _cocky_  way. Bonnie knew she wanted to almost  _conquer_ what Bea had done in any way she could, like it was some sort of competition. Bonnie didn't really mind; competitive Marceline was cute. Not that Bonnie was going to mention how Bea had sent her a short 'happy birthday' text earlier. "So…where does this birthday land on a scale of one to ten?"

"Oh," Bonnie leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Marceline's cheek. Marceline was worried her brain would go haywire and she'd crash the car, " _Definitely_  a ten."

"Good," Marceline flashed her a smile, "and I'm sorry I don't take you on proper dates that much. I'm kind of boring."

"You're not boring," Bonnibel assured. They'd been on plenty of great dates; she wasn't going to complain that Marceline wasn't comfortable with dinner dates, "I promise, I love dating you. You don't have to take me out every week to be a good girlfriend. I like cuddling with you and watching Netflix. I especially like the kissing breaks."

Marceline's face flushed bright red. "Good. Good to know." She cleared her throat, "We can do something else if you want. Maybe  _you_  can pick the date idea sometime."

"My idea of a date is you helping me with my science experiments." Bonnibel had to stifle a laugh at Marceline's exaggerated fabricated look of horror, "Actually, I still stand by the idea that you'd look incredibly hot in a lab coat. Maybe we  _could_  do that some time."

Marceline's eyes widened considerably. "Please no. Knowing me I'd probably fuck up and die or blow your house up or something."

Bonnie laughed as Marceline's car slowed to a stop, "I know what I'm doing and I'd monitor you. Just to make sure you're doing it correctly."

"Which I probably wouldn't be," Marceline added, pulling her keys from the ignition and pushing her door open, "Come on then."

"We're here?" Bonnie sat up and her head whipped side to side as she took in their surroundings.

"No, I just decided to stop driving." Marceline rolled her eyes as she walked around to Bonnie's side and opened the door for her, "Get out of the car, nerd."

"You know," Bonnie started as she climbed out of the car and shut the door behind her, "the last time you said that to me it was after you told me we weren't friends and  _never_  would be. And here you are taking me to dinner on my eighteenth birthday."

Marceline made a sound that could only be described as  _psh_. She  _pshed_. "Well, technically we aren't friends. We're  _girl_ friends. So I was sort of right."

"Are you forgetting about the five months in which I considered you my best friend?" Bonnie raised a challenging eyebrow. Actually, she still  _did_  think of Marceline as her best friend. That's what made their relationship all the more amazing.

"Yeah, well," Marceline searched for a good argument. Naturally, she couldn't find one, "Whatever. I'm clearly not a psychic. My plan was to stay away from you."

"Because you have a crush on me," Bonnie teased, poking Marceline in the side, "And you were scared I'd figure that out because you're a cute little dork."

"Please don't call me that in public," Marceline didn't really look all that annoyed about. Bonnie had her suspicions that Marceline agreed with her and was just too  _punk rock_ to admit it.

Bonnie raised a teasing eyebrow, "So it's okay for me to call you that in private, huh?"

Marceline chewed on the inside of her lip, a soft blush on her cheeks. Bonnie couldn't help but feel a rush of pride. "Don't test me, Bonnie. I'm not afraid to drop kick you. I probably could since you're so short."

Bonnibel folded her arms across her chest and sent Marceline her best glare. Her best wasn't very good though, as it dissolved into a smile in seconds. "Shut  _up_. I'm 5'3, that's not  _that_  short. There are people shorter than me."

Marceline's left eyebrow quirked up, "You're forgetting that I have four inches on you. You're tiny to me."

"Like a gnome?" Bonnibel laughed to herself, wondering if Marceline would remember. She  _had_  been pretty drunk when she'd said that.

Judging by the smile on her face, Marceline remembered. "Yeah…sorry about that. I don't know if I offended you or not."

Bonnie shook her head as she followed her girlfriend into the restaurant; a little Italian place she didn't think she'd been before. Bonnibel figured they were just outside of town. "Of course you didn't. I like being your science gnome."

Marceline beamed at her, "Good. And I like being your…music giant."

Bonnibel laughed as a waitress directed them to their table. Apparently Marceline had made a booking. "Music giant?" Marceline pulled out her chair for her and she sat down, "You're not a giant. Your  _brother_  on the other hand, maybe."

Marceline hummed in agreement, "Yeah, true. He's just over six foot, actually. I'm only 5'7."

"I wish I was taller sometimes," Bonnie murmured, "because sometimes I can't reach the top shelf at the grocery store. Still, I'll have you to reach it for me. I doubt I'll grow any more since all of the women in my family are really short."

"My Mom was short." Marceline drummed her fingers on the table, "And I was really tiny before I hit my growth spurt. I don't know, I guess I got Dad's genes or whatever."

"I guess you did," Bonnie flashed her a grin, "Pass me a menu, would you?"

Marceline slid a menu across the table, "Here," she didn't bother getting one of her own, and she knew that Bonnie was shooting her an odd glance, "I don't need to look, I know what I'm getting."

"You come here a lot?" Bonnibel didn't look up from the menu, but she saw Marceline nod in her peripheral. "Do you know how big the portions are? Just so I know if I'll need a starter or not."

"Pretty big," Marceline said, "If you want we can get a garlic bread to share as a starter. I don't mind."

Bonnie held Marceline's gaze for a moment and sighed. She'd promised herself that she wouldn't bring this topic up. "Are you sure you can -"

"I'll be fine." Marceline harshly cut in before Bonnibel could finish her sentence, and Bonnie braced herself for a glare when her girlfriend looked up. Instead she was surprised by a pleading look, "Don't bring that up tonight.  _Please_. I want to have a good time with you."

Bonnibel let out a soft sigh and shrugged, "Okay. I was just making sure you're okay."

"I told you I'd be fine." Marceline busied herself by playing with her fork, "You don't need to check up on me. I'm not a child."

"I know you're not." Bonnibel assured. She tried not to bring up the fact that an eating disorder could  _kill_  her, and that worrying was perfectly justifiable. "We can talk about something else. I'm sorry for bringing it up."

Marceline sighed, "Alright. It's okay."

That didn't settle Bonnie; something about Marceline seemed a little  _off_. Maybe she was just overthinking things, but her girlfriend definitely wasn't as animated as she'd been before, and Bonnie knew it was her fault.

"I -" Bonnibel cut herself off before she could apologise. Staying on this topic any longer could make Marceline back out of this dinner date, and Bonnie didn't want to be alone on her birthday. "So how do you feel about that chemistry test we have soon?"

Marceline blinked at her. Apparently she hadn't been expecting that. "Um…okay, I guess. I hate tests and chemistry but yeah. It shouldn't be too bad."

"It's just an end of unit test. We'll both be okay," Bonnibel flashed Marceline a grin, rolling her knife under her fingers on the table by its handle. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Fine," Marceline murmured, but Bonnie could see the continuation of  _this was a bad idea_  about to roll off her tongue. "I don't think -"

Bonnie swiftly interjected, "That's good. We can focus on our orders, yeah? I think the garlic bread idea was really good. We can share that for a starter."

"Okay," Marceline nodded and fiddled with the end of her tie, "Happy birthday, by the way. I left your present at your house with your parents, so you can open it after I drop you off."

Bonnie smiled, "You didn't need to buy me anything."

"I would be a bad girlfriend if I didn't," Marceline replied, mirroring what Bonnie had said on her birthday, "Besides, your eighteenth birthday is important. You're legally grown up now."

"I am," Bonnie concurred, "I don't know how to deal with all of this newly found adulthood and responsibility. What will I do first?"

Marceline laughed, "On my brother's birthday we watched cartoons and I had like three juice boxes. I'm very mature, as you can tell."

Bonnibel chuckled, "That's sweet," she closed the menu and placed it in front of her on the table. "I think I know what I'm going to order. I would've brought some money along if you'd have told me we'd be going out."

"I'm paying." Marceline sent her a stern look that roughly translated as  _I'm putting my foot down on this_. "It's your birthday. This is part of your present."

Bonnie harrumphed. "I'll just get you some money from my room when we get back."

"I'll drive off before you can give it to me." Marceline folded her arms in defiance and stuck her tongue out, "I win, loser."

"You're so –" Bonnie stopped herself with a huff, "I'm going to find a way to pay you back. I always do."

Marceline scowled at her, but didn't push the topic. Bonnie assumed that meant that she'd given up with arguing and had decided to be stubborn. "You're annoying."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes, "Oh, shut up. What are you having to drink?"

"Coke, probably. I take it you're sticking with lemonade?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, rolling her eyes at Bonnie's prompt nod. "Naturally. I'll go and get them from the bar if you want. If the waitress comes, tell her I want a pepperoni pizza."

Marceline stood up from her chair and flashed Bonnibel a soft smile, tucking it back under the table. She spun on her heels and headed in the direction of the bar, but Bonnie didn't let her get too far.

"Hey, Marcy?" At the sound of Bonnie's voice, Marceline twisted her head round and smiled, "Thanks for taking me out tonight. I really appreciate it."

Marceline walked back over to her and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, "Don't worry about it, Bonnie. I'll be right back, alright?"

"Alright," Bonnibel smiled as she watched Marceline head over to the bar, forcing herself to look away and scan over the desserts on the menu.

Now that she thought about it, maybe being outed wasn't too bad. People hadn't freaked out at her like she'd worried they would, and Marceline seemed to be happier now that they were out. Bonnie tried to think about it positively.

What could go wrong?


	59. fifty-nine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> december 1st. good things happen.

**Monday 1st** **December 2014**

For once, Marceline woke up in a good mood. On a  _Monday_. If this had happened any other day of the year, she'd probably have checked herself into a hospital for some sort of illness.

But  _today_  was December 1st, and Marceline Abadeer was one of the most festive people you'll ever meet. Period.

Naturally, Marceline hummed the tune to as many Christmas carols she could think of as she was getting ready, and made a mental reminder to bake as many Christmas-themed cupcakes as she could when she arrived home, and she walked out of the front door with a spring in her step.

(Not even her brother nearly making them late could ruin her good mood.)

As she drove to school, Marceline blasted the Punk Goes Christmas album, singing along to her definite favourite,  _Fool's Holiday_  by All Time Low, while her brother rolled his eyes at her. She put the song on repeat and sang horribly on purpose to annoy him even more. It  _was_  the season of joy, after all; she might as well get a kick out of it.

She parked in her usual spot and heard Marshall let out a long, heavy sigh of relief as she turned the radio off. Smirking, she raised an eyebrow, "What? Are you not feeling festive?"

"You know," He started as he climbed out of the car, "Sometimes I miss when you were a quiet, moody bitch. I think 'hey, I miss living with Marce', and then you act like this and I change my mind."

She mock pouted at him, "Act like that all month and Santa won't bring you any presents."

"We've  _both_  known that Santa Claus was just Simon in a hat since we were eight." Marshall pointed out as he followed her into school, "Christmas isn't  _that_  great, you know."

Marceline twirled her car keys around her finger as she responded, "Christmas is fucking rad, dude. You just don't appreciate it because you're a Grinch."

"I'm  _not_  a Grinch," Marshall scowled at her, "Christmas just isn't as fun anymore. It was better when we were kids. More...magical. Yeah."

Marceline raised an eyebrow; she knew she could change his mind. "How would you feel if I said I was making cakes tonight?"

 _Yep_ , Marceline thought triumphantly as he perked up,  _it worked._ She knew that he had a weakness for her cupcakes. "If you're being serious I'll let you blast Christmas songs all year."

"I'll keep that in mind," Marceline responded, "Are you going to Simon's room?"

"Yeah." He nodded, "Aren't you?"

"Nope. I'm going to go and find Bonnie so I can harass her with festivities." Marceline said, glancing around the corridor for a flash of the distinctive pink hair.

Marshall laughed, "Alright. Try not to bug her too much."

They parted ways – Marceline heading in the direction of Bonnie's locker, and Marshall going to Simon's classroom, when she felt someone bump into her shoulder. Instinctively, her neutral expression morphed into a scowl; but not for long.

Marceline sent Phoebe an awkward smile, "Hey. Have you seen Bonnie?"

Phoebe quickly shook her head, looking over her shoulder to smile at a blushing Finn. "No. Sorry. Do you know where everyone else is? Finn and I are looking for them."

"I haven't seen them." Marceline said. She gestured around her with one hand in a non committal manner. "They'll be around. They're all like Bonnie: obsessed with having 100% attendance."

Phoebe laughed, "That's a good point, actually. Although, I don't think anyone can beat Bonnibel in that respect. She's probably had perfect attendance since nursery."

Marceline smiled at the mention of her girlfriend. "Yeah, she does. I'm going to go back to finding her. Later."

Phoebe sent her the widest smile she'd seen all year. "Bye."

Marceline continued down the corridor, and her good mood was amplified by about ten thousand when she caught sight of Bonnie's pink hair. Not caring about her stupid reputation for a minute, she broke out into a run towards Bonnie. Chest pressing into Bonnie's back, she wrapped her arms around her waist, giving her a gentle squeeze. "Happy December."

Bonnie spun around so she was facing Marceline, boosting herself up on her tiptoes and pressing a chaste kiss to Marceline's lips. She tried not to care about how people still stared when they showed any kind of affection. Her heterosexual peers could be on top of one another in the hallway and people never cared, but two girls holding hands?  _Blasphemy._ Must be stared at.

She greeted her girlfriend with a smile. "Hey. It's December already? I need to start my Christmas shopping. Want to come with me at the weekend?"

Marceline nonchalantly shrugged, her fingers linking with Bonnie's as they walked down the hallway. "I've already got my shopping done, but if you want me to help you, I will."

"It's December 1st. How have you finished already?" Bonnie sent her an incredulous look; she  _really_  hadn't expected Marceline to be so organised. Wasn't Bonnibel meant to be the organised one?

"I do it throughout the year. I have everything wrapped aside from yours, which is in the process of being delivered." Marceline explained. She'd done her Christmas shopping this way ever since she'd seen how stressed people got in December over buying stuff – she liked being relaxed and spending her December watching Christmas movies and drinking cocoa.

(And laughing at the people who were rushing to finish their present-buying. Not that she'd mention that to Bonnie.)

Bonnie smiled, "Then I'd love to have your expertise on hand."

"Want to come over tonight?" Marceline asked, "I'm going to decorate the Christmas tree and I may need some assistance."

Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand, "That sounds like fun. My parents and I don't usually decorate until later in the month."

Marceline looked at her like she'd just grown another head. "I'm sorry,  _what_? It's  _December_. Christmas time. Fun. Joy. All that jazz. You  _have_  to put your tree up."

"We can do mine later this week, yeah?" Bonnie compromised, "I'm sure my parents would be appreciative, because they won't have to do it."

Marceline pouted a little, nodding. "Okay. I guess that works. We're making cakes, too."

"Okay," Bonnie stopped them as they entered the math block, "Just out of curiosity, exactly  _how_  festive are you?"

"You mean on a scale of one to ten?" At Bonnie's little nod, Marceline continued, "Probably a solid fifteen. Why? Are you  _not_  festive?"

Marceline said that as though not being festive was some sort of crime against humanity. Bonnie just made a non committal hand gesture and shrugged, "I'm probably about a six on the scale. A ten on Christmas Eve, but it starts off as a six."

"Grinch." Marceline muttered as she pushed open the door to their math classroom. "I'm going to have to break up with you."

Ignoring that last part, Bonnibel let out a mock scoff, "What did you just call me? I am  _not_  a Grinch. I just don't get excited until the night before."

Marceline slammed her fist down on their usual desk as she sat in her seat, "That is a  _crime_ , Bonnibel. I sentence you to a  _million years_  in the dungeon."

"You  _never_  call me Bonnibel. It sounds weird coming from you." Bonnie frowned in distaste; Marceline felt her insides squirm in the best way. "Go back to Bonnie, please."

"I did it to express the seriousness of the crime you committed." Marceline said, folding her arms across her chest. Not being excited for Christmas the second December hit was blasphemy in her mind.

"You want to know what Christmas is?" Bonnie raised a teasing eyebrow, "A  _humbug._  Take that _._ "

Marceline's jaw dropped open, similarly to a fish out of water. "You just bought yourself another million years in the dungeon.  _Bad_  Bonnibel.  _You're_  a humbug."

Bonnie smiled to herself, pressing a soft kiss to the bridge of Marceline's nose. "You're adorable."

"Kissing me will only reduce your sentence by two weeks." Marceline declared, her eyebrows raised as though she was proposing some sort of a challenge.

Bonnie sent her a knowing smile and squeezed her hand. "I guess I've got a lot of kissing to do, then."

* * *

"You're absolutely  _covered_  in fake pine needles." Bonnie laughed as Marceline came out from the back of the tree after fitting the last fake branch, "Come here."

Marceline nearly tripped over one of the boxes full to the brim with decorations as she made her way over to Bonnie, who carefully began brushing the fake pine needles from Marceline's clothes – there were a  _lot_  stuck to her black cat sweater. Then, she picked little pieces from Marceline's wild mane of black hair, running her fingers through it to check she'd gotten everything out.

"You do realise I'm probably going to have to go back through there when we're decorating, right?" Marceline raised an eyebrow and sent Bonnie a smirk, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Scoffing, Bonnie nodded, "Of course, I just figured they'd get…itchy."

Marceline burst out laughing as she rummaged through the box or ornaments, scooping armful after armful out. "That was the  _weakest_  excuse I've ever heard. You just wanted to feel me up."

Bonnie tried to bite back her smile, shaking her head as Marceline draped tinsel across her shoulders. Trying to change the subject, she held out her hand, "Give me some ornaments. We'll decorate."

Marceline shook her head, producing a long, tangled line of lights. "We need to put these on first."

Bonnie's blue eyes widened as she stared at the impossibly tangled mess of wire.  _We're never going to get that untangled_. "That'll take about a decade to untangle."

Marceline shrugged, "For you, maybe. You're forgetting that I'm an expert at untangling earphones in the dark. I'll be done in five minutes, tops."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes and sat down on the carpet, "You just want me to sit and look pretty while you work on that?"

"That'd be great, thanks." Marceline said - she'd already managed to get a few of the knots out, which surprised Bonnie.

Bonnibel busied herself with getting the ornaments out of the boxes – she was surprised by how many they had – and once that was done, there was nothing to do but watch Marceline, who had untangled the lights with ease and was attempting to drape them on the tree in an awkward, haphazard manner. As the tree was slightly taller than her, Marceline had to boost herself up on her tiptoes to wrap the lights around them, which really wasn't going very well for her. In fact, she'd nearly knocked the tree over a few times.

After a few minutes of trying not to laugh at how frustrated Marceline was getting, Bonnie stood up and held the lights in place like the courteous girlfriend she was, as Marceline worked on getting them around the rest of the tree. Once that task was done, Bonnie gestured over her shoulder with her thumb. "Can we put the ornaments on now?"

Marceline squinted at the tree, as though she was trying to pick out any flaws, before nodding, "Yeah, we can. It's looking acceptable."

Bonnibel scooped up a few ornaments in her arms and began putting them on the tree, with Marceline watching her every move. She didn't try and reach up to put any near the top of the tree – she just  _knew_  she'd get a short joke from Marceline. Probably something likening her to an elf, just to keep with the festive theme for the evening.

Bonnie stepped back from the tree to pick up a few more ornaments, pleased with what she'd already done. Marceline didn't seem so sure - she was squinting at the tree as though something was wrong, maybe a bauble in the wrong place or something similar.

Bonnie frowned at her, "What? Is my decorating not good enough for you?"

Marceline shook her head and tore her gaze from the tree. "No, it's fine. I was just checking that you hadn't put them too close together, is all."

Bonnie sent her a smile and boosted herself up on her tiptoes to kiss Marceline's pale cheek. "Okay," She pulled the gold tinsel from her shoulders, "Do you want to put this on?"

Marceline quickly shook her head, "No! That's your festive outfit. You have to keep it on to be up to par with my festive kitty." She gestured over herself to reinforce this apparent new rule.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. Marceline's cat sweater was hardly festive. She wore it all year round, so it didn't count. In fact, the only festive thing about her girlfriend was the Santa hat perched on the top of her head.

She stretched and pulled her pink hoodie off, holding it out to Marceline, "Okay, if I have to wear tinsel, you have to wear my hoodie."

Marceline gestured across her body, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm wearing black jeans and a black sweater. I don't think that'll match my outfit."

Bonnie held the tinsel at arm's length. "No tinsel, then."

With a heavy sigh, Marceline leaned forwards and took the pink hoodie from Bonnie's hands and reluctantly slipped it on, zipping it up. "Are you  _happy_?"

Bonnie had to bite back the onslaught of cooing that was inevitable. Marceline in pink? Yeah, that was something she'd like to see a lot more often. "Oh my  _g_ _od_. You look  _adorable_!"

Marceline sank down on the sofa and put her head in her hands, and Bonnie could see the pink creeping up her neck and into her cheeks.  _Matches the hoodie_ , Bonnie thought. "You really felt the need to make me wear  _pink_?"

"You look adorable." Bonnie repeated; it was the only way to fight back those three words attempting to burst out of her. Distracting herself, she sat down and kissed Marceline's bright red cheek. Then, she draped the tinsel over her shoulders, "There. I've got my festive outfit back on."

Marceline glanced up at her, a small smile sneaking onto her face, "Good."

Bonnie smiled, before she leaned down and grabbed more ornaments, heading towards the tree to hang them on. Marceline watched until she was  _sure_  Bonnie couldn't see her and was completely engrossed in decorating, before she brought the collar of the hoodie up to her nose and inhaled.  _Smells like bubblegum_ , Marceline thought, a happy smile on her face.

Bonnie's hoodie was a little big on her as she stood up and  _incredibly_  warm – she wasn't going to lie, she liked it. Of course, she'd never admit that to Bonnibel; she'd never live that down. And Bonnie would probably make her wear it more often, which wouldn't do around their friends.

Instead, Marceline helped Bonnie put the ornaments on the tree until she was satisfied they were finished, and led her girlfriend to the couch, sitting her down. "Stay. I'll be right back."

Bonnibel frowned and went to ask her what she was going to do, but Marceline practically sprinted to the kitchen. She grabbed one of the cupcakes she'd made before Bonnie had arrived, and found two mugs, filling them both up with milk. She flung the cupboard door open and grabbed the hot chocolate mix, spooning a generous amount into each mug, before shoving them in the microwave. Making hot chocolate at top speed was one of Marceline's talents. That, and playing an ungodly amount of musical instruments.

Once the microwave beeped to signal that the drinks were done, Marceline stirred them both, before taking them back into the front room and passing Bonnie the cupcake, which had Santa's face iced on it. It was kind of wobbly - Marceline was neither an artist nor a chef - but better than something Bonnie could've done. "Hot chocolate and cupcakes. You're welcome."

Bonnie's face quickly shifted from confusion to happiness, and she leaned over and kissed Marceline as she sat down, "Thank you. You're the best."

Marceline grinned. She relaxed in her favourite position, wriggling between her girlfriend's legs and resting her head on her stomach. They sat like this when Bonnie wanted to read and Marceline wanted to watch TV. "Don't you know it?"

Bonnie laid back and closed her eyes, her fingers weaving through Marceline's ridiculously soft hair, as usual. That was another habit of sitting in their current position. She smiled to herself as she thought back through the day; Marceline humming Christmas carols as they worked on the tree, her good mood which hadn't been shaken all day, all of the passing smiles which Marceline would casually throw at her in class, making her breath catch in her throat and her stomach act like it was an Olympic gymnast. The way her girlfriend had been so pleasant with people was adorable - a few freshman had tried to scurry out of her way in the hallway at school, probably because of rumours they'd heard, and Marceline had smiled at them and given them candy canes. Seeing Marceline so genuinely happy was magical.

And to think, up until now, Bonnibel hadn't believed that December magic was actually a thing.


	60. sixty.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snowman building and tree decorating 2.0.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning - eating disorder (mention)

**Saturday 13th December 2014**

"I vote we play truth or dare." Cake announced as she stretched out on the soft white carpet on Lady's bedroom floor.

Inwardly, Bonnie groaned. She hated truth or dare – mostly because the choice between some horrible dare or telling her deepest darkest secrets was a hard one to make. Bonnie had always been rather secretive about things. The only people she really trusted aside from her parents was Marceline and Lady.

Thankfully, Jake had the same opinion. "We  _always_  play that. Can't we do something else? We could have a game of hide and seek, that'd be cool. And it's night time so it'll be like we're ninjas."

Finn nodded enthusiastically. "I like both ideas, but being a ninja sounds  _awesome_."

Marceline rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath and not expecting anyone to hear, "Children."

Bonnie bumped Marceline's shoulder with hers. "Shut up and let them have their fun. It's a sleepover, Marceline. Relax."

LSP easily discarded Jake's idea, and Bonnie could see her looking at Marceline out of the corner of her eye. Bonnie didn't like that look  _at all_. It meant LSP was up to something, and probably not a good something. "We're playing truth or dare.  _That_  has a majority."

Jake collapsed against Lady's bed, letting out a loud, irritated groan. Bonnie could relate. "Ugh, fine. You're all so boring."

LSP rolled her eyes, before a devilish smirk spread across her face and she stared at Marceline, who was too busy playing iPhone games to notice. "Abadeer. Truth or dare?"

Marceline didn't even look up from her phone. "Neither. Fuck off."

(Bonnie had to stifle a laugh from that.)

LSP's face morphed into one of shock and annoyance. "You can't do that. Don't you know the rules? You  _have_  to pick one."

Marceline let out a heavy, irritated sigh, dragging it out to convey the just the right amount of displeasure. "Fine. Truth."

LSP smirked. Looks like that was the answer she'd wanted Marceline to pick. "Tell us the details of your relationship with that nineteen year old."

"Go fuck yourself." Marceline replied, tapping the 'play' button on her game. Sensing that LSP expected  _something_ , she added, "What? You didn't say I had to answer it  _properly_. Just that I had to pick one."

Bonnie  _did_  laugh at that. "Count on you to find loopholes."

Feeling everyone's eyes on her, Marceline raised an eyebrow. "You didn't actually expect me to tell you morons  _anything_ , right?"

Lady merely shrugged, looking around the group before her gaze finally came to rest on LSP. "Actually, she has a point. I didn't expect anything from her."

Wanting to make the topic a little lighter for Marceline, she turned to her girlfriend and said, "I'm a  _moron_?" She folded her arms across her chest and sent Marceline a faux stern look.

"Not you. Just…certain people." Marceline gaze flicked over to LSP before she looked back down at her phone. "Do I have to ask someone now?"

"Yeah." Jake flatly responded, as though he was already bored with the game. Again, Bonnie could relate. So could Marceline. "Anyone you like."

Marceline rolled her eyes. "Bonnie. Truth or dare?"

 _Thanks, Marceline_ , Bonnie sardonically thought,  _really wanted that to happen_. "Truth, I guess."

"Um…why did you move here from New York?" Marceline asked. She was surprised she didn't know that yet – Bonnie  _was_  her girlfriend, after all.

 _I guess that wasn't so bad_ , Bonnie thought. She should've known Marceline wouldn't ask anything too personal or invasive. She was great like that. "Well, my Mom  _said_  it was because my Dad was offered a promotion here, but I know that it was to get me away from the bullying. They probably thought a change of setting was a good idea, so I could start fresh."

Marceline paused the game flashing on her phone screen and looked up at Bonnie, worry hidden in her eyes but not crossing onto her face. That remained neutral. She never showed emotion around Bonnie's friends. "You never told me you were  _bullied_. You just said you got outed. How bad was it?"

"Pretty bad. I mean, it was a religious school." Bonnie shrugged. "I'm not religious at all; my parents sent me there because of its good reputation, and even though I'd always been made fun of a little, it multiplied. More people started calling me  _horrible_  things, I would get tripped up in the hallways, and I had nobody to talk to about it. My only friend left me, so…" Bonnie trailed off, feeling everyone's eyes on her.

Marceline pulled her in for a hug, a feeling of protectiveness washing over her in waves. "I'm so sorry, Bonnie. I'll go kick their asses, if you want."

Bonnie laughed into Marceline's neck. "They'd  _kill_  you, Marcy. But the thought is nice."

Marceline pulled back from the hug, pressing a chaste kiss to Bonnie's lips. "I don't care if they'd kill me. I'd kill them first, for you."

Bonnie sent Marceline a smile. "Thanks. I'm pretty much over it now, though. I try not to think about it or what Bea did to me. I have better things to think about."

Bonnie's hand linked with Marceline's and she cleared her throat, looking towards her friends again. They were all looking at her with… _sympathy_? No, that wouldn't do. That made her feel vulnerable and small. "Okay. Gumball. Truth or dare?"

Almost immediately, Gumball replied with, "Truth."

Bonnie thought for a moment. "What's your real name? I don't know it."

"Brad." Gumball responded. "I really don't like it. My Dad picked it. He gave me a 'jock' name in the hopes that I'd grow up and be all sporty like him."

Bonnie nodded in acknowledgement before turning back to Marceline, smiling. "What time are you leaving?"

"I don't know." Marceline shrugged, "Why? Do you want to come with me?"

After a long pause, Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation. "Yeah. I'm kind of drained and I could use a little relaxation time with you. Besides, I'm craving kisses."

Marceline pouted at her. "Aw, poor you. You  _could_  have kisses now, if you want."

"You don't like PDA." Bonnie pointed out, to which Marceline hummed in agreement. "And we're in a room full of my friends."

Marceline shrugged, before she casually slung an arm around Bonnie and pulled her close to her. Bonnie rested her head on Marceline's shoulder and smiled, taking in her relaxing scent. "Cuddles. I'll meet you halfway if you're not up to finding a bathroom."

Bonnie nodded, gesturing down to the black rock shirt she was wearing. "Will you sleep in this tonight? It doesn't smell like you anymore."

"Sure." Marceline replied, before sending her a teasing smile. "Are you sure, though? You might not have inhaled it hard enough."

Bonnie flushed a bright red, sending a gentle elbow to Marceline's ribs. "Shut up. Ever since you walked in on me sniffing it, you've never let it go."

"You weren't  _sniffing_  it." Marceline shot back, trying but failing miserably at stifling her laughter. "You were  _inhaling_  it so much you looked like a vacuum cleaner."

"Yeah, well," Bonnie lowered her voice to a hushed whisper and put her mouth close to Marceline's ear, "You sleep with a teddy bear. Take," She jabbed her finger into Marceline's chest for emphasis, " _that_."

Marceline scoffed.  _Shots fired_. "You do  _science_  for fun. If anyone's the nerd, it's you."

" _Please_. I could think of  _several_  dorky things you do." Bonnie said. At Marceline's challenging eyebrow raise, Bonnie continued, "For  _one_ , you-"

"Abadeer. Truth or dare."

 _Of course,_ LSP asked Marceline again.  _Naturally_.

Marceline let out a long, exaggerated huff. Hopefully that would convey how pissed off she was. "Truth."

LSP bit on her lip in thought. Apparently she  _hadn't_  wanted Marceline to choose that. "Have you ever wanted to break up with someone before and why?"

Marceline's gaze flicked to Bonnie for a moment and she sighed. "Yes. I nearly broke up with Bonnie because she found out something about me that I didn't want her to know."

"What was the thing she found out?" LSP pressed. Like Marceline would answer  _that_. The whole school would know in a matter of seconds.

"Um, I think you're only allowed to ask one question for the truths." Marceline pointed out, sending LSP a mocking smile, mimicking her from earlier, "Don't you know the  _rules_?"

Bonnie didn't laugh at Marceline's sarcasm. She was too busy wondering what the thing might've been.

Once the group was occupied with Jake doing a dare, Bonnie tapped Marceline on the shoulder with a worried frown. "What did you nearly break up with me over?"

"Well…you know when we went to your Aunt's wedding? And the night before we were at your grandparents' house?" Marceline asked. At Bonnie's nod, she continued, "Well, you asked me about…you know what….when I was washing your hair for you, so I figured I would break up with you when we got home because that would make it easier for me than you finding out and dumping me. But then the next day I told you and you didn't leave me so…I didn't do it."

It finally clicked in Bonnie's head. "Oh. Wow. So…if you hadn't told me we wouldn't be together now?"

"Probably." Marceline sighed, "I would've left you."

Bonnie tried to ignore the knot in her chest, and squeezed Marceline's hand. She didn't know what to say. Aside from those three words she was praying wouldn't spill out of her mouth. "I wouldn't have left you over that."

"I know. You didn't." Marceline replied. "And I appreciate that. A lot."

Bonnie pressed a kiss to Marceline's cheek. "When I say I'm always going to be here for you, I mean it. Just for future reference, okay?"

Marceline sent her a weak smile. "Okay. You too."

"I know." Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand in reassurance and guided her girlfriend's head to her shoulder.

Marceline breathed in Bonnibel's bubblegum perfume and tried not to think about her stupid, messed up mind for a few minutes. "When I first met you, I never thought you'd be one of the few people that just  _get_  me, you know?"

"I never thought I'd talk to you again, when I met you." Bonnie smiled, "But people aren't just your first impression. I know that now. You're amazing."

Marceline smiled.  _I'm really not_. "Thanks, Bonnie."

* * *

**Tuesday 16** **th** **December 2014**

"What do you mean your car broke down?" Bonnie shot Marceline a look as she collapsed into the seat next to her in chemistry class.

Marceline sent Bonnie an exasperated look. "I mean my car isn't working. It won't start. Probably something to do with the cold but I'm going to look at it tonight when I have the time."

"So…no lift home, then?" Bonnie questioned.

"Well unless I give you a fucking piggyback, no." Marceline irritably responded. "We can walk home together, though."

Bonnie found Marceline's hand under the table and squeezed it. "Sounds good. Will your brother be joining us? He  _is_  home for December, right?"

"Yeah, but he won't be coming with us." Marceline shook her head. "When he found out about my car he decided to ditch school and go back to bed. I think he's going to Bongo's later."

Bonnie's eyes flashed with curiosity, and Marceline easily predicted what she said next. "What's Bongo's real name?"

Marceline began doodling little cartoon versions of herself and Bonnie on the worksheet Simon placed in front of her. "Rob."

Bonnie pulled her own sheet towards her, scanning over the questions. They were basic chemical equations that they were being asked to balance. She'd do that in a minute. "Why did you start calling him Bongo?"

"It was in middle school," Marceline began, an adorable nostalgic smile lifting up the left corner of her mouth, "Marshall and I were in sixth grade and our friends were all in eighth. We got bored one lunch and usually we'd go into the music room and jam for a bit, but when we got there the music teacher told Bongo that the one drum kit the school owned had been broken by someone in an earlier class. He got really pissed and then the music teacher gave him some bongos and he just looked at them and said, 'what the fuck are these?' and then we all started calling him Bongo as a joke. It stuck, I guess."

"Oh. Okay." Bonnie replied. She jotted down a quick answer to the first equation on the sheet; she could do this in her sleep. "You want to come over tonight?"

"Sure." Marceline bobbed her head in confirmation, peering over at Bonnie's sheet and copying the answer. "I'm not busy or anything, so it should be fine. Movies and pizza?"

Bonnie smiled, "Yeah. If you want, we can-"

"I can't believe I got stuck outside in a  _blizzard_." A rather wet Lady complained as she sat down on Bonnie's right. "My hair will go all frizzy and I spent  _ages_  straightening it this morning. God, I hate winter."

Marceline twisted her head to the left to look out the window, rolling her eyes straight away. Of course, Lady was being overdramatic; it was barely even snowing. There were soft, white snowflakes lightly drifting down to the ground – far from a blizzard. It'd probably add about an inch to the snow they already had by  _lunchtime_. "It's barely even  _snowing_. That's not a blizzard. How long have you lived here again?"

Lady scowled, brushing some leftover snowflakes from her hair, "Shut up. At least you don't have to deal with your hair going all curly and messy because of how wet it is."

Marceline's face sunk into a frown. "My hair is in a perpetual state of mess. Nothing can tame it."

Bonnibel took a stray strand of Marceline's hair between her fingers and smiled at the softness. "I think your hair is really nice. It's soft. It  _is_  messy, but  _attractively_  messy."

Lady nodded at Bonnibel, "Yeah, you can pull it off. I just look like a homeless person."

Marceline didn't really know how to take the random compliments, so she just changed the subject. Better than awkwardly trying to accept the compliment. "Well, whatever. You're pretty, Lady. Doesn't matter if your hair goes a little curly."

Lady shot Marceline a wide-eyed look, frozen in shock. Marceline tried not to laugh – it was pretty hilarious – but when she saw Bonnie looking at her with the exact same expression, she couldn't stop herself. Which earned her a little glare from her girlfriend.

(Whatever. It was worth it.)

"Thank you." Lady quietly responded; she couldn't believe that Marceline had complimented her.

Bonnie pulled Marceline in for a hug, squeezing her girlfriend tightly. "You're so sweet."

Marceline frowned. "I literally did  _nothing_. Why are you two being all weird?"

"You said something really nice to me. It kind of took me off guard." Lady admitted. "So thank you."

Marceline just shrugged, "Well, when a friend of mine says something self-deprecating I usually tell them to shut the fuck up with a compliment. No big deal."

Bonnie smirked – Marceline really loved it when she did that. Bonnie smirking was  _incredibly_  attractive. But she didn't like what the smirking connoted; endless teasing. "Friend of yours?"

Marceline let out a long sigh, rolling her eyes; she should've known nothing good would come from that smirk. Idiot. "Yes, friend of mine. Can we move on, please?"

"I'm probably never letting you forget this, you know." Lady teased. Inwardly, she was shocked. Although she considered Marceline a friend, she was fairly certain this was the first time Marceline had actually admitted it.

Marceline put her head down on the desk and groaned. "Great. Just  _great_."

* * *

Bonnie held her books over her head in a futile attempt at keeping herself dry in the sleet that was raining down on her. Her purple coat didn't have a hood – none of her coats did, actually. In hindsight, she probably should've bought a coat that would keep her as dry as it did warm.

She felt an arm around her waist and she was pulled under the shelter of a storefront, "Do you want my hoodie?"

Bonnie stared at her girlfriend's grey hoodie longingly; it looked so warm and dry and comfortable. "No, it's okay. You need it."

"My coat has a hood." Marceline pointed out.  _Oh, yeah_ , Bonnie noticed _, it does_. "Yours doesn't. You can have my hoodie or my coat. Pick one."

"Um….can I go with the coat?" Bonnie asked. It'd be easier to wear over her useless purple one.

Marceline slid it off and pulled up the hood of her hoodie, handing it to Bonnie. Quickly the pink haired girl pulled it on and zipped it up. She yanked the hood over her head and pulled at the drawstrings, probably looking like she was a real life version of that character from South Park – she couldn't remember his name. Oh well. "Are you feeling better?"

Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation, smiling. Already she was feeling an improvement – she was warm and toasty in Marceline's coat, even if it  _was_  a little tight on her. "Yep. Thank you."

"Don't worry about it," Marceline took the books Bonnie had been using for shelter from the sleet and tucked them away in the other girl's pink backpack, before one of her pale, freezing hands took hold of Bonnie's. "This is probably the worst day for my car to have broken down, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Bonnie sniffled a little before a small scowl passed on her face.  _Naturally_ , she was getting a cold. "You're going to try and get it fixed though, right?"

"Yeah, of course. I have some spare money so if I can't figure out what's wrong with it I'll get someone else to do it for me." Marceline said as they walked down the street. She followed Bonnie's lead and pulled on the drawstrings of her hoodie – the icy pinpricks of the sleet were freezing her ears off. "Have you decorated your Christmas tree yet?"

"We put it up last night but Dad forgot to get the decorations down from the attic. I told him that I wanted to decorate with you so he said I should invite you round and we can do it together." Bonnie explained, "As long as we do it before my aunt and Gracie show up, it's fine."

"Your aunt and Gracie are coming for Christmas?" Marceline asked, "What about the dude your aunt married?"

"Nah, he's going to spend Christmas with his parents and family and Gracie insisted on coming down here because she wanted to see me on Christmas. Usually I play with her new toys with her and get her all excited on Christmas Eve." Bonnie responded. She found Christmas  _much_  more enjoyable with a little kid around – it was like before she knew Santa wasn't real. The magic came back.

"Oh, cool." Marceline acknowledged. "I sometimes go to Keila's on Christmas Day for a bit because she stays with her parents and her Mom always bakes cookies when she knows I'm coming over. I love her Mom."

Bonnie made a mental note to ask Keila for that recipe. "Aw, that's sweet. Are you going to stay for dinner tonight?"

"Depends on what you're having." Marceline said. Quietly, she added, "I've always been a picky eater, and it's not because of…you know."

Bonnie sympathetically smiled, boosting herself up on her tiptoes and kissing Marceline's cheek. "I know. I was thinking of ordering pizza, like I said in chemistry this morning."

"Then I'll stick around." Marceline easily responded, her head whipping from side to side as they crossed the road.

Bonnie dug in the pocket of her purple jeans, pulling out her silver house key as they walked up her snowy driveway. They stepped under the cover of Bonnie's front porch and the pink haired girl unlocked the door before stepping inside her warm, welcoming house.

Marceline shut the door behind her and kicked off her shoes, following Bonnie into the living room. She sent a disapproving frown at the undecorated tree. "That is  _so_  lame."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Shut up, we'll decorate. Give me a minute to get settled in and we'll go into the attic to get the decorations."

" _You'll_  go into the attic." Marceline corrected. At Bonnie's frown, she elaborated, "What? It's an attic! There's probably monsters in there. And spiders."

"Oh my  _god_ , Marcy." Bonnie laughed, "Even  _Gracie_  knows there aren't monsters in the attic, and she's seven."

"In my defence, Keila's attic is haunted." For a moment, Bonnie was confused – Keila lived in an apartment. Then, she assumed Marceline must mean Keila's parents' house. "I've slept over there a lot and had to walk under the attic door to get to the bathroom and it fucking  _moved_. We heard laughing up there at like 3AM. It was creepy."

"Well, I'll go up into the monster-infested attic by myself then." Bonnie shot back. "If I get attacked, I'm blaming you."

Marceline pouted. "No fair. I'm not the one going up there, am I? You made the stupid decision, therefore it's your fault if you get eaten."

Bonnie laughed and tugged Marceline down onto the couch with her, pulling her girlfriend in for a kiss, "You're taking this so seriously. You're adorable."

"It's a serious matter." Marceline insisted. "I don't want you getting eaten by monsters just because you needed ornaments. Make your parents do it. Monsters can't see grown-ups. It's like the rules."

"You  _do_  realise we're both technically grown-ups, right? We're eighteen." Bonnie pointed out. "Legally adults."

Again, Marceline pouted and Bonnie felt her resistance melt away. "Just play along so we can make out on your couch while your parents get the stuff for us."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Seriously?  _Fine_. You're just lucky you're such a good kisser."

Marceline smirked and pecked Bonnie on the cheek. "Don't you know it?"

* * *

Bonnie let out a high pitched shriek, pelting Marceline with the half-made snowball in her hand. "You  _bitch_!"

Doing some sort of awkward, robotic dance, Bonnie tried to shake the freezing cold snow from down the back of her shirt. Instead, it just slowly slid down her back and melted into her shirt, making her both uncomfortably cold and wet.

Marceline brushed the powdery snow from her hoodie, unable to stifle her laughter. She dodged another snowball and doubled over with laughter, "You shouldn't have trusted me with gathering snow."

Bonnie sent her a threatening glare and pointed to one of the two giant snowballs they'd rolled for their snowman. "If you don't watch your step, I'll smash one of these over your head."

Marceline laughed even harder, "Yeah, _okay_. Like you could even pick one of those up."

Bonnie raised a challenging eyebrow and grabbed the smaller of the two by the bottom – thankful she was wearing gloves – and lifted it up to her torso, "I  _can_ , actually," Bonnie let the snowball rest on top of the other one, "Get me some more snow to make sure this stays on."

Marceline rolled her eyes – she was probably going to fling some snow at her girlfriend's head, and was surprised Bonnie hadn't predicted that already. Mock saluting Bonnie, she said, "Aye aye, Captain Butler."

"And if you throw some more snow at me, I'll push you over." Bonnie said, adding for effect, "Into these two big snowballs."

"I could take you." Marceline muttered to herself. She wrestled her brother for the remote control pretty regularly, and usually won. She was pretty sure she could pin Bonnie in a matter of seconds.

Apparently, Marceline hadn't been quiet enough; Bonnie let out a loud scoff, "No you  _couldn't_. I'd kick your butt."

Marceline walked back over to Bonnie and helped pat more snow around the smaller snowball to make sure their snowman didn't lose its torso. "You want a bet? I'd  _kill_  you, Bonnie. Trust me. You'd be ripped to shreds."

"You really want to get your butt kicked by  _me_?" Bonnie laughed, "Imagine if it got out at school that I beat you in a fight."

Marceline scoffed, "It wouldn't, because I would win."

Bonnie held Marceline's gaze for a moment, before she dived around the snowman and knocked her girlfriend onto the snow covered grass. Bonnie sat on Marceline's stomach and held her arms down by the wrists, "Case in point. I win."

"Don't lie to yourself,  _babe_."

The next thing Bonnie knew, she was knocked off balance and she toppled from Marceline and into the snow. She jumped up, but immediately fell back, as Marceline's cold fingers dug into her sides and tickled her.

Bonnie slapped Marceline's hands away and knocked her girlfriend down. She dived to her left and sprawled across Marceline's stomach, reaching up and pinning Marceline's arms down. Then, she shifted until her face was inches from Marceline's – her girlfriend's mouth had melted into a soft smile, her hands coming to rest on Bonnie's waist. Softly, Marceline said, "I guess you  _do_  win."

Bonnie blinked in surprise as Marceline's fingers slowly ascended to weave through her hair. Her mouth seemed welded into a permanent smile as she felt her breathing slowly synchronise with Marceline's, and she leaned down and pressed a kiss to the tip of Marceline's nose, the words coming out in a soft breath, "I'm in love with you."

Marceline froze in shock, staring up at Bonnie. "You are?"

Bonnie felt her chest tighten. Marceline hadn't said it back. "I am. I'm hopelessly in love with you, Marceline, and I've been wanting to admit that for a while now."

Marceline leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss to Bonnie's lips. "I love you too."

Relief washed over Bonnie like a tidal wave and she rolled off of Marceline and landed in the snow, her fingers weaving between her girlfriend's cold ones. "Really?"

Marceline let out a soft laugh, turning to Bonnie with a gorgeous smile. "Yes, really. I'm in love with you, you  _giant_  dork."

Aware that they'd both just confessed something important and a  _big_ deal, Bonnie sat up and brushed the snow from Marceline's hair, "Don't call me a dork, you  _drug addict_."

Marceline burst out laughing and leaned forward, kissing Bonnie's cheek. "Okay,  _princess_. Whatever you desire."

"I should've seen that one coming, shouldn't I?" Bonnie laughed. At Marceline's sheepish smile and nod, she continued, "I know you too well. Punk."

Marceline's bright smile seemed to light up Bonnie's moonlit backyard. "Come on. Let's finish the stupid snowman and then go and drink hot chocolate."

Bonnie smiled as Marceline playfully flicked snow at her. "Yeah. Let's."


	61. sixty-one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Late Christmas shopping isn't always the best thing in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings - eating disorder (mention), anxiety/panic attacks.

**Saturday 20th December 2014**

"I really don't know what to get for my Mom." Bonnie let out an exasperated sigh, spinning on her heels to face Marceline, "What do you think?"

"Um," Marceline pushed her bangs back, "I'm not exactly experienced in buying presents for a Mom."

Bonnie smacked a palm to her face.  _God, she was so stupid_. "I'm sorry. I just…forgot, I guess? I'm really stressed out."

"See, that's why you should buy your presents in October." Marceline seemingly shrugged off the comment, which made Bonnie relax – albeit only a tiny bit. "Then you can spend December laughing at the losers who waited too late to buy stuff."

Bonnie flicked through the rail full of shirts in front of her, "Was that indirect comment aimed at me?"

Marceline smirked, "Maybe. You really want my inexperienced help?"

"Any help would be useful." Bonnie glanced over her shoulder at Marceline, who was typing out a text message on her phone, "Even if it  _is_  from someone inexperienced."

"Okay." Marceline slid her phone back into the tight pocket in the back of her jeans. She placed her hands on Bonnie's shoulders, steering her away from the rail she was flicking through, "No clothes. Keila never gets clothes for her Mom, and I've helped her shop virtually every year."

Bonnie's brows furrowed in confusion, which Marceline found absolutely endearing. "Well…what do you usually go with when you and Keila shop?"

"Okay, the presents that go well are usually jewellery, chocolates or gift cards," Marceline said; once they'd exited the store, her hands fell from Bonnie's shoulders, one of them latching together with Bonnie's, "All Moms like jewellery; it's a known fact. Everybody likes chocolate, too. Gift cards are good because the person can get what they want, and it's basically free. Who doesn't love free stuff?"

"Alright…" Bonnie bobbed her head to show that she'd taken in the information, "Can we look at some jewellery? I think Mom might like that. If there's nothing I can find, I'll just get her a gift card to somewhere."

Marceline nodded, "Sure. What'd you get your Dad?"

"A new sweater." Bonnie responded. Peter was fairly easy to shop for; he didn't care about being surprised for Christmas, and if Bonnie asked he'd more often than not tell her what he wanted. "What did you get for yours?"

"Same as every year; a new set of ties." Marceline responded, "I swear, my Dad never wears anything  _other_  than a suit and tie. My brother usually gets him a shirt or something."

"What'd you buy for Marshall?" Bonnie asked, pushing open the door to the local jeweller's.

Marceline followed her inside, cleaning her shoes on the mat before stepping onto the clean vinyl floor, "An overdrive pedal and a reverb pedal for his guitar. His old overdrive pedal was screwing up so I figured I'd buy him a new one because I'm the best sister in the world."

Bonnibel smiled, "You're the best girlfriend, too."

"I guess I'm on some sort of roll, huh?" Marceline said, watching as Bonnie scanned through all the glass cases containing necklaces and bracelets and rings. "Hey, you can always get her a gift card for here and then buy her a box of chocolates or something."

Bonnie looked at Marceline like she'd just created the cure to all diseases. " _That_  is the best idea you've had all year."

Marceline headed outside as Bonnibel asked about a gift card, pulling her phone from her pocket – she planned on playing some Angry Birds to pass the time.

"Hey, Marceline!"

 _Um, what the hell?_  Marceline thought,  _people were talking to her?_  She glanced up from her phone, and  _naturally_  the entire group of Bonnie's friends were parading down the centre of town, heading straight at her. Fabulous.

She forced her mouth to form a smile as they approached her; even though she  _did_  like some of Bonnie's friends, she really wasn't in the mood to deal with people – it was too draining, like they fed off energy or something. "Hi."

"What're you doing here?" Finn asked, "You can join us if you're by yourself."

Marceline nodded her head towards the door of the jeweller's. "I'm just waiting for Bonnie. She's doing a bunch of last minute Christmas shopping."

Lady seemed surprised – no doubt she'd assumed Bonnie was as organised at Christmas shopping as she was with her school work. "Really? I figured you'd be the one running around last minute."

" _Please_ ," Marceline scoffed, "I finished my shopping in  _October_. Suck on that."

Jake's bushy eyebrows shot up behind his messy hair, "Whoa. Can you help me do my shopping next year? I've still not finished getting mine done."

"Christmas is in  _five days_." Marceline pointed out, "You'd better get a move on."

"That's what I keep telling him." Phoebe responded, "Finn is still shopping for people, too."

Finn scrunched his nose in annoyance, "It's not my fault some people are hard to buy for. Which reminds me, what do you want?"

It was an understatement to say that he had taken Marceline by surprise. She sent him an odd look – half astonished, half…happy? "Um…you don't have to buy for me."

"You do realise everyone aside from LSP and Cake have bought a present for you, right?" Fionna raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Yeah," Jake backed her up, "We're your friends."

 _Fuck_ , Marceline thought,  _turns out I haven't finished my Christmas shopping_. She couldn't stop herself before she blurted out, "You are?"

A feeling of bitterness resonated in her stomach at the collective look of sympathy from the group. Luckily, before she could bite out some harsh comment, Bonnie stepped out of the jeweller's and frowned in surprise at her friends, "Hey, guys. I didn't realise you were coming to town."

"Yeah," Gumball nodded, "Marceline was just telling us about your last minute shopping."

"Actually, I'm nearly all done." Bonnie sent her friends a proud smile, "Just got one more present to buy and I'm all set."

"Do you want to go?" Marceline asked her – judging by the pleading look on her face, Marceline wanted her to say yes, but the present Bonnie needed to get was Marceline's. Although she'd originally planned to distract Marceline with a randomly concocted errand, she'd changed her mind on that.

"Uh…you can go with my friends and I'll meet you guys by the arcade in ten minutes."

The horrified look on Marceline's face made Bonnie feel horrible, but her girlfriend couldn't be with her when she bought her Christmas present. Wasn't that against the rules of Christmas or something?

" _What_? No. I'm coming with you." Marceline crossed her arms in defiance – she'd  _never_  been alone with Bonnie's friends before. Who knew what would happen?

"You can't, I'm buying  _your_  present." Bonnie rolled her eyes, squeezing Marceline's hand sympathetically. "You'll be fine."

Lady tugged on Marceline's sleeve and pulled her along, "Come on. We don't bite."

As they headed down the street, Marceline shot an apologetic Bonnie one last glare to convey how irritated she was. She couldn't believe Bonnie had just dropped her in such an awkward situation.

Bonnie  _did_  feel guilty as she headed in the opposite direction, but Marceline couldn't know what she was buying her for Christmas.

(In all honesty, Bonnie didn't even know what she was buying her yet.)

Bonnie made her way down the busy street, cutting past people in an effort to get to the music store as quickly as she could; she didn't want to leave Marceline alone with her friends for too long. It would be a whole lot easier if Braco wasn't working – she was hoping that Keila would be there to help her out. Bonnie had absolutely no idea what half of the stuff in the music store even  _was_ , let alone if Marceline wanted it.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she pushed open the door and saw Keila tuning a guitar from behind the counter. "Hey, Keila."

Keila looked up, her face breaking out into a smile. She propped the guitar up against the counter and came out from behind it, "Bonnibel, hey! What brings you here?"

"I need to get a Christmas present for Marceline and I don't know what any of this," She vaguely gestured around the store, "is. I really need your help."

Keila nodded – the smile still hadn't left her face. "Okay. Well, I know for a  _fact_  that she needs a delay pedal," She ducked behind the counter and pulled out a compact, squared object with different knobs on it, "This one is $25, but I can get you a Fender one for $35 with my staff discount. She likes Fender things."

Bonnie pulled out her pink wallet, taking out two twenty dollar bills – she could spare the extra $10 for her girlfriend. She handed the money over to Keila, "Here. I'll take the Fender one."

"Awesome, I've just got to go in the back and get it." Keila tapped a few keys on the cash register and it popped open. She stuck the money inside and quickly shut it, ripping off the receipt for Bonnie, "Here. I'll be two seconds."

"Thanks," Bonnie took the receipt and tucked it in an empty credit card pocket in her wallet, watching after Keila as she slipped through a door to access the back room.

Bonnie drummed her fingers on the counter as she waited – it'd barely been two seconds as Keila reappeared, slipping back behind the counter. She touched her hand to one of the blue plastic bags, "Do you want a bag for it, or…"

Bonnie shook her head and patted her purse, "Nah, I'll just stick it in here."

Keila handed her the item and she carefully placed it in the bottom of her bag, zipping it up. "I could've sworn that Marce texted me and told me that she was coming into town with you. Does she suddenly have invisibility powers or something?"

Bonnie glanced up from the zipper of her bag, nodding her head, "Yeah, I had to distract her. I needed to come in here to buy her Christmas present. She can't know what it is before the 25th."

Keila smiled, "Yeah, I guess so. Tell her I said hi."

"I will do." Bonnie smiled, heading towards the door, "Thanks for helping me out, Keila."

"Don't worry about it!"

* * *

Marceline scrolled aimlessly across her phone home screen, hoping she  _looked_  busy enough to ignore. She tried to appear as relaxed as possible; in reality, she was freaking out. She felt unbelievably uncomfortable without Bonnie – the pink haired girl was her safety net around these people. It was like she was skydiving without a parachute.

Inevitably, this wasn't going to end well.

She heard someone clear their throat beside her and squinted at her phone screen; maybe they'd think she was too busy to care and go away. Hopefully. "You're literally staring at your home screen."

Marceline let a long puff of air out of her nose before looking up. "What do you want?"

Fionna sent her an easy smile. "I want to invite you to actually  _join in_  with us. Is that so hard?"

 _Yes_.  _You have no idea how hard that is. Especially with LSP glaring at me_.

Marceline stayed hesitant, breathing a rather obvious sigh of relief when she saw Bonnie walking towards them.  _Thank god._

Bonnie brushed against Marceline's side and linked their hands together, "Hey. Sorry about that."

Marceline sent her a scowl, but it wavered. Bonnie knew she wasn't mad. "You basically just made my literal worst nightmare a reality. Thanks."

Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand, "We can go, if you want."

Marceline quickly nodded, "Yes, please. I want a blanket, cuddles and Netflix."

Bonnie smiled, "Okay." She cleared her throat and looked to the rest of the group, "Marceline and I are going to head off. We'll see you guys at some point soon."

"We'll probably be meeting up soon, so I'll text you both what the plans are." Lady smiled.

"Alright. We'll see you then, I guess." Bonnie answered – she could tell by Lady's tone that they probably  _didn't_  have the choice of skipping out. She was persistent like that.

Lady nodded, before an almost accusative finger pointed to Marceline's chest. "You. I need to talk to you."

Marceline immediately turned to Bonnie, an inquisitive frown settling on her face. Bonnie's facial expression did  _nothing_  to soothe her – Bonnibel looked just as confused as she did. Great. "Um…what about?"

"Stuff." Yeah, that wasn't elusive at all. Thanks, Lady.

"Okay. Well…if this is the whole, 'if you hurt her I'll kill you speech', it's a little delayed." Marceline pointed out as she followed Lady down the shortcut behind the arcade, way out of earshot of everyone else.

"It's not that." Lady glanced back in the direction they'd come in – probably checking to see they weren't followed. That just made Marceline all the more nervous.

"Can we just get this over with?" Marceline asked. All this waiting was making her uneasy.

"Okay," Lady bobbed her head in confirmation, "This is probably going to sound really weird, and I don't want to upset or offend you when I ask you this, but I've noticed some things and -"

Marceline stopped paying attention.  _Noticed some things?_ That was never good. Usually when people noticed things assumptions were made and things ended up getting out and –

"Do you have problems with eating?" Lady stared at her expectantly, as though it was something easy to answer.

Marceline's mind was chaos. What did she do? Did she tell her? No, that was stupid. No  _way_  could she tell Lady something like  _that_. No. She couldn't trust her. Only Bonnie could know. Nobody else.

(She prayed that her years of hiding her emotions prepared her enough for this.)

"What? No." She scoffed and played the question off, although her heart was beating ten times as fast and she felt like she was going to pass out. "Where did you get that from?"

"Well…I don't think I've ever seen you eat before."

 _Great, how the fuck are you going to lie about that_? Marceline thought. Luckily, she'd always been a good liar. "I'm weird about eating in front of people. No big deal."

Lady seemed to relax then, and Marceline's brain went haywire.  _O_ _h god, did she actually care? Was she genuinely worried?_  Marceline felt a little stab of guilt, but she  _couldn't_  tell her. No way. "Oh, okay. That's fine, I was just a little worried."

 _Yep,_  Marceline thought _, now I feel really guilty_. "You don't need to be. Seriously. I'm fine."

Lady sent her a warm smile and started walking them back to everyone else. "Alright, good."

Marceline tried to ignore the heavy guilt resonating in the pit of her stomach at Lady's relieved expression, and sent her an awkward smile in goodbye and virtually sprinted back to Bonnibel, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her away from her friends, even though she was in mid conversation.

(Alright, that was probably rude, but she felt like she was going to puke.)

Bonnibel sent her an irritated look, "Marceline, I was in the  _middle_  of a conversation -,"

"She asked about my eating disorder." Marceline quickly interrupted, power-walking them back to where her car was parked. She needed to be out of the public eye, and  _quickly_. Everything was already starting to feel fuzzy and her view was covered in static from a TV screen, other people blurred and distorted.

Immediately, Bonnie's expression softened and she tried to slow them down, probably thinking that was the best idea. Her voice came out muffled and strange. "Oh my god. Are you okay?"

"I will be, I just need to get out of here." It took her a while to get that out through choppy breaths. Forming a coherent response took a long time and would be out of the question in a few moments if her head didn't stop being so cloudy and her breathing didn't regulate.

Bonnie nodded and allowed Marceline to lead her back to the car by her sleeve, not saying a word. Marceline didn't know if she appreciated that or not. It wasn't like she was in silence; there was the hum. The hum of the people in town, muffled, compressed and giving her a headache. Even though usually she wouldn't notice it, the sound was deafening, submerging her underneath something that wasn't even there.

Shakily, Marceline stuffed her hand in her pocket and grabbed her car keys. She ran her finger along the groove in an effort to focus on something else, but she felt detached, like it wasn't her finger running along the cold metal, like she was just a spectator. It didn't feel like it usually would when Bonnibel slowly unclenched her fingers and took the car keys from her. It felt like horrible pinpricks running across her palm until she couldn't work her hand again.

Bonnibel quickly unlocked the car and blinked in surprise as Marceline leapt into the car and put her forehead down on the steering wheel, effectively hiding herself from both Bonnie and any passers-by. She was hyperventilating and her hands were shaking, squeezing her knees as hard as she could in an effort to...distract herself? Bonnie couldn't tell.

Bonnibel climbed in the passenger side and touched a hand to Marceline's upper arm, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Marceline jerked away from the touch. Her breathing was becoming harder to control and her heart was pounding so fast against her ribs that it was almost  _painful_. Her head went cloudy and her breath kept on catching in her throat, like her windpipe was purposefully denying her air and choking her, invisible hands wrapped around her throat. She knew that Bonnie wouldn't know what to do in this situation and she felt so  _guilty_  for putting her girlfriend through it.

She looked up, her girlfriend's image distorted like an object in a funhouse mirror through her tears, choking out a small, "No."

Bonnibel took one of Marceline's rigid hands in her own and gently traced patterns across her cool skin. Pinpricks again. "Are you having a panic attack, Marcy?"

Marceline stared down at her lap, tremulously nodding her head. She tried to keep her focus on what Bonnie's hand was doing to her clenched fist, tracing soft patterns across her white knuckles.  _Just distract yourself_ , she repeated in her head,  _keep your mind off it._ That was the one coherent thought she could muster.

The car felt a lot smaller than it had on the way into town and Marceline could've sworn that it was closing in on her, trying to crush her like the panic was. She tried to control her breathing, sucking in deep breaths and attempting to let them out slowly, but the air didn't quite reach her lungs. It was like they were crushed, her rib cage collapsed in on her by the crushing weight of panic.

Bonnibel carefully moved a hand to Marceline's back, "Do you want a hug, or space?"

"Hug. Space. I don't know," Marceline stumbled on her words and –  _oh, great,_  she was crying.  _Just_  what she needed.

Bonnie felt a little stab in her chest and rubbed comforting circles on Marceline's back; Marceline was shaking as she asphyxiated on her own breath. Bonnie didn't want to say that everything was okay or tell Marceline to calm down - she knew that it wouldn't help in the slightest. She felt so  _helpless_ , and she just wanted to wave a wand and make everything better. "Would you feel better if I backed off?"

Marceline shook her head. That was reassuring.

"Okay." Bonnie nodded. She quickly looked over her girlfriend, thinking up a solution; she didn't think it was a very good one, but it was worth a shot. "Breathe with me, okay? In and out."

Bonnie took Marceline's hand and tilted her head up by the chin, training Marceline's eyes on Bonnie. "Look at me and breathe. Just focus on breathing."

Marceline wanted to bite out,  _that's what I'm trying to do_ , but she closed her eyes and tried to listen to Bonnibel's breathing. It was hard - everything was muffled like she'd just been dunked underwater and held there, and she couldn't quite bring herself up to the surface again.

Eventually, Marceline found the sound and did as Bonnie said, her grip on her hand incredibly tight. Bonnibel smiled reassuringly and announced, "I'm going to talk about what I did yesterday. Okay?" At Marceline's small nod, she continued, "Alright. Well, now that I think about it, I didn't really do much. I hung out with my Mom and we watched a few episodes of Criminal Minds together. I know that she and Dad are getting me a new laptop for Christmas, which is great because I really need one; mine's all old and clunky. I think I've had it for nearly six years."

"That's a long time." Marceline murmured. Her voice came out hushed and cracked, the hands around her neck slackening slightly.

Bonnie smiled – Marceline was calming down. Good. This was what she'd hoped for. "It is. It was my first laptop, actually. But it takes ages to boot up and it only has an hour's battery life now, so I think it's time to get a new one. I actually really wanted a new microscope, but I decided on the laptop. I'll buy the microscope with any money I get from Christmas. What are you hoping to get?"

"New guitar." Marceline quietly responded.

Bonnibel let out a soft laugh, "I should've guessed, shouldn't I?" At Marceline's weak, sheepish smile, she continued, "And I  _bet_  you want a red one, too."

Marceline finally opened her eyes again and tried a weak nod, "Either a PRS Mira or an ESP Eclipse."

"I have _no_  idea what that means." Bonnie laughed, "Are they types of guitars or something?"

"Yeah." Marceline's breathing was slowly returning to its usual pace and she squeezed Bonnie's hand. "Thank you. I'm- uh, I'm calmer now."

Her head still felt fuzzy and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and go to sleep for eternity, but it was better than everything else that had just happened.

Bonnie beamed at her and kissed her cheek. "You're welcome. Are you feeling better?"

Marceline wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and nodded, "Yeah. How did you do that?"

Bonnie nonchalantly shrugged, "I just figured I'd take your mind off of it and distract you. Then you wouldn't be thinking about the fact that you were having a panic attack and you wouldn't be thinking about what made you have a panic attack."

"I'm sorry for -"

"Don't apologise. You can't help it." Bonnie was quick to stop that and squeezed Marceline's hand, a gesture which was accompanied by a compassionate smile. Then she carefully added, "Did you tell Lady anything?"

Marceline shook her head. "No. Nobody can know about it, Bonnie."

Bonnie guided Marceline's head to her shoulder and enveloped her in a hug, "It's okay. You don't have to tell her if you don't want to. I'm here to help, Simon is here to help. You're going to be just  _fine_ , Marceline. I promise."

 _Please don't make promises you can't keep_ , Marceline thought. "Yeah. Okay."


	62. sixty-two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Eve = movies and baking.

**Wednesday 24th December 2014**

The warmth from the bright pink mug heated up Bonnie's frostbitten fingers as she sat down on the couch in her front room. The ticking of the clock was the only other sound in the house – her Mom had been invited to a Christmas Eve party at work with her colleagues, and her Dad, Aunt Susan and Gracie had all gone with her. Although her Mom had asked her multiple times if she was sure she didn't want to join them – which Bonnie shrugged off with a _yes Mom, I'm sure_ – she'd finally gotten them out of the house when she explained that the sooner they left, the sooner they could come home and do Christmassy things with her.

Naturally, the moment she heard the car pull out of the driveway and watched them drive down the road and out of sight, she'd called Marceline and asked her if she wanted to come over to watch Christmas specials and exchange presents. And of course, Marceline had jumped at the offer and had promised she'd be over in ten minutes – twenty if there was ice.

Bonnibel had busied herself with the hot chocolate making, sipping on her own as she waited for her girlfriend to knock on the door. She'd drawn the curtains – since it was only 3PM, it wasn't that dark out yet – and lit the ' _Christmas Eve'_ scented Yankee Candle she'd bought from the store the other week, and a few other unscented tea lights to make the room dimly lit and make it feel like it was already late at night.

Bonnie had a pink Santa hat perched on her head, and naturally she was wrapped up under a blanket in her unsurprisingly pink onesie, a stack of DVDs ready to watch on the coffee table. Her instructions to Marceline had been _bring as many Christmas specials as you'd like, and don't forget your onesie_. Anything else Marceline brought along with her would be a lovely surprise.

She listened to the ticking of the clock for a few more moments, before she heard a light tapping on the front door. She kicked the blanket off, placing her mug of hot chocolate on the coffee table and jumping up to go answer the door.

She definitely wasn't expecting Marceline to be standing on the other side in her dinosaur onesie and her black coat thrown over the top, a neatly wrapped box in her hands.

Naturally, Bonnie burst out laughing. "You walked here in _that_?"

"Of course not, nerd," Marceline pushed past her to get inside, shrugging off her coat and unlacing her black boots. "I _drove_. Apparently Christmas miracles are a thing, because my car started. I have some clothes in my backseat in case it decides not to start when I go home."

"Well, alright then," Bonnie slid her fingers between Marceline's, pulling her towards the living room, "Come on, your hot chocolate will be a cold chocolate if we don't hurry up."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, but let Bonnie pull her into the living room by her wrist. "Cold chocolate? That's the worst joke you've made this year."

"Oh, hush," Bonnibel sent an elbow into Marceline's ribs – lightly, of course, "I was merely trying to emphasise my point. That one's yours," she pointed to the _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ mug that she'd found in the cabinet, "I put mini marshmallows in it for you because I'm the best girlfriend in the world."

"Wow, mini marshmallows," Marceline repeated, sitting down on the couch. Bonnibel collapsed next to her. "That my Christmas present?"

"Of course it's not," Bonnibel watched as Marceline leaned forward and grabbed her mug, taking a sip, "Do you like it?"

Marceline flashed her a grin, "I love it. _So_ , you mentioned Christmas specials. What're we watching?"

"Well, I have the Grinch – the cartoon version, obviously. It's a classic." Bonnie began, lifting up a finger as she went down her list, "Home Alone, It's a Wonderful Life, The Santa Clause, Love Actually -"

Marceline cut her off with an indignant scoff, "Trust you to pick a _rom com_."

"It's a good film!" Bonnibel feigned offence, "It's not my fault you're just too… _uncultured_ to appreciate it."

"Uncultured?" Marceline repeated, jabbing Bonnie with her foot as she laid down on the sofa, draping her legs across her girlfriend's lap. "No, I have good taste. And rom coms and good taste are mutually exclusive."

Bonnibel shoved Marceline's legs off her, picking up the blanket she'd discarded before getting up to let her girlfriend in. She put it between them on the couch, standing up and placing her pink mug back on the coffee table. Grabbing the stack of DVDs, she moved over and put them in Marceline's lap. "Here, you look through those and pick one that fits in with your so called 'good taste', and I'll go get your present from upstairs."

Marceline nodded, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the present that had been in her hands when she'd walked in – that too, was now residing on the coffee table. "That's yours, if you didn't already guess."

Bonnibel shuffled over on the couch, pushing her lips against Marceline's cheek. "Thanks, Marcy. I'll be right back."

With that, Bonnie ducked out of the room, leaving Marceline staring down at her feet and trying to hide the colour her girlfriend had drawn to her cheeks.

It didn't take Bonnie very long to run upstairs, fling open her present drawer, grab the one intended for Marceline and bolt back down the stairs and into the front room.

She virtually threw herself down on the couch again, pausing for a moment to catch her breath, before extending the present in Marceline's direction. "Here you go! Merry Christmas, Marcy."

"Whoa, nerd. Breathe." Marceline took the present from her, passing Bonnie her own, "There wasn't really any need for you to run all the way up the stairs and back in like two seconds."

Bonnibel tried to ignore how her cheeks heated up in embarrassment. "Yeah, well…I want as much time as possible to be able to marathon Christmas specials."

Marceline just rolled her eyes, dropping a DVD into Bonnie's lap. "Here, I want to watch this."

"Home Alone?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow as she read the case, before looking down at her present and slipping a finger under a gap in the wrapping paper, "Alright, sure. That one's cute, but -"

" _Whoa,_ what the hell do you think you're doing?" Bonnibel pulled her hand from her present when Marceline lightly slapped it, " _No_ opening presents before Christmas Day. It's against the rules. Go put it under the tree."

Bonnie looked down at her present. "And what if I _don't_ put it under the tree?"

"Then goblins will come in the night and replace all of your presents with coal," Marceline folded her arms across her chest to reinforce the seriousness of this apparent rule. " _And_ they'll chop your hand off for being too eager."

Bonnie snorted with laughter, but as Marceline's scowl deepened, she stood up and placed her present at the bottom of the tree, not mentioning how it was Christmas Eve tradition in the Butler household to open one present before she went up to bed. _"There_. Happy?"

Marceline squinted at her for a moment longer, as if she was trying to decipher whether or not Bonnie would open the present the second Marceline got home anyways. "Yes. For now."

Bonnie just rolled her eyes, grabbing the DVD that Marceline had selected and sliding it into the player. Then, she grabbed the remote and sat down on the couch, scooping the blanket up and throwing it over herself.

Naturally, Bonnie shuffled as closely as she could to Marceline, throwing the blanket across her girlfriend as well and beaming when Marceline draped an arm around her shoulder. Although usually Marceline was the little spoon, Bonnie rested her head on her girlfriend's shoulder and smiled when there wasn't a complaint. Instead, Marceline just weaved her fingers through Bonnibel's hair. Apparently Christmas miracles were a thing, after all.

* * *

"What time did you say your family were getting back?" Marceline looked down at her, her arm falling from around Bonnie's shoulder to her waist.

"Um…Mom said the party thing she's at should end at around seven. That's why she felt kind of bad about leaving me here – being alone on Christmas Eve for four hours didn't sound very fun to her." Bonnie rambled, squinting to see the time on her pink wristwatch. "And it's five thirty now. Why?"

"Well, were you wanting me to head off before they get back?" Marceline asked, "I didn't know if you'd want me gone for whatever nerdy Christmas rituals your family have."

"No, you're welcome to stay for as long as you want," Bonnibel insisted, curling her fingers around Marceline's and squeezing for reassurance, "but I just kind of figured you'd want to get home to Simon and your brother before then."

Marceline hummed in thought, "Cool. I'll stay until half seven then. That way we can have another two hours of Christmas specials."

Bonnibel glanced over at the screen, where the little girl was singing 'All I Want for Christmas is You'. Yes, she'd actually managed to get Marceline to watch Love Actually. It'd taken about a half hour of coaxing and bribery – Bonnie had promised to buy Marceline some new guitar strings next time they went shopping – but it was worth it. Romantic comedies with Marceline were always amusing; whenever the characters would do something remotely unrealistic, there'd be a sudden "Okay, that's stupid," and a list of reasons as to why rom coms were the _worst_ genre in the film world.

"If you wanted, we could do something else," Bonnie proposed, "We could bake Christmas cookies and surprise my family with them when they get back. Either that or eat them all ourselves. And with me involved, the latter is _far_ more likely."

Marceline looked down at her, "Okay, serious question. Have you ever eaten an _entire_ batch of cookies all by yourself?"

Bonnie's sheepish smile probably gave her away. " _Technically_ , no. It was cupcakes. I got bored once after school and decided to bake and since nobody else was in I just kept going back and getting another. Eventually I ran out and had to destroy all of the evidence before my parents could get home and tell me how I'd probably just eaten at _least_ 3000 calories worth of cupcakes. It's not like I've done that since, though."

"I don't know how you can do that sort of thing, to be honest." Marceline admitted, "I feel sick if I eat two."

Bonnibel knew that they were treading on dangerous territory now. "Right, well…we could bake something if you'd like? It might be a nice Christmassy activity. You're a good co-baker."

Marceline smiled, squeezing Bonnie's hand. "Sure. You want to get out of our onesies, or…?"

"No _way_. The onesies are contributing perfectly to the cosiness of this evening. Besides, you look cute as a dinosaur." Bonnie emphasised this by reaching behind her girlfriend and pulling the hood – which was decorated with little cartoon eyes – over her girlfriend's head.

Marceline looked so offended that Bonnie couldn't stop herself from laughing, "It's a _Pokémon_. God, Bonnie. Educate yourself."

Bonnibel just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, whatever. Either way, you're cute."

Marceline clearly didn't approve of how easily she'd dismissed that. Either way, her eyebrows dipped into a scowl. "I'm _not_ cute."

Shaking her head, Bonnie kissed her girlfriend on the tip of her nose. "Whatever you say, Marcy. I know you like to think you're 'punk rock' or something, but really you're just a big softie." Before Marceline could object, Bonnibel grabbed her hand and pulled her up, "Come on. Baking time."

Marceline huffed, but didn't make any complaints as she laced her fingers through Bonnie's and followed her to the kitchen. "Are we going to make them actually _festive_ , or are they just going to be normal chocolate chip?"

"Well…I'm not artistic in the slightest, so I don't think it'd come out very well if I tried to make different shapes. Especially when the mixture rises as it bakes," Bonnie mused, flicking the kitchen light on, "If you think you can do a reindeer shape or a Santa or something and make it look cool with the icing, then we can theme them. You know what? Cupcakes sound a lot less strenuous. Let's do those. You can do little Santa Clauses on them in icing."

"Why're you dumping the artistic responsibility on _me_? Just because I do art at school, doesn't mean I'm good at it." Marceline pointed out. Inwardly, Bonnie disagreed – her girlfriend had to do portraiture as a project last semester, and as Marceline hadn't wanted to be her own subject, Bonnie had agreed to model for her. She'd seen the finished drawings, and they were _amazing_. "The only food I can make without fucking up is toast."

" _God_ , you're not going to survive without me in college, are you?" Bonnibel's hands slid around Marceline's waist and she boosted herself up on her tiptoes to kiss the corner of her girlfriend's mouth. "I'll teach you a few easy recipes sometime, if you'd like?"

Marceline smiled, pulling Bonnibel back in for a proper kiss. "Of course. Sounds great. Although we should probably do it at my place; I'd feel a lot less guilty if I set my kitchen on fire, not yours."

"You won't -" Bonnie stopped herself, "actually, I'll hold my breath on that one. _But_ I do have faith that you have some secret cooking talent deep down."

Marceline scoffed, "Yeah, underneath my non-existent secret science and math genius."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes, pulling out the weighing scales and her favourite chocolate chip cupcake recipe. "I have no doubt in my mind that if you studied, you'd be getting A's. We could meet up and I'd tutor you a little."

Marceline laughed, before glancing up from the fridge where she was grabbing the butter and realising that hadn't been a joke. "Oh. You were serious," she trailed off, putting the butter in front of Bonnie. "Here's your butter."

Bonnie allowed herself a small exasperated sigh. "Typically, you wouldn't take me seriously." Shaking her head, she continued, "Grab me the flour, would you?"

"As you wish," Marceline reached into the cupboard above Bonnie's head, grabbing the bag of flour and putting it in front of her girlfriend. "Anything else you need, _princess_?"

"Don't call me that, you jerk." Bonnie sent a light kick to Marceline's shin. "And _yes_ , actually. Sugar and two eggs, please. I'll measure out the four ounces of flour and butter while you're grabbing that and all the utensils we'll need."

"Okay," Marceline wrapped her arms around Bonnie's waist as she watched Bonnibel measuring out the flour, resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. She pressed her lips to Bonnie's throat, squeezing her midriff. "Love you, Bon."

Bonnibel turned her head to the left, kissing Marceline's cheek. "Love you too. Now go on – sugar is in the cabinet and the eggs are in the fridge."

Marceline gave Bonnie one last squeeze before letting go, and Bonnie listened to the soft padding of her feet as she made her way around the kitchen, grabbing the things they needed. She smiled to herself, putting the flour in a separate, smaller bowl. She'd weigh out the butter later – it needed to be melted once they'd cracked the eggs and mixed the sugar in with it.

The sugar was dumped in front of her, and Bonnie busied herself with weighing out four ounces of it while Marceline cracked the eggs. She passed the sugar to Marceline, waiting for her to pour it into the bowl with the eggs, and she left her girlfriend to mix that while she measured the butter out and stuck it in the microwave to melt.

Bonnibel watched as Marceline gradually poured the flower into the bowl, allowing herself a reserved smile. "Marceline?"

Marceline looked up, eyes immediately softening and mouth twisting into that soft, fuzzy smile she kept just for Bonnibel. "Yeah, Bonnie?"

Bonnibel's eyes swept over her one more time. "You're beautiful."

Marceline looked like she was about to say something, but any attempts at language evaporated into thin air as Bonnie's words drew colour to her pale cheeks.

She would've replied if the beeping of the microwave hadn't completely ruined the moment.

Bonnie just laughed to herself, taking the melted butter from the microwave and pouring it into the mixture that Marceline was stirring. She let her girlfriend work on mixing everything in, before pouring a little bag of chocolate chips into the mixture, because cupcakes without chocolate chips weren't real cupcakes, according to Bonnie. Then, she rested a hand on the small of her girlfriend's back as she watched her mix everything up together, helping her pour it into the individual cupcake cases.

She watched as Marceline concentrated on evening the cupcakes out, before glancing down at the almost empty bowl and scooping a little bit of leftover mixture onto her finger.

"Hey, Marcy?" Bonnie called for her attention, "Look up a minute."

Marceline glanced up, and Bonnie took that as her opportunity to dab the mixture from her finger onto the tip of her girlfriend's nose. The confused look she got was _so_ worth it.

Marceline wiped the mixture from her nose, rolling her eyes. "You know, for a genius, you're really immature."

Bonnibel just smiled, putting the cakes in the oven and setting the timer. "What? Just because I'm smart I'm not allowed to be immature?"

Marceline shrugged, "I'm not saying that, I'm just saying that you're especially immature and giggly tonight. Why is that?"

Naturally, Marceline had picked up on her especially great mood. Awesome. "I don't know…it's silly, really. You'll just laugh at me."

Marceline held out her hand, pinky outstretched. "I won't laugh. Promise."

Bonnibel huffed, but wrapped her pinky around Marceline's and squeezed. "Alright, so…like, I just never really thought that I'd be here, you know?"

Marceline blinked at her, letting out an awkward laugh. "No, I really don't. Explain, please."

"Well, I didn't really think that I'd get a girlfriend until I was much older," Bonnie admitted, leaning back against the kitchen counter, "At _least_ until I got into college. I never thought that I'd have this," she paused to motion between herself and Marceline, "I never thought I'd get a high school romance and that would've been another instance of my sexuality holding me back. LGBT kids are so disadvantaged when it comes to dating in high school. You see your straight friends dating at like, _thirteen_ and I didn't even kiss a girl until I was seventeen. It's just…it sucks."

"I can't really say I get that," Marceline began slowly, "being into guys too and all, I can't say that I didn't have any dating options back in my early teens. And even though I don't class whatever I had with Ash as an actual _relationship_ , I was fourteen when that happened, so..."

Bonnibel nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I got asked out once, when I was fifteen, but I didn't go for it, obviously."

"I'm guessing it was a guy?" Marceline asked, leaning forwards with a little smirk, "Do tell."

"Okay, well, I was partnered with this boy in my science class for a project. He was really quiet at first and he used to stammer a lot when he talked to me but he was fine with his friends, and Bea used to always tell me that he had a crush on me, but of course I shrugged her off. We got along pretty well – he was nerdy too so we could talk about science and stuff and have intellectual conversations, which was great. I felt like I was actually making a new friend, and that was awesome.

"One day we got together at my house when we were finishing up the science project, and he turned to me and told me he really liked me and wanted to take me out on a date. Of course, I politely declined, but he didn't accept that. He asked me out a few more times – to which I responded with multiple _nopes_ – and then he accused me of leading him on and putting him in the 'friend zone'."

"Ouch," Marceline commented, "Guys like that are horrible. And 'friend zone'? Ridiculous."

"Yeah, I know," Bonnibel replied, "Either way, when I was outed a few months after that, he understood why I turned him down."

"Well, at least you got out of that one relatively unscathed," Marceline commented, squeezing her hand. "If I'd asked you out before we were friends, what would you have said?"

"What? You mean in the period of 'I don't like you' and 'I'll punch you in the face if you even look at me'?" Bonnie laughed, resting her head on Marceline's shoulder. "Honestly? I think at first I would have asked you _why_ you wanted to date me, and then once you explained that you liked me I would've given you a shot."

"Wait, _seriously_?" Marceline sent her an incredulous look. "Wow."

Bonnie just shrugged, "You're an attractive girl. I'd be stupid not to say yes."

Marceline blushed again. Three times in one night – Bonnie noted that down as a personal record. "Wow. Okay. With that information, I'm going to…" she motioned to the door, spinning on her heels and fast-walking out of it.

Bonnie smiled after her, trying not to think about how for a high school romance she never thought would happen, this was more than she'd ever dreamed of.


	63. sixty-three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Day antics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to upload the Christmas Day chapter...oops.  
> warning - eating disorder (mention/implied)

**Thursday 25th December 2014**

Bonnie sat up in her bed – the grin on her face was automatic. Swinging her legs over the side of her bed and grabbing her phone from her bedside table, she typed out a message, sending it to Marceline. She didn't think her girlfriend would be asleep – it _was_ Christmas, after all; even the laziest people, which Bonnie was sure Marceline classified as, got up early on Christmas. It was like some sort of universal rule.

_**Bonnie (8:36AM): Merry Christmas, Marceline! Text me if you're free later – we can watch some more Christmas specials and eat leftovers. :) x** _

Satisfied with her text, she put her phone back down on her bedside table and stood out of bed, unsurprised by the cold; it _was_ winter, and she didn't think her parents were up to turn the heating on.

She made her bed – even Christmas couldn't make her break habits – and then pushed her bedroom door open, walking into her parents' room. Her Mom was sat up reading, and her Dad was still asleep. Typically.

As if sensing her daughter's presence, Lynn glanced over her book.

Bonnie sheepishly smiled at her Mom, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder towards the door. "Presents?"

Lynn rolled her eyes, dog-earing the page she was on in her book and placing it on her bedside table. She took her reading glasses off and finally spoke. "I'll wake everyone up and you can go and make teas and coffees – orange juice for Gracie. _Then_ we'll get to the presents."

"Awesome." Bonnie replied, heading back to the door, "And Mom? Happy Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Bonnibel."

Bonnie smiled and slipped out of her parents' room, quickly running into her room to grab her phone before heading towards the stairs. Bonnie could hear Gracie and her Aunt Susan talking in the guestroom, so she pushed open the door and sent her aunt and cousin a smile. Directed at Gracie, she said, "Morning. You want to come downstairs with me and help make drinks?"

Gracie looked up from her teddy bear, and her face broke out into a grin which was so big it took up nearly her whole face. "Yeah! We can see if Santa has come."

Bonnie felt a nostalgic smile play at her lips. She missed Christmas as a little kid – staying awake as late as she could waiting for Santa Claus always made her so happy as a kid; once she'd found out that Santa was really just her Dad after she went to bed, the magic of Christmas kind of…faded, a little.

(At least with Gracie around, it came back.)

"Sure. He'll have left tons of presents for you." Bonnie smiled enthusiastically as the little girl gripped onto her hand and skipped down the stairs.

As she made her way into the living room – which was _crammed_ with presents, probably for Gracie – she felt her phone vibrate in her palm.

She led her cousin to the couch and sat her down. "You wait here while I go make drinks for everyone. Then you can open your presents from Santa, yeah?"

Gracie was practically bouncing with excitement, and she eagerly nodded her head. "Okay. Be quick, though!"

"I will be," Bonnie assured, before she slipped her way into the kitchen.

She put her phone on the counter and then grabbed four mugs from the cupboard, along with a glass for Gracie, which she poured orange juice into. Then, she leaned against the counter as she waited for the water to boil for the tea and coffee.

She pulled her phone towards her and pressed the centre button, illuminating the screen. Naturally, when she saw Marceline had texted her back, her face burst into a grin.

_**Marceline (8:51AM): merry christmas, nerd :)** _

_**Marceline (8:51AM): and what kind of christmas specials? no rom coms I hope ;)** _

Bonnie put her phone down to finish making the drinks – once she'd done that and heard her parents coming down the stairs, she typed out a message to her girlfriend.

_**Bonnie (8:59AM): Any Christmas specials you want. Have you opened any presents yet? x** _

Bonnie kept her phone in the little pocket on her pyjama shirt – Marceline's shirt was in the laundry – as she carried two drinks into the living room, placing them on the coffee table as her parents and Aunt Susan sat down on the sofa. As she walked back into the kitchen to get the other drinks, Marceline messaged her back.

_**Marceline (9:00AM): sounds like a plan, and no I haven't** _

_**Marceline (9:00AM): my lazy brother isn't up yet and I'm not allowed to open presents until he wakes up** _

Bonnie didn't reply until she'd brought the other drinks through from the kitchen.

_**Bonnie (9:03AM): How tragic. Poor you. ;)** _

_**Bonnie (9:03AM): Just jump on him or something, that'll do the trick. You're definitely coming over, then? I'll let my Mom know if you are.** _

_**Marceline (9:04AM): mean :( good idea though** _

_**Marceline (9:04AM): and yes I'm definitely coming over, probably about 6ish because I'm stopping by keila's at 4:30** _

_**Bonnie (9:05AM): Okay, cool. Text me if you liked your present – I hope it's good. :) x** _

_**Marceline (9:05AM): my brother has risen!** _

_**Marceline (9:05AM): and I'm sure I'll love it** _

_**Bonnie (9:06AM): Did you jump on him?** _

_**Marceline (9:06AM): no I threw water on him while screaming that it was Christmas in the highest pitched voice I could master** _

_**Marceline (9:07AM): he called me immature haha** _

Bonnie smiled down at her phone, and she could see her Mom smirking at her from the corner of her eye.

_**Bonnie (9:08AM): Well, that's one way to do it. I have to go now, we're opening presents. I'll see you at six. I love you! x** _

_**Marceline (9:08AM): later nerd, love you too x** _

Bonnie smiled even wider – Marceline _never_ put kisses over text. Like, ever.

(Christmas magic hadn't faded, apparently.)

"Texting Marceline?"

Bonnie's head shot up and she met her Mom's teasing gaze. She smiled sheepishly. "Maybe. I just wanted to wish my girlfriend a happy Christmas."

"You made plans with her, didn't you?" Peter teased.

Bonnie rolled her eyes at her Dad. _Him too_? "Yes, she's coming over at six to watch Christmas movies with me. Is that okay?"

Lynn smiled, "You two are so cute."

"I'll take that as a yes," Bonnie replied, before her gaze fell on her excitable cousin and she chose a _great_ subject change, "I think we should get to the presents before Gracie explodes from excitement."

Gracie bounced up and down on the couch in excitement, "I agree with Bonnibel. Presents!"

With that, her Mom made her way over to the Christmas tree and picked up a present at random. The tag was taped onto red wrapping paper, decorated with images of Christmas trees and little ornaments. She saw a warm smile creep onto her Mom's face as she read the label. "To Bonnie, love from Marceline."

Bonnie's face broke out into an automatic grin, and she leaned over and took the present from her Mom, surprised by how heavy the box was. For a moment, she considered shaking it, but decided against that; who knew what could be in there? Marceline might have bought her something fragile.

Bonnie dug her fingernails under a gap in the tape and neatly unwrapped the present, rolling her eyes when she saw that Marceline had double wrapped it. _What is_ _this, a game of pass the parcel_? She unwrapped the second layer, half expecting to see yet _another_ layer of wrapping paper; what she actually saw was _so much better_.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the present – she couldn't believe it was actually _there_. On top of the box the present was contained it, there was a little card. She plucked it from the box, still a little – no, scratch that, _very –_ shell-shocked, and examined the envelope.

In Marceline's familiar scruffy handwriting, the white envelope read, _For Bonnie._

She dug her finger under an opening in the envelope and pulled out a messy piece of lined paper – arguably not what she was expecting. She unfolded the paper and her heart stuttered as she read over the note.

There was evidence of different things being rubbed out all around the sheet; Bonnie felt a warm sensation in her chest at the thought of Marceline slaving over what to write. What she actually wrote was simple and meant much more than a big paragraph.

_Thanks, nerd._

Bonnie held the paper in her fist as she looked back down to the present, still in disbelief. She looked the box over and finally let out a squeal of happiness and pulled her phone from her pocket.

_**Bonnie (9:14AM): You're the best girlfriend ever.** _

Bonnie looked back to her present with a smile superglued on her face; that wouldn't be coming off all day. It was everything she'd wanted; high powered, a really good model – _how did Marceline know?_

She opened the box, just to check it was real – she felt a little guilty holding her family up, given how excited Gracie was to open her presents – and she was introduced to her brand new high powered microscope.

Bonnie slid it back into the box with extreme care – she didn't want anything bad to happen to it – and looked up at her Mom. "How did she know I wanted one? I didn't tell her."

"She might've badgered me until I told her what you wanted." Lynn slowly began, "I told her how expensive it was and she told me she had it covered."

Bonnie bit on her lip in a feeble attempt to wipe the smile from her face. "I can't believe it."

As Lynn passed out another present – to Gracie, this time – Bonnie glanced back down at the box in her hands.

(This was the best Christmas _ever_.)

* * *

"I'm not wearing _any_ black. What the hell is this?" Marceline announced as she pushed open the front door to Bonnie's house and kicked her shoes off.

Bonnie raced out of the front room and launched herself into her girlfriend's arms, kissing her on the cheek. "Thank you _so much_ for my present. God, you're so amazing."

Stunned, Marceline's arms twisted around Bonnie's waist. Bonnie felt Marceline shrug against her, "It's not a big deal." Hesitantly, she added, "It was okay though, right?"

"It was absolutely perfect." Bonnie slowly released her girlfriend and sent her a bright smile; nothing could ruin her mood today.

(Marceline in a Christmas sweater made her even happier.)

Marceline adjusted the Santa hat on Bonnie's head and smiled. "Great. Where are these Christmas specials I was promised, huh?"

"In my room," Bonnie picked at a loose thread on her own Christmas jumper – it was striped red and green, and with each new stripe, there was a new decoration; her favourite was the snowmen on the red. "I like your sweater."

Marceline let out a little laugh; Bonnie's stomach flipped. "Likewise. Your hat is pretty cute, too."

"I have one for you if you're willing to wear it." Bonnie teased, lacing her fingers with Marceline's and nodding towards the stairs. "Come on."

Marceline let Bonnie lead her up the stairs, "We're watching Home Alone, right?"

"We watched that last night," Bonnie pointed out as she flopped onto her bed, instinctively smoothing out the covers.

Marceline sat next to her and casually shrugged as Bonnie carefully placed a red Santa hat on her head, "We can watch the sequel. It's set in New York."

Marceline wiggled her eyebrows as though the New York setting would entice Bonnie – which, it did a little – but mostly it just made her miss how beautiful the city was around Christmas time. "Sure, I guess. Do you want me to go and get some leftovers from Christmas dinner? We have plenty of turkey and roast potatoes and -"

Marceline shook her head and waved a hand in dismissal. "I'm not hungry. Come on. Movies."

A little warily, Bonnie nodded – she just hoped Marceline was telling her the truth. Bonnie pulled her laptop towards her and then walked over to the drawer she kept all of her DVDs in, picking out Home Alone 2.

As she flopped back down on her bed and put the disk in, she frowned. "If he's lost in New York, why is the film called Home Alone?"

"Because…" Marceline trailed off, an _adorable_ look of confusion on her face. After a little pause, she just shrugged, "Because it's the franchise name. Simple."

Bonnie nodded in acknowledgement as she waited for the movie to load. "So…was your Christmas present okay? I had to get Keila's help because I know nothing about music and she told me you wanted a delay pedal."

Marceline laughed a little, "Yeah, she told me about that when I went to hers before coming here. It's great. It's made by Fender too, so…yeah."

"Does it work?" Bonnie pressed; Keila had told her it was something Marceline both wanted and needed.

"I haven't had time to try it out yet, what with present opening and dinner and stuff. Also Dad was over and he gets kind of weird about me playing music." Marceline shrugged, "I don't know. I'll try it out with my new guitar later."

"You got a new guitar?" Bonnie asked, her gaze momentarily flicking back to her laptop screen where the movie had started playing.

"Yup. PRS S2 Mira in red." Marceline picked at a loose thread on Bonnie's duvet. "Present from my Dad. It was strange."

Bonnie paused for a second; that didn't add up. "Wait…your Dad bought you a guitar? You just said he's weird about you playing music."

"Yeah. Which is why it was strange." Marceline's voice had lowered to a murmur, "I think he wants something. He wouldn't do something nice for me unless he wants something, right?"

Bonnie's heart broke a little – she couldn't imagine having a strained relationship with either of her parents, and she wanted Marceline to be happy so _badly_. She wished Marceline had a good relationship with her Dad. "I don't know. Maybe? He might just want to fix things between you two. Maybe this is his way of showing you he supports you."

Marceline considered this for a moment, and then shrugged. "I don't know. We'll see, I guess."

A comfortable silence fell over them – Bonnie spent the time admiring Marceline in Christmas getup. She was wearing a red jumper decorated with white stitching shaped like reindeers, and the Santa hat Bonnie had given her just added to the cute factor. "You look great, you know."

Pink crept up Marceline's neck and flooded into her cheeks. "Thanks. I feel weird not wearing black, though."

Bonnie's gaze fell on Marceline's – shocker – _blue_ skinny jeans _,_ and she smiled. "You look _fine_. Your hair compensates for the lack of black clothing."

Bonnie's fingers made their way to Marceline's hair, sweeping a strand behind her ear; as Bonnie's fingers grazed Marceline's earlobe, tingles spread across every single nerve in Marceline's body. "Thanks, I guess." Desperate for a distraction of the placement of Bonnie's hand – which was now curved around the back of her neck, tracing soft patterns on the cool skin – Marceline cleared her throat and said, "On second thoughts, I'll have some of those leftovers."

Bonnie smiled that proud smile that made Marceline feel sick to her stomach in guilt – she _hated_ how tiny little things like eating were seen as some sort of accomplishment.

When Bonnie pressed her soft lips to Marceline's chapped ones, all of that self-hate and loathing melted away for a second and all Marceline felt was the butterflies in her stomach. "I'll be right back."

Bonnie re-entered the room with two plates full to the brim with food; Marceline's stomach clenched at one glance. Bonnie sat herself next to Marceline and pushed one of the plates onto her lap, before shuffling over to her spot from before and making a start on her food.

Marceline stared down at it and felt her throat close over – every single neuron in her brain was saying, _don't you dare, you've eaten enough today_ , and Bonnie was there staring at her with those innocent blue eyes looking so _worried_ and she wanted to cry with guilt.

Eventually, the thoughts won out, and Marceline put the plate on Bonnie's bedside table before directing her gaze straight to her empty lap; she couldn't bring herself to face Bonnie.

She felt a calm hand on her thigh and saw Bonnie's smooth hand with her pink painted nails gently resting there. "Did I put too much on? I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable by the amount – I wasn't expecting you to eat everything. It's okay, Marceline."

Marceline blinked back a few tears before responding in a shaky voice. "I'm fine. It's okay. I'm not hungry."

Bonnie didn't believe her. She _wanted_ to so badly, but she just couldn't. She comfortingly squeezed Marceline's thigh and picked up a cold roast potato from her plate. "Open up."

Marceline _finally_ met her gaze and Bonnie felt guilt eating her insides as she saw the fear in her girlfriend's eyes. "Okay. Sorry."

Marceline held out a shaky hand for the roast potato, but Bonnie put it back down on her plate and shook her head. "It's okay. I'm not going to force you to eat it if you don't want to. I don't want to feel like I'm _punishing_ you by making you eat. I'm _so_ sorry."

Marceline shook her head. "Don't apologise. I said I wanted to eat and then I just…I don't know. My head is all cloudy and I'm confused and -"

Bonnie swiftly interjected, "Why are you confused?"

"Because I'm _hungry_ but my head is telling me I can't eat and that I _shouldn't_ eat and then you're there being absolutely amazing and I just _don't know_ what to do." Marceline exclaimed in exasperation.

"Is that what it's like all the time?" Bonnie quietly asked.

Marceline nodded and let out a long, heavy breath. "Yeah."

Gently, Bonnie continued, "Can you tell me what I've done to get you to ignore those thoughts before?"

"You…gave me a choice." Marceline murmured, "Told me it was okay if I didn't want to and gave me a choice. _They_ don't."

"Okay," Bonnie calmly responded, weaving her fingers into Marceline's, "Well, that's what I'm going to do now. If you don't want to eat it, you don't have to. It's alright."

Marceline looked back at the plate and swallowed the lump in her throat. "It's too full. It's kind of… _threatening?_ God, that's stupid, I -"

"It's not stupid." Bonnie assured. She put her plate in between them, "We can share mine. Does that make it easier?"

Marceline nodded a little and picked up a small piece of cold turkey. For a moment, she stared at it apprehensively, before she ate it – Bonnie's face broke out into a grin, which she attempted to stifle.

(Her attempt failed.)

In hopes of a subject change, Bonnie looked back to the movie and let out a scoff, "We're ten minutes into the film and this kid is already lost?"

Marceline glanced down at the laptop screen and felt a small, grateful smile lift the corners of her mouth – she appreciated the change in topic. "Must be some sort of record. How are social security _not_ watching this family like hawks?"

"And how is the kid okay?" Bonnie added, "Like, if my parents forgot about me on a family trip _twice_ , I'd end up pretty resentful of them."

Marceline shrugged, "It's a PG movie, Bonnie. They're not going to wreck a family, especially on Christmas."

"You raise a good point," Bonnie replied, "But it's still not realistic."

"A kid taking down two robbers? I don't think it's intended to be realistic." Marceline laughed a little, the heavy feeling in her chest slowly subsiding – Bonnie was making her feel better.

Bonnie just shrugged and moved closer to Marceline, resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "Whatever. I like movies to have _some_ sort of realism. That's why I like The Breakfast Club."

"But that's so _boring_ ," Marceline complained, dragging out the last word in a manner similar to a bratty child, "Movies are meant to be an escape. Why watch a high school movie when you can go to a galaxy far far away or enter an alternate universe?"

"Because other people in a similar setting to you can be… _comforting_ , I guess." Bonnie didn't really know how to explain why she liked realism in pop culture so much, but she pressed on, "I guess it just interests me seeing others deal with the same situations normal high school students like us have to deal with."

Marceline hummed in acknowledgement, before declaring, "Weirdo."

"I'm _your_ weirdo, though." Bonnie teased.

Bonnie felt Marceline's stomach deflate with a sigh of what she _hoped_ was content. Judging by Marceline's adorable smirk, it was. "Yeah, you are."

Distracted by the butterflies in her stomach, Bonnie barely spared Marceline's arm moving from behind her a passing glance. When it stopped vertical, Bonnie shot her girlfriend a frown. "What are you doing?"

Marceline just glanced up at her hand, "Please tell me this isn't totally cliché and cheesy."

She knew it was. She _knew_ she was falling into some sort of generic Christmas trope, but for a moment she didn't care – the look of adoration on Bonnie's face when she saw the mistletoe in Marceline's hand calmed her stupid insecurities for a moment.

Bonnie let out a laugh, which was music to Marceline's ears. "It's _very_ cliché and cheesy. Doesn't mean I don't think it's amazing, though."

Marceline tried to ignore how her heartbeat picked up and she rolled her eyes, "Just shut up and kiss me, would you? My arm is getting tired."

"We can't be having that, can we?" Bonnie smiled, before she slowly leaned in and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to Marceline's lips.

Bonnie went to pull away, but Marceline's hand rested on her girlfriend's soft jawline, pulling her closer as she nibbled on Bonnie's lip. The hand that was holding the mistletoe slackened and fell to rest on her girlfriend's waist as Bonnie had a moment of bravery and Marceline tried not to think about what her tongue was doing. Marceline felt her insides melt and turn to goo when Bonnie pulled apart from her and began peppering nervous, tentative kisses along her sharp jawline.

Then, nervously, Bonnibel pulled away and fiddled with her fingers. "Sorry."

"What for?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Hey, look at me. What're you sorry for?"

"For...taking it too far?" Bonnie looked up and wasn't comforted by how Marceline's face twisted in confusion. "I shouldn't have tried kissing your neck and stuff."

Marceline snorted with laughter. " _That's_ what you're apologising for? Bonnie- it's- that's not a bad thing."

"It's not?" Bonnibel frowned, fiddling with Marceline's hair and tucking a strand behind her girlfriend's heavily pierced ear. "I didn't want to make you think that I was ready to- um..."

Marceline shook her head, the fond smile tugging at her lips providing a little bit of comfort and security. "Being ready for some things doesn't mean you're ready for others. I get that. I would never just assume that you'd want to do heavier stuff just because you're slightly more comfortable with other things."

Bonnibel pulled Marceline in for the biggest hug she could manage. "I love you so much, Marce."

"Love you too, Bon," Marceline squeezed her and then pulled back to send her an impossibly cocky smirk. "Hey, I bet I could beat you in a snowball fight."

"Yeah?" Bonnie let out her best scoff. "In your dreams."


	64. sixty-four.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Year's Eve can be eventful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all had an awesome start to 2016.
> 
> Warning - eating disorder (mention)

**Thursday 31** **st** **December 2014**

"It's not a party, Mom," Bonnie groaned for what she felt like was the millionth time, "I'm just going over to Jake's for a New Year's get-together. It's not a big deal."

Bonnie knew that hadn't convinced her Mom; she was standing with her arms folded across her chest, sending Bonnie a firm look that roughly translated to _I'm putting my foot down_. And since she'd already told Finn and Jake that she'd make an appearance at their New Year not-party, this wasn't good.

"Will there be alcohol?" And there was a question Bonnie didn't want to answer truthfully, "Because the last time you went to one of your friends' get-togethers, you came home drugged."

"I don't think so." Okay, so she knew there probably would be. Maybe since they hadn't talked to Marshall for a few months, their alcohol supplier had been lost.

(She could dream.)

Lynn seemed to have interpreted that in a way Bonnie certainly hadn't wanted her to. "Okay. You're not going. You can stay here with me and your Dad, Susan and Gracie."

Yet another groan came from the back of Bonnie's throat. So now she didn't get to spend New Year's Eve with her friends. Great. " _Please_ let me go."

Peter – who had been sat on the couch reading the newspaper and seemingly oblivious to their conversation – spoke up, apparently sensing his daughter's anguish. "Your mother is right." Okay, so apparently not. "You can invite Marceline over to join us if you'd like."

That perked her up. Maybe not going to her friends' party wouldn't be as bad as she thought, if she was allowed Marceline over. Although now that Bonnie thought about it, she figured Marceline would choose a party with alcohol over a quiet night with Bonnie and her family. Her mood significantly darkened, but she thanked her Dad anyways and scurried up the stairs to her room before her Mom could say anything different.

She flopped back on her bed with a little sigh, grabbing her phone from her bedside table, frowning when she actually had notifications. That was weird; usually the only texts Bonnie got were from Marceline or the phone company. Maybe one of her parents, if she was running late or something; which was rare for her.

So naturally when she saw the text from Bea, she kind of freaked out.

She blinked at the screen for a moment, surprised that the text was actually there. She was frozen in place, not even sure what she was feeling. Shock? Anger? Happiness? Maybe a mixture of all three. Her brain seemed to have gone haywire and she had absolutely no idea how to make it function again so she could form a response. She tried distracting herself by reading the text.

_**Bea (2:24PM): Happy New Year, Bonnibel. :)** _

That was it. Just a simple message that didn't seem to have any sort of ulterior motive behind it. And Bonnie couldn't decipher it.

She'd had _no_ contact from her since that one text on her birthday that she'd ignored – she hadn't even had a Christmas text – and she knew that she'd only been trying to reconcile through guilt, which wasn't a valid reason to forgive her. So why had Bea popped up again out of the blue? Did she really want Bonnie back?

Bonnie sighed, her fingers hovering over the touchscreen keyboard on her phone. Should she reply? It couldn't hurt, could it? It was only a casual New Year's text – you'd say happy New Year to a stranger on the street just to be polite.

That was all it was. Politeness. There was no harm in being polite.

Bonnie's fingers came in contact with the keypad and she tapped out a quick message, reassuring herself that she wasn't doing this to signal that Bea had won her forgiveness. No way. She was just being polite, there was nothing more to it.

_**Bonnie (2:27PM): You too.** _

There. That was simple, concise, and not _too_ friendly. At least Bonnie had actually responded this time.

She swiped at the screen to get the conversation out of sight and out of mind, tapping on the second notification she had.

(Which, unsurprisingly, was from Marceline.)

_**Marceline (2:03PM): hey bonnie, what's the plan for tonight?** _

Bonnie smiled down at the text. She could respond to _that_ one easily.

_**Bonnie (2:28PM): There's been a change of plan. My Mom is refusing to let me go to the party our friends are throwing, so you're coming over here and we can celebrate the New Year that way. If that's okay with you, of course.** _

With that, Bonnie pressed the lock button on her phone and put it back down on her bedside table, picking up her book. And of course, the second she'd found a comfortable position on her bed and settled down to read, her phone loudly vibrated against the surface of the table.

She rolled her eyes, internally scolding herself. She should've known that Marceline would've replied quickly.

_**Marceline (2:29PM): course it's okay with me :) as long as I'm with you I'm happy** _

_**Bonnie (2:29PM): You are way too cheesy. I'll see you when you decide to show up. ;)** _

_**Marceline (2:30PM): see you then, nerd** _

* * *

"God, this is sad." Marceline scoffed as she pushed open the door to Bonnie's bedroom, sending her girlfriend a smirk that slowly dissolved into a gentle smile, "Alone on New Year's Eve, _reading_? You're doing this wrong."

Bonnie huffed, sticking an old subway ticket into her book to mark her page, "How am I supposed to do it, then?"

"You're supposed to be _out_ ," Marceline collapsed onto Bonnie's bed in a way that could only be described as _not_ graceful in the slightest, "partying and junk. Making out with strangers, getting hammered. All that."

Bonnibel raised an eyebrow at one of the items on the list. "Making out with strangers? You're my _girlfriend_ and you're telling me to make out with strangers?"

"Okay, so maybe not that," Marceline corrected herself, sending Bonnie a faux-irritated look, "But like, New Years is when you get drunk and have fun."

Bonnie frowned. Was Marceline trying to imply something? Maybe that she didn't want to spend the night in with Bonnie's family and that she'd rather be out with Keila or something. Bonnie couldn't tell.

Eventually, Bonnie murmured, "You didn't have to come, you know. You could go out and have fun. You don't need to hang out with a square like me and my equally as square-ish family."

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be, dork," Marceline sent a soft, playful elbow into Bonnie's side, "You're not a square. Squares are boring."

"Am I not being boring? Reading and studying are two of my favourite activities," Bonnie pointed out, her fingers absently playing with Marceline's, "I'm totally a square."

Marceline hummed as though she was taking Bonnie's point into consideration. "You're my square." And before Bonnie could tell her how cheesy she was being, she quickly jumped onto another topic, "So what hardcore activities do you have planned for me tonight?"

"Nothing hardcore over here, promise." Bonnie said, threading her fingers through her girlfriend's and squeezing her hand. "I think you and I will probably just hang out here and then watch the countdown to midnight with my family. I can tell Gracie to leave us alone if she tries to come up here."

Marceline shook her head faster than Bonnie expected her to. "No, that's fine. Let the kid in. She's cute." Marceline inwardly sent a collective prayer to any high power she could think of that Bonnie would _never_ bring up her calling a kid cute again. God, she'd never live that down.

According to Bonnie's smirk – which made Marceline's nerves fizzle and her heart jump in her chest – it'd definitely come up at some point later. "Alright then. She actually asked me if you were coming over a few days ago. She really likes you."

Marceline blinked at her. "Really?"

"Really," Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation, throwing a casual arm around Marceline's shoulders and pulling her close, "She told me she thought you were really cool, too. I think she thinks you're out of my league."

Marceline scoffed. It was _Bonnie_ that was out of _her_ league. "That's fucking stupid."

Bonnie sent her a funny look that Marceline had trouble deciphering. Eventually she gave up and decided not to – she didn't think she wanted to know what was going through her girlfriend's mind.

"You are, though," It was quiet – so quiet that it was probably only a whisper, but Marceline heard it.

"Let me repeat myself; that's fucking stupid." Marceline almost _snapped_ at her and Bonnie recoiled a little. At least until Marceline grabbed her hand and traced gentle patterns on her knuckles. "The idea of people being _out of your league_ is idiotic. Looks aren't the only thing that matter and even if they were, you're gorgeous anyways. Definitely in the highest league."

Bonnie blinked at her. She had trouble believing that. "Marcy, you don't need to lie to make me feel better. I know I'm… _average_ at best. I know that my hair never really looks right and I'm not really thin and that there are probably tons of other things I could pick out that I don't like about myself. It's okay. I know that I'm just mediocre. No lying is necessary."

Marceline's expression contorted in irritation and she folded her arms across her chest. "Don't talk like that."

"Why not?" Bonnie challenged her, picking at little cotton balls on her duvet cover, "It's true. I'm nothing special. I could pick out hundreds of flawed things about me. My weight, my -"

"Hey," Marceline wouldn't let her get started on _that_ list, "Shut up. Nobody's perfect, you know. Everyone has some flaws, and yours aren't what you think. Just because you're a little softer here," Marceline lightly pinched Bonnie's side for emphasis, "doesn't mean that you're flawed. Your annoying stubbornness on the other hand…"

Half-heartedly, Bonnie lightly smacked Marceline on the upper arm, "Shush."

Marceline sighed, "Stop measuring your worth based on what you weigh. It makes me worry that you're going to -" She cut herself off, "It's not good. Weight isn't a defining factor of how attractive you are. Either way, it's not like you're fat."

She paused for a moment, unsure as to whether or not she was actually going to say this. But Bonnie didn't look like she would believe Marceline any time soon, so desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Bonnie," Marceline started slowly, "When I was younger, I worried about my weight. And I ended up -" Marceline stopped herself, squeezing her eyes shut as she took in a deep breath. She'd never actually said the words before. "I ended up with an eating disorder. I made myself sick partially because I was insecure about how I looked. I don't want that to happen to you."

Bonnibel shuffled closer to Marceline, letting her head rest on her girlfriend's shoulder. "I'm not – it's not that bad. It's just sometimes. Sometimes I'll look in the mirror and be fine with what I see, and then other times I'll hate it and want to change everything, you know?"

"I get it." Marceline twisted her head to the right and kissed Bonnie's temple, "I know how confusing that is and how much that sucks."

"Yeah," Bonnie breathed out, "Today is just one of those days where I don't feel adequate. And you don't need to worry about me making myself sick. I wouldn't ever do that."

Marceline watched as Bonnie smoothed out the pink dress she was wearing, "Good. You'll feel better later." After a short pause, she tacked on the end, "Can we talk about something a little less deep? I feel like it'd be better for both of us."

"Yeah," Bonnie nodded in agreement, "That's a good idea. We can talk about music if you want. Or we could go downstairs and hang with my family."

Bonnie hoped her expression conveyed how sorry she was about her boring New Year's activities. She wished she could go to Jake's; she was sure Marceline would be having much more fun there.

"Music." How did Bonnie guess she'd pick that? "But you don't really know anything about that so I don't know what we'd talk about. It's not like you'd be able to talk about the construction of an augmented chord with me or whatever."

Bonnie let out a nervous laugh, "Yeah, that was kind of an idiotic suggestion. I know I'm not as widely versed as you, but we could talk genres? What artists we like best and all that?"

" _Yeah,_ that'll be a conversation filled with _shocking_ revelations." Marceline sarcastically shot back, "You like Ed Sheeran and other acoustic stuff, I like All Time Low and other pop-punk stuff. Nothing we don't already know about each other."

Bonnibel huffed, folding her arms across her chest, "Fine, _you_ pick what we do. I give up."

"We could sneak out." Marceline proposed, holding her hands up in defence at Bonnie's stern, almost _offended_ look, "I was _kidding_. God, Bonnie. Learn to take a joke, yeah?"

"I can take jokes," Bonnie assured her, the stern expression melting away into a fuzzy smile, "But that didn't sound like that much of a joke to me. If I snuck out my parents would actually _kill_ me."

Marceline assumed that was an over-exaggeration. She knew that Bonnie's parents were probably the best parents ever; she'd kill to have a family like that.

 _Okay, Marceline,_ she told herself, _don't go down that road. You'll upset yourself_.

She tried to clear her thoughts up a little, "Why won't they let you go to a party? Especially your friends' version of a party."

"I told you, they're protective." Marceline had to bite back the _why_ that was on the tip of her tongue. "Besides, the last time I went to a party you basically had to carry me home because I had my drink spiked. My Mom has her reasons to be paranoid."

"But I remember you telling me before that happened that your parents didn't let you go to parties because they were protective." Marceline blurted out, trying to ignore how Bonnie seemed to jump behind a carefully constructed wall as she finished talking. "So why aren't you allowed?"

"Because they worry." Bonnie robotically replied. The monotonous tone did nothing to reassure Marceline, and she wanted to say _yeah, and I worry, so tell me_ , but she stopped herself as Bonnie spoke again. "Please stop asking about it. It's not something I want you to know about."

"Oh, okay, so I have to tell _you_ everything, but you're allowed secrets from me?" The anger was taking over and Marceline knew it – the tiny part of her brain that managed to form coherent thought was telling her _shut up, shut up now_ but apparently she wasn't in the mood to listen to her conscience. "That's fucking stupid! I didn't _want_ to tell you about my eating disorder and you pushed me until I had no choice but to let it slip."

Bonnie flinched back as Marceline jabbed a finger into her breastbone and she felt her stomach drop with guilt. Bonnie looked so _terrified_ and Marceline shuffled back on the bed to give her some space, because she didn't know what else to do.

Quietly, Bonnie spoke, "Am I really that terrible a girlfriend?"

"No – no, Bonnie," Marceline tripped over her words, "I'm sorry, okay? I just got mad. You know I do stupid things when I get mad."

"I didn't mean to push you." Bonnie whispered, pushing herself forwards on the bed to face Marceline. She threaded her fingers through her girlfriend's and took in a shaky breath. "I didn't want to hurt you. I just – I was trying to help. I love you and I – did I make you that uncomfortable?"

"You didn't." Okay, that was a lie. Bonnie had made her _really_ uncomfortable at the wedding. "I love you too. I'm sorry for snapping at you. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Bonnie looked up at her with shining eyes and the heavy feeling in the pit of Marceline's stomach felt even worse. _God_ , she felt like she was going to throw up. "I just don't like talking about it."

The angry, irrational part of Marceline's brain screamed _I don't like talking about my illnesses, either_ , but she managed to ignore it for once. "Okay. You don't have to."

Bonnibel blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill and roped her arms around Marceline's waist, burying her face into the crook between her girlfriend's neck and shoulder. "Thank you. And I'm sorry."

Marceline blinked in confusion, her hands resting on Bonnie's back. "What are you sorry for?"

Bonnie didn't move from her hiding spot in Marceline's neck. "For pushing you to talk about things you don't want to talk about. I hate it when people do it to me, so I shouldn't do it to you. No matter how much I want to help."

"You don't need to apologise for that." Marceline gave Bonnie a squeeze for reassurance. "It sucked when it happened, but I'm over it now. It doesn't make you a bad girlfriend. Just means you worry, and I know all about being worried."

Bonnie pulled away, wiping at her eyes and sending Marceline a watery – but genuine – smile. "Thanks. I'll tell you eventually, but I just – it still hurts."

Marceline stared at her. What could've happened that made her parents so protective and made Bonnie so jumpy and cagey about it? Almost immediately, her mind jumped to Bea. Had she done something stupid that ended up hurting Bonnie?

But, she'd promised she wouldn't question it, so she didn't ask. She kept her mouth shut and sent Bonnie a reassuring smile. "Okay, well I won't ask."

Bonnie's voice was barely audible as she replied, "I don't deserve you."

"Of course you deserve me." Bonnie blinked at her like she hadn't expected Marceline to hear her. "You're amazing."

Marceline knew that she was lying through her teeth. Well, she wasn't exactly lying. Just bending the truth to make her girlfriend feel better. Because in reality, Bonnie _didn't_ deserve her. Marceline knew that Bonnie deserved _so much better._

And that's why she didn't understand why Bonnie had stayed for so long.

Bonnie opened her mouth to thank her – at least that's what Marceline _hoped_ she was going to do – but was cut off by the bed bouncing up and down and for a moment, both of them were a little stunned. Not that Marceline would admit that.

At least until Bonnie looked around the room and saw an excitable Gracie bouncing on her bed.

Marceline blinked. "What the hell?"

Bonnibel had to bite back the _oh my god you're so cute when you're confused_ that was teetering dangerously on the tip of her tongue. "It's just Gracie." Then she turned to her cousin and smiled, "Hey. What's up?"

"Mommy said that you and Marcy will play with me." Gracie explained her presence. "Can we play hide and seek around the house?"

Bonnibel glanced at Marceline, who was still a little surprised. She didn't think Marceline would want to play games with her little cousin. "I don't think that we can."

Gracie's face fell and she shuffled closer to Marceline, "Hi, Marcy."

Marceline blinked at her after rubbing her eyes, "Hi. What's up, kiddo?"

"Will you and Bonnie play with me?" Gracie looked up at her with big, hopeful eyes, and Marceline's insides melted. How the hell was she supposed to say no to that?

Marceline looked over to Bonnie, trying to figure out if she'd want to or not by her facial expression. It wasn't much help. She was looking right back at Marceline with a soft smile on her face, apparently not thinking about anything.

So, Marceline nodded and sent Gracie a warm smile. "Sure. What game do you want to play?"

"Hide and seek, like we did last time." Gracie _just_ about managed to wrap her tiny arms around Marceline's middle, "Thanks! Bonnibel said we couldn't play."

Bonnie snapped out of her daydream, quick to defend herself, "I didn't think Marceline would want to."

"Course I do." Marceline assured her; she didn't understand why Bonnie thought spending time with her family was some sort of _burden_. If Marceline had a family like Bonnie's, she'd try to spend as much time with them as she could.

 _Okay, no,_ Marceline tried to shut her brain up. She needed to _stop_ thinking about stuff like that. She had what she had. That was it.

Bonnie flashed her a smile, but it had some sort of edge to it. Like a hidden meaning that Marceline couldn't decipher. "Alright then." Her gaze flicked over to Gracie who was still sat between them, pressed into Marceline's side, "Why don't you go and hide and Marcy and I will find you?"

Gracie excitably nodded her head, probably overjoyed that she was allowed to hide on her own. She virtually jumped over Marceline and darted out of the room, shouting, "Count to twenty!" after her.

Marceline smiled after her, her stomach dropping when she felt Bonnie's hand rest lightly on her thigh and give it a soft, gentle squeeze. Marceline relaxed instantly at the touch.

She just hoped Bonnie wouldn't bring up their conversation from before.

But when Bonnie spoke, a flood of relief filled Marceline's chest, "You don't _have_ to spend time with my family, you know."

"I want to." Marceline told her for what felt like the thirtieth time today, "Promise. I like your family."

Bonnie's face almost split in two from her giant grin, "Really? Awesome." She shuffled past Marceline and nodded to the door, "We should hunt for Gracie. It's probably been twenty seconds by now."

Marceline rolled her eyes but made no complaints as she followed Bonnie out of the room. She tried and failed to hide her smile when Bonnie began making exaggerated tip-toed footsteps and acting like her version of a ninja. _Yeah_ , she thought, _who needs a New Year's party when you've got this?_

* * *

"Oh my god, no."

Bonnie looked at her pointedly. "Marceline."

"Don't _Marceline_ me. I'm not doing it." Marceline folded her arms across her chest, trying to imitate one of Bonnie's Mom's _I'm putting my foot down_ stares that would hopefully shut Bonnie up.

It didn't work. Not at all. Bonnie just smirked at her, hoping that Marceline would deduce that she was going to be as persistent as she could be.

"I won't take pictures!" Bonnie threw her phone on her bed as though that would make Marceline cave. "I just – please? For me?"

"I do plenty for you." Marceline sat down on Bonnie's bed and shook her head. "It isn't happening."

"It'd be so _cute_ , though!" Bonnie protested, flopping down next to her and grabbing her girlfriend's hand. "Please? Just for a minute?"

"Yeah, no." Marceline rejected that idea. "Knowing you _just for a minute_ would turn into _just for the rest of the night_."

"Technically it's tomorrow in about half an hour." Bonnie knew she was pushing her luck with that. Either way, she was going to win this argument. She was going to be incredibly stubborn. "Just wear it. Only for a little while."

"I'm not doing it." Marceline shook her head, glancing over at the bright pink, frilly dress that Bonnibel was trying to force her into. "You can't make me wear that _thing_."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Oh, don't be so melodramatic. It's just a dress. God forbid that it's _pink_."

"And frilly." Very frilly. Marceline added that to the list of reasons why she _wouldn't_ be wearing it. "I'm not being melodramatic. I'm being serious. Not happening."

And then Bonnie pulled out the puppy-dog eyes. And Marceline's insides melted and turned into goo.

Bonnie leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Marceline's mouth. "Please, Marcy?

A small groan reverberated at the back of Marceline's throat. "But I don't want to."

"I told you I wouldn't take pictures. It won't leave this room." Bonnie liaised. She wouldn't tell anyone if it happened – not even Lady. She just really wanted to see her girlfriend in one of her dresses. Was that too much to ask? "Wear the dress? Please? If we were like three hundred years in the past, you'd have to wear something like this anyway."

"Yeah, but we're _not_." Marceline reminded her. "Why did you have to pick the frilliest dress you own, anyways?"

"This isn't," Marceline found that hard to believe, "but it's one of my favourites. My Mom told me it made me look like a princess."

"You're really not doing well at convincing me to wear it." Marceline commented, "If you want me to do this I have to get something out of it. If you think of a good enough incentive I might allow you to embarrass me to the tenth degree."

Bonnie's eyes sparked with interest. "What kind of incentive?" Naturally, the only help Marceline gave her was an elusive shrug. "Chocolate? Alcohol? Musical instruments?"

"The last two might help you." Marceline hinted. "Choose wisely."

"Well…you always want musical instruments, and it's New Year's Eve so I assume you'll want alcohol to celebrate." Bonnibel mused, "Mom usually lets me have a little bit of champagne at midnight, so she might be a little more lenient with you considering you're not her child."

"Champagne?" Marceline's left eyebrow quirked up. "Come _on_. I need something better than that."

"My parents don't drink, really." Bonnie said, "I think that's all we have. Dad has a few beers somewhere, I think."

"I could go for some beer." Marceline said, playing with Bonnie's fingers. "If you can get it, that is. If not, deal's off."

Bonnie's face lit up like a Christmas tree, "You'll wear the dress if I get you a beer?"

Marceline hesitated, unable to believe she was about to say this, "Yes. If you get me beer, I'll wear it for five minutes."

"You have to give me longer than that!" Bonnie protested, but quickly stopped herself from complaining when Marceline's expression morphed into something that roughly translated into _don't push it_. "Okay, okay. Fine. Five minutes."

Marceline laughed, "God, I can't believe I'm going to do this."

Bonnie's smile widened and Marceline's stomach flipped. "I can't wait to see you in one of my dresses! You'll look adorable, I know it."

Before Marceline could protest, Bonnie ducked out of the room and ran downstairs to beg her Dad to give Marceline a beer. Marceline didn't actually think that Bonnie would manage it, so of course when she walked back into the room with a beer bottle in her hand and a victorious smile on her face, Marceline had to take a few minutes to reassess her life choices.

And then Bonnie was working at the buttons on her grey plaid shirt and pushing the collar of the dress over her head. Bonnie straightened it out and looked Marceline over; although the dress was a little bit wide on her, it was long enough to cover Marceline's black skinny jeans. And she looked _adorable_.

Marceline's face had flushed as pink as the dress she was wearing, and she had her eyes squeezed shut and was looking downwards to avoid any further embarrassment.

"Oh. My. _God_." Bonnie eventually breathed out. "You look _adorable_."

"I'm not opening my eyes." Marceline heard the implication behind Bonnie's statement. "I'm repressing this memory the second I'm out of this dress. I don't want to see it."

Hopefully she didn't see Bonnie snap a quick photo, either.

"You look so _sweet_." Bonnie persisted, brushing Marceline's hair from her now bright red face. "You look like a princess!"

Even the thought made Marceline queasy. "God, stop talking."

Bonnie scoffed. Like that was going to happen. If she only got five minutes to coo over her girlfriend in a pink frilly dress, she was going to use her time wisely. Besides, it was amusing to see Marceline's face reddening in embarrassment. Usually Bonnie couldn't get that sort of thing out of her.

So of _course,_ Bonnie ignored Marceline's request. "One day you'll have your own castle and a kingdom to rule over. And you'll marry your prince – or princess – and live happily ever after."

"I'm going to smack you."

Bonnie laughed at her, "I'll be your princess if you want. And we can rule the kingdom together in our matching pink dresses."

"You're horrible. I'm breaking up with you." Marceline finally looked up and sent her a glare which probably would've scared Bonnie back when they'd first met.

But now? With Marceline glaring at her in a bright pink dress? Bonnie burst out laughing.

"Oh my god," Bonnibel managed to get out between giggles, "You're so flipping cute! I just want to cuddle you up and call you my little princess."

Marceline bristled. "I am going to _kill_ you."

"Killing me one minute before the new year? Harsh, much?" Bonnie teased, kissing the tip of Marceline's nose. "Besides, I'm complimenting you by saying you're pretty enough to be a princess."

Marceline scowled at her, smacking her on the upper arm. " _Stop_ calling me a princess."

"Well, look how the tables have turned," Bonnie laughed as she rubbed her arm, "Now you know how annoying it is."

Marceline was about to retort – probably some untrue comment about how annoying Bonnie was _all_ the time – but she didn't manage to get it out. Her phone beeped, the alarm she'd set earlier ringing through the room.

And then she pushed her lips onto Bonnie's, forgetting about the horribly uncomfortable situation she was in momentarily as she thought about her girlfriend. Bonnie tasted like chocolate and Marceline could smell her bubblegum perfume as her hands slowly found their place on Bonnie's lower back, her teeth grazing against her girlfriend's lower lip.

A small, barely audible moan reverberated in the back of Bonnie's throat as Marceline deepened the kiss, her fingers moving from Marceline's sharp jawline to tangle through her delicate onyx locks, drinking in Marceline's unique scent of pavements after rain and late nights and everything Bonnie loved.

Marceline finally broke them apart, smiling at the soft whine Bonnie let out, "Happy New Year, Bon."

"Happy New Year, Marce." Bonnibel pressed a kiss to Marceline's cheek and pressed her grey plaid shirt into her hands. "Here's your shirt. I think it's been five minutes."

Marceline laughed and – to her relief – took the dress off, throwing it at Bonnie. "There's your stupid dress."

Bonnie smiled, watching as Marceline buttoned up her shirt. She put the dress to one side and grabbed her pyjamas from under her pillow. "I take it you're going home now, then?"

"Unless you want me to stay." And judging by Bonnie's enthusiastic nod, that was a yes. "Alright. I need to get my pyjamas though, so I'll be about ten minutes."

Bonnie's face sunk into a frown and she grabbed the black shirt Marceline had given her nearly a _year_ ago, passing it to her girlfriend. "Wear that and just take your jeans off. Or you can borrow some of my pyjama pants, but they'll probably be pink."

"I'm fine with my underwear, thanks. I think I'm all _pinked_ out." Marceline unbuttoned her shirt _again_ and pulled the other shirt over her head. She kicked her jeans off and settled under the covers of Bonnie's bed as the pink haired girl changed into her pyjamas on the other side of the room.

Bonnie curled up into bed next to her as Marceline sipped on her beer – Bonnie was a _little_ shocked by how quickly she'd drunk it, but didn't comment. She pressed up against her girlfriend, smiling as Marceline – without even thinking – moved so her head was resting in the bend between Bonnie's neck and shoulder, fitting them together like puzzle pieces.

Marceline reached over Bonnie and put her emptied beer bottle down on the bedside table, settling down again. Bonnie felt Marceline's lips press against her throat and her internal organs did some sort of uncoordinated, collective backflip.

Bonnie flicked her lamp off, whispering into the darkness, "Did you have a good New Year's Eve?"

She couldn't see her, but she felt Marceline smile against her neck. "The best."

And Bonnie couldn't help but agree with her.


	65. sixty-five.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bowling and one year anniversaries are fun.

**Tuesday 6th January 2015**

"Want to know a fun fact?"

"Knowing you, it'll be something about science." Marceline said, mostly to herself. "I'm going to go with no."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "It's not about science." Then, addressing the rest of the group, "It's been a year since I met all of you."

Finn sat up from his spot on Lady's bedroom floor, closing the math textbook he was using to answer questions. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. It's been a year." Bonnie repeated, writing the end of her answer to one of the questions they'd been set for English class. Usually Bonnie would do her homework as soon as it'd been set, but she'd been distracted by Marceline and her family over the Christmas break. Hence the sudden homework get-together.

Bonnie found it hard to believe that she'd been here for a year. It'd flown by. It felt like just yesterday she was getting ready for her first day at school, worrying about making friends and being caught up in any gossip or having anyone disliking her. It felt like last night that she'd been worrying about why someone – _Marceline_ – didn't like her after her only being there for a day. It hadn't felt like a whole _year_.

And now she was in love with the girl who made her feel so upset on that first day, and that girl had turned out to be so unbelievably sweet and caring. Funny how things can work.

"This is like a friendship anniversary or something." Jake commented, fiddling with his pen. He'd finished all of his homework and was watching as Lady worked on her art piece. "We should do something better than _homework_."

"I don't mind what we do." Bonnie said, getting out a fresh sheet of paper so she could get started on her last piece of homework – an A4 poster of notes on what they'd done in class the last few weeks for biology. "I actually find homework quite interesting."

"Nerd," Marceline said softly. Bonnibel glanced up and flushed at her girlfriend's fond smile. "You can do that later. Let's party."

In a strange turn of events, Marceline had already finished all of her homework – Bonnie had triple checked just to make sure she wasn't lying – and had spent most of the day laid out next to Bonnie playing iPhone games.

"Are you forgetting who you're talking to here?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow as she pulled the lid from her purple pen. "I don't really do parties."

"As much as I hate to say it," LSP closed the textbook that she and Cake were looking over, "I agree with Abadeer. We should celebrate your one year anniversary of being here."

Bonnie knew from experience that LSP would use _any_ excuse to throw a party, so there was probably no chance of her escaping this one. _Thanks a lot, Marceline_. "That's really not necessary."

"I agree with them." Fionna closed her notebook and sat up. "We should do something fun."

"Now I'm wishing I hadn't brought it up." Bonnie rested her head against Marceline's shoulder and smiled softly as her girlfriend's arm wrapped around her waist. "But if you're all insisting, I guess we could do something since this is the last day of winter break."

"It's our one year friendship anniversary. We have to do stuff." Lady didn't look up from where she was sketching.

"In that case, Marceline's not invited." Bonnie announced, laughing at how genuinely hurt Marceline looked. She poke Marceline in the side and kissed her cheek, "You've got another month to wait before our friendship anniversary."

Bonnie felt Marceline's chest relax as she breathed out in relief; she had no idea what Marceline had been thinking that was so worrying.

Marceline put her insecurities aside and let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, but technically I liked you from the start. I just pretended not to."

"You so _obviously_ had a crush on her." Lady scoffed and Marceline's cheeks flushed a soft pink, "I caught you staring at her so much. One time you looked at her and actually _smiled_."

Marceline rolled her eyes. "I smile on a regular basis. Why was that so shocking?"

"You don't smile all that much at school." Bonnie pointed out, weaving her fingers between Marceline's, "You smile lots around me though."

"That's because I like you lots." And proving Bonnie's point, Marceline flashed her a soft lopsided grin before leaning in and kissing her. "I don't even know how I pretended not to."

"I don't know." Bonnie hummed in thought, "Maybe it was because you didn't really know me all that well? So aside from thinking I was cute, you couldn't have really felt anything other than neutral towards me."

"I guess so." Marceline's cold fingers traced patterns down Bonnibel's bare upper arm. Bonnie's head fell into the bend between Marceline's neck and shoulder and she let out a happy sigh. "Comfortable?"

Bonnie merely glanced up at Marceline's teasing smirk before replying, "Very, thanks. Your shoulder is lovely."

Marceline laughed. She'd been expecting a different reaction; back in March, Bonnie probably would've sat up and not stopped apologising until Marceline had 'forgiven' her. Marceline was incredibly happy with this development.

(Actually, she liked the kissing development best, but still.)

Thinking about how far she and Bonnie had come was usually something Marceline only thought about at 2AM on a bad night when she was trying to cheer herself up, so she allowed herself to bask in her contentment for a moment before she tuned back into Bonnie's friends' conversation.

"We should go to the mall." Cake was trying to suggest as Finn and Jake shook their heads, an identical look of horror plastered onto their faces.

"You really think Bubblegum wants to spend her time at the _mall_?" Jake sent her an incredulous look. Marceline was certain he was just using Bonnie's dislike of shopping to get himself out of it. "She hates shopping."

"Jake's right." Bonnie spoke up; she sat up straight, no longer leaning on Marceline. "I _do_ hate shopping. We should do something we all enjoy."

"I vote bowling." Fionna suggested, a victorious smile tugging at her mouth as most people in the room seemed interested in the idea – Bonnie and Marceline included. "We all had fun doing that in London, so I don't see why we couldn't go now."

"I think that's a good idea." Lady concurred, dropping her pencil back into her rainbow pencil case and zipping it up. "Bonnibel?"

Bonnie hummed in agreement. She liked the idea of going bowling and beating all of her friends; it'd give her at least _one_ victory to end today with. And it was both funny and adorable watching Marceline get over-competitive. "Yeah, alright. Do we have a bowling alley in town?"

"Yeah," Finn nodded, "It's kind of sketchy though, so Marceline needs to be with us."

Marceline blinked in confusion; half because she hadn't really been listening and was a little stunned by being dragged back into the conversation, and half because _why the hell did she have to go to all the sketchy places_. "Um, what?"

"People are scared of you. If you're there we won't get mugged or anything." Finn explained, "At least, nobody will try to mug _you_."

"I don't think there are any muggers at a bowling alley." Marceline slowly started, "I can't protect any of you, aside from maybe Bonnie. If someone comes at us, I'm running in the opposite direction."

"You'd save me though, right?" Bonnie was sending her a teasing smirk. She already knew the answer.

"Of course I would. I'd carry you on my back when I take a graceful swan dive out of the window." Marceline kissed Bonnie's forehead and smiled, whispering, "Don't smirk like that. It's making me all jittery."

Bonnie laughed, "Good to know it has a hold on you," and then, addressing the rest of their friends, "Let's go bowling, then. Who's in?"

"Count me out." LSP spoke up, "I hate wearing those stupid clown shoes."

Marceline _tried_ to hide her smile. Really. But she failed, of course, and LSP sent her a hard look as though she was trying to flay her using telepathy or something. It probably would've worked, too, if LSP possessed such abilities. But thankfully, she didn't, and Marceline stopped bothering trying to hide her smile and sent her an over-exaggerated mocking grin.

She felt Bonnie's grip on her hand tighten and she glanced down to see her girlfriend sending her a soft but serious look, and Marceline was fairly certain that if it had been accompanied by speech she probably would be saying something along the lines of _be nice_.

It was Marceline who attempted telepathy next. _I am nice_ , she tried to convey through a sheepish smile, _just not to her_.

"Yeah," Cake seemed to agree with LSP on the issue of bowling shoes, "I can't wear those either. We can go to the mall while you guys bowl."

Gumball put the cap on his pen and closed his science textbook. "I have way too much homework. Besides, I suck at bowling."

Marceline kept her expression neutral. In her book, the more the merrier was the dumbest saying ever concocted by mankind. The _less_ the merrier? Definitely. Big groups and Marceline didn't gel.

Bonnie just shrugged. If they didn't want to come, they didn't have to. She'd kind of suspected that Cake and LSP would draw out, though. As long as her girlfriend was there, Bonnie was happy. "That's fine. Your loss, I guess."

"So it's me, Jake, Lady, Bonnibel, Marceline and Fionna?" Finn asked for clarification as he dug around in his green backpack; probably looking for money to pay with. "We could call Phoebe, but I'm pretty sure that she won't be allowed. Her dad wouldn't even let her _study_ with us."

"Looks like it'll just be us," Lady nodded, dumping her textbooks back into the disorganised pile on her equally as messy desk – god, looking at it was giving Bonnie a headache – and grabbed her purse, "We'll go in two cars. Marceline?"

Marceline glanced up from where she was reading over Bonnie's schoolwork. "Yeah?"

"You drove here, right? With Bubblegum?" Lady questioned her as she grabbed her coat from the hook on the back of the door. At Marceline's nod in affirmative, Lady continued, "Alright. We'll go in your car and Jake's."

Bonnie gathered up her papers and tucked them back into her pink backpack, flashing Marceline a smile as she waited by Lady's bedroom door. Then she slung her backpack over one shoulder and crossed over to her girlfriend.

"Can I leave this," Bonnie threw her head back, motioning towards her backpack, "in your car?"

"Yeah, sure." Marceline threaded her cold fingers through Bonnie's and left her girlfriend wondering why the hell her hands were so cold when they'd been in Lady's warm bedroom for the past three hours. "It'd save us the trip back to your house."

"I can't believe I've known you for a year." Bonnie murmured, mostly to herself. Marceline caught it anyways; Bonnie was the only person in the room she was paying attention to. "God, at about 4PM this time last year, I would've been sat in my room wondering what I did to make someone – _you_ – hate me on my first day. And now you're my girlfriend and we're in love and -"

Marceline cut her off with a kiss, "I know. It kind of shocks me how far we've come, you know?"

"From mortal enemies -" Okay, that one got a laugh out of Marceline, "to friends, to best friends, to girlfriends."

"We weren't _mortal enemies_." That lingering smile tugged at the corners of Marceline's mouth and Bonnie's insides melted. "You've done so much good, you know that? You make all of your friends so happy, you're amazing to kids like Gracie, and you – you made me believe that I could get better again. And that's incredible."

Bonnibel flashed her a grin. "You're sweet. Thanks." She kissed the corner of Marceline's mouth and squeezed her hand, tugging her out of the door, "Come on. I need to _destroy_ you at bowling."

* * *

Marceline's fingers ran across the smooth surface of the purple bowling ball, hooking her fingers through the holes and heaving it from where it had been left. She tried her best to mask how heavy it was, because if _Bonnie_ could pick it up with no trouble, so could she.

(Although Bonnibel _was_ freakishly strong. Marceline suspected she was the female version of the Hulk.)

She made her way over to the bowling lane that she was using with Bonnie and Lady, throwing the ball quickly and in a straight line in the hopes of getting it in the centre and knocking down a decent amount of pins.

It rolled down the lane at a decent speed, curving a little to the left and hitting the third pin in. Thanks to the domino effect, Marceline managed to knock down eight pins, and she spun on her heels to return Bonnie's proud smile.

As she went to pick up another bowling ball, Bonnie – whose turn it was next – crossed over to her and absently fiddled with one of the bowling balls, rolling it back and forth. "I bet you can pick up a spare."

"You've jinxed me now," Marceline sent her a feigned look of irritation, "I bet you can get a perfect game."

So far, Bonnie had managed to get a strike on _every_ single one of her turns. Even if the ball had curved slightly, she still managed to knock down every single pin. Marceline was pretty sure she was using her talents as a science prodigy to win. And Marceline thought she'd never need physics outside of school.

"And now _you've_ jinxed me _._ " Bonnie folded her arms across her chest, following Marceline over to the bowling lane. "Either way, I'm still going to beat you."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "I'm not doubting that, nerd." She readied herself to throw the ball, "Move back, I don't want to smack you in the face with a bowling ball."

Bonnie ignored her, shuffling even closer to her girlfriend and grabbing the arm holding the incredibly heavy ball. "Move left."

"What?" Marceline turned around completely, "Why?"

"Just – do what I say, okay?" Bonnie put her hands on Marceline's waist, shifting her to the left just slightly. She lifted her right hand, keeping her other stationary on Marceline's waist, levelling her finger at the pins. "See that little gap between the pins and the gutter on the right?" Bonnie didn't wait for Marceline's confirmation, "Throw the ball at that, as you usually would. You should get a spare."

Marceline blinked at her as she stepped back, allowing her room to throw the ball. Marceline threw it and knocked down both of the pins with ease, stepping back in confusion as Bonnie walked back over to her with her own bowling ball; it was her turn next.

Marceline stepped out of the way as Bonnie easily bowled another strike. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it." Bonnie took her hand and walked her back over to where Finn was sat, sipping his root beer and waiting for his turn. "If you're good, I'll help you get a strike."

"What the hell does _if you're good_ mean?" Marceline raised an eyebrow as she slid into the seat next to Bonnie as Lady took her turn.

Bonnie's answer was nothing but allusive. "I guess you'll have to figure that out for yourself, won't you?"

Marceline rolled her eyes, leaning across Bonnie to take a sip of her girlfriend's lemonade. "You couldn't have just answered me like a normal person, could you?"

Bonnie shrugged, nodding to the screen. "It's your turn."

Marceline blinked up at the screen. So it was. She slipped out of her seat and picked up a lighter ball this time, haphazardly throwing it down the bowling alley. Surprisingly – although she'd just thrown the ball randomly – it knocked down six pins. Not her best, but she could've done a lot worse.

She spun on her heels to pick up another ball, jumping out of her skin when she saw Bonnie stood behind her with a bowling ball in her hands. "Um, Bonnie? I still have another throw."

"I know that." Bonnibel smiled, handing it to Marceline, "This is for you. You've got a split there and I want to try and get you a spare. I've only ever had a couple of splits before and I've only knocked all the pins down once."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "So you're using my turn to improve your bowling skills?"

"No, not if you don't want me to." Bonnie said, "If you want to do that yourself, you can."

Marceline turned the idea over in her head for a while. Having Bonnie's help and probably getting a higher score than she originally would have or trying by herself and sucking? The former sounded a lot more appealing than the latter.

"Okay, Obi-Wan," Marceline turned back to the bowling alley, "teach me the ways of the Jedi."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes, her hands resting on Marceline's waist as she helped position her girlfriend. "And you call me a nerd?"

"You are a nerd." Marceline looked back to Bonnie to see her squinting at the pins, almost looking as though she was suspicious of them, like something was going to pop up from behind them or something. God, it was adorable. "Never said I wasn't one too."

"Alright," Bonnie flashed her a soft smile and pointed over at the pins, "You see the three pins on the left? Aim for those but try to get them on the outside, near the gutter. That way you might manage to hit one of them at the right angle for it to knock over the one on the right. Got it?"

"Uh…" Marceline hesitated. That sounded complicated, "I think so?"

Bonnibel laughed, "You have _no_ idea what I mean, do you?"

"Not at all." Marceline glanced over at the pins, "You want me to throw at the left but then somehow get them to magically knock over the other?"

"Aim for the back left corner." Bonnie told her, her hands falling to rest on Marceline's waist and her chin pressed against Marceline's shoulder. "If you get it at the right angle, one of them should knock into the other. Then you'll get a spare."

Bonnie stepped back about a foot to give Marceline some room, watching as her girlfriend threw the ball. She managed to knock down the three left pins, but the one on the right side stayed standing.

"Damn. Guess you're not the best teacher, Bon," Marceline teased as she walked back a few paces so she was level with Bonnie, who was picking up her bowling ball.

"Not the best, no. But that still doesn't mean I'm not good, Marce." Bonnie pointed out with a wink.

And of course, Marceline sent her that _perfect_ toothy, lopsided grin that she only ever really wore when she was genuinely happy the exact _millisecond_ that Bonnibel threw the ball.

And she bowled a nine.

"Dammit. You threw me off." Bonnibel sent Marceline a hard glare as she picked up another bowling ball. "Damn you and your stupid pretty face."

Marceline laughed – the sound was music to Bonnie's ears and was definitely her favourite song – as she watched Bonnie knock down the remaining pin with ease. "I thought you liked my stupid pretty face. You still got a spare."

Bonnie sighed, boosting herself up on her tiptoes to kiss Marceline. "I guess. And my perfect game is screwed up thanks to your stupidly gorgeous smile. Dammit, Marcy. It's like you're out to get me or something."

"Out to get you? No. I like pushing your buttons, though." Marceline smirked and Bonnie noted the tiny dimple in her right cheek. "Come on. Let's go and have a drink before you defeat me and Lady in the crushing final round."

Bonnie smiled, threading her fingers through Marceline's. "I like the sound of that."

* * *

As expected, Bonnibel won the bowling game; she was the highest scorer out of both teams with _almost_ a perfect game, followed by Jake who had won on the other team. Then Marceline, then Fionna, then Finn, and then Lady, who had spent more time talking to Jake than watching where the ball was going.

After that, they'd collectively decided not to play another game and go and hang out at Bonnie's for a little while – sans Fionna who had _other commitments._ Whatever that meant.

Bonnie held open the front door for her friends and then closed it behind her, smiling a little when she heard an excited "Bonnibel!" from the front room. Typically, as Gracie came out of the door and came face to face with three people she hadn't met before, she collapsed into herself with a strangled, "Oh."

That was until she saw Marceline and ran over to her, grabbing her hand. "Marcy."

Finn, Jake and Lady exchanged a look of…confusion? Surprise? Worriedness over what Marceline might do to the kid? Neither Marceline nor Bonnie could decipher it.

Either way, Marceline knelt down to Gracie's height and flashed her a soft smile. "Hey, Gracie. How are you?"

Gracie leaned in closer to her, her grip on Marceline's hand tightening so much that it was borderline _painful_. _Careful, kid_ , Marceline thought, _I need that hand to play music_.

Completely disregarding Marceline's question, Gracie whispered, "Who are those scary people?"

"They're friends with Bonnie," Marceline explained, and added after a moment of braveness, "and me. They're nice, though. Not scary at all, even if you might think that now."

"Like you?" Gracie looked up at her innocently and Marceline tried not to laugh at how _astonished_ , Finn, Jake and Lady looked. Why was it so surprising that she was good with kids?

"Yeah, like me." Marceline rose back up to her usual height, keeping a grip on Gracie's hand. She motioned to Lady with her free hand, "That's Lady," and then at the boys, "and that's Finn and Jake."

Gracie blinked up at the newly introduced trio, murmuring a quiet, "Hello."

Lady beamed at her. "Hi! Are you Bonnibel's little cousin? She talks about you all the time."

Everyone in the room aside from Gracie _knew_ that was a total lie, but the way the kid's face lit up in happiness and she looked over at Bonnie in disbelief was enough to make Marceline have to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying _aw_. And Marceline wasn't the type of person that found kids cute.

"Really?" Gracie looked over to Bonnie with an amazed smile on her face.

"Really," Bonnie flashed her a grin, "They know all about how much you beat me at Mario Kart, too."

Gracie's eyes sparked with interest and instead of replying to Bonnie, she looked up at Marceline. "Can I play Mario Kart with you? I'll kick your butt at it!"

Marceline glanced over at Bonnie and smiled. "Sure. And _I'm_ going to be the one doing the butt kicking."

By the time she'd played three games and – purposely – lost to a seven year old in front of Bonnie and the nerds, Marceline was pretty certain she'd completely ruined whatever tiny shred of a reputation she had left.

It was funny how she didn't care.


	66. sixty-six.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marceline has a sick day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning - eating disorder (mention), death (mention).

**Friday 9th January 2015**

Marceline cringed at the bright light in her bedroom, rubbing at her eyes in an effort to help them adjust sooner. It didn't work all that well, but she sat up and pushed her messier than usual hair from her eyes and glanced around her room.

She couldn't remember Simon leaving the light on this morning when he'd come in to check on her. She couldn't remember all that much, really; her head felt fuzzy and her thoughts – even now – were a little cloudy. She just knew that it'd been a bad night and all she wanted to do was crawl into a dark hole and stay there. Forever.

She felt around under her sheets for her phone, blinking at the screen in astonishment. She swiped at the lock screen and opened up her phone, looking at the text messages icon to make sure she hadn't been seeing things or that her phone hadn't malfunctioned. She had _thirteen_ messages and three missed calls. She automatically assumed that they were all from Bonnie.

(Either that or the pizza place had a load of new offers they wanted to tell her about.)

The three missed calls were kind of a shock – two from Bonnie and one from Lady. Bonnie, she could understand; all Marceline had sent to her this morning was a rather incoherent text about how she wouldn't be able to give Bonnie a ride to school. But Lady? It had to be a mistake. Maybe she'd sat on her phone and accidentally activated Siri or something.

She investigated the alarming number of texts next. Six were – unsurprisingly – from Bonnibel, and they actually made her laugh a little.

_**Bonnie (7:37AM): What do you mean you can't give me a ride? Are you sick?** _

_**Bonnie (8:45AM): There haven't been any Marcy-sightings at school as of yet so I'm going to assume that you're sick. I'll come over tonight with movies.** _

_**Bonnie (8:47AM): Unless you're faking it. In that case, you're in trouble. I'll be doing some necessary butt-kicking if that's the case.** _

_**Bonnie (8:55AM): If you're laughing I want you to know that I'm not kidding. I'll bring the pain, Abadeer. Just you wait and see. ;)** _

_**Bonnie (9:01AM): I just asked Betty about what happened and she explained everything. I love you, Marcy.** _

_**Bonnie (9:04AM): You can expect my arrival at around four today. I'll bring Twizzlers and Taylor Swift's new album and we can have a dance party. Sound good? I'm going to go now – I have to focus on the joys of symbolism and metaphors in poems. Ich liebe dich. xxxx :)** _

Marceline couldn't stop herself from smiling down at the screen. It was astounding how Bonnie could cheer her up without being in the same room as her.

Deciding that it wasn't acceptable to ignore her amazingly perfect girlfriend, Marceline chewed on the inside of her cheek in thought before typing out a response.

_**Marceline (11:17AM): twizzlers and taylor swift sounds perfect** _

_**Marceline (11:17AM): and I love you too, shaking in my boots at what 'bringing the pain' means ;)** _

Marceline knew that Bonnie wouldn't reply to her, since she'd be in chemistry class. She'd probably respond later, when she had her study period before lunch. Either way, that gave her time to focus on the other seven messages.

She left the conversation with Bonnie and frowned at the screen. Three texts from Lady? That had to be a glitch.

_**Lady (8:50AM): You're not in school today are you** _

_**Lady (8:53AM): Get better soon Marceline :)** _

_**Lady (8:55AM): Also get your butt here before art, Phoebe is on a school trip so I'm going to be by myself if you don't make a swift recovery** _

That was pleasantly surprising. If this had happened this time last year, Marceline would've bet all of her guitars that she'd only have one text at the most – probably from her brother, complaining about how he had to get the bus to school or something. But she had two people asking where she was? This was all too surreal.

Wait. No. Four people.

She had two texts from Finn and two from Jake. _What_? She was sure that they wouldn't be messages of concern. Probably just asking her why she'd abandoned Bonnie at school or something.

_**Finn (8:30AM) where u at? bubblegum's looking for u everywhere!** _

_**Finn (8:48AM): ur not dead r u? I'll avenge ur death if u r! :) jk ur just sick right? feel better soon!** _

Marceline blinked at the screen, as though the texts were just some sort of fatigue-induced hallucination. Maybe that's what Jake's were.

_**Jake (8:36AM): lady's saying that you're sick and stuff and bubblegum's all mopey bc you've abandoned her** _

_**Jake (8:46AM): feel better soon bro** _

Marceline had to lock her phone before she passed out from shock. It had to be lack of sleep making her see weird things, right? She'd heard that could happen if you didn't sleep for a long time; that your dreams would morph with reality and you wouldn't be able to tell what was real. Maybe that's what this was about.

Either that or Bonnibel had told them all to text her. Probably the latter, now that she thought about it.

She was debating going back to sleep and checking when she woke up again, but her phone pinged and put a hold on that idea.

Marceline looked over at her illuminated phone screen with a frown. It quickly melted into a smile when she read the message.

_**Bonnie (11:28AM): Ah, she lives! And you should be scared. Me bringing the pain is a very serious thing and is only a punishment for the most serious of crimes. It's written in the law.** _

Now that text, she could believe was real. She was a little stunned that Bonnie was texting during chemistry, though.

_**Marceline (11:29AM): sounds terrifying** _

_**Marceline (11:29AM): so you're saying me skipping school is 'the most serious of crimes'?** _

Marceline locked her phone and sat up, using her fingers to untangle a rather irritating knot in her hair. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and picked up her glasses from her bedside table, sliding them on. Then she slid her sweatpants off and grabbed her Charmander onesie from where she'd left it on her chair, zipping it up and heading down to the kitchen.

She poured herself a glass of milk and sat down on the couch, switching on the television and browsing the channels until she heard a ping and checked her phone.

_**Bonnie (11:32AM): Of course it is. Truancy affects us all. ;)** _

_**Marceline (11:33AM): hah, hardly** _

_**Marceline (11:33AM): give me one example of my truancy affecting everyone else** _

Marceline didn't expect Bonnibel to come up with something to prove her wrong.

_**Bonnie (11:35AM): Like right now, for instance. You're not in class, therefore I don't have a lab partner for this practical experiment we're doing. You're ruining my education, Marcy. ;)** _

_**Marceline (11:36AM): you hardly need a partner for chemistry since you're a science prodigy, so you can shut up** _

_**Bonnie (11:37AM): Aw, you're a sweetheart. I miss having you here asking me what different chemicals do and stuff. It's cute.** _

_**Marceline (11:38AM): you're saying that like I moved to a different continent or something** _

_**Bonnie (11:38AM): It's natural for me to miss you. I'm in love with you, you goof. I like having you with me in classes and it's weird without you.** _

Marceline tried to ignore the way her stomach collapsed in on itself in a horribly uncoordinated backflip. Even seeing the words through text was enough to make Marceline's knees weak.

(It was a good thing she was sat down.)

_**Marceline (11:40AM): well you'll get to see me tonight and I'll ask as many dumb questions about science as you want** _

_**Bonnie (11:41AM): You'd better. ;)** _

_**Marceline (11:42AM): who am I to deny the princess anything? ;)** _

* * *

 

Bonnibel pushed the cold handle down, automatically rolling her eyes when the door opened without complaint. _Really, Marceline? I could be a mass murderer or something and you've left the front door unlocked_.

She kicked her shoes off and – following the sounds of the television – walked into the front room, her jaw dropping open at the sight of her girlfriend. Marceline was cuddled up to Hambo while the TV played to itself – some cartoon that Bonnie didn't recognise – and was wearing the same dinosaur onesie she'd worn on their Christmas Eve movie marathon and her glasses. Only one word could best summarise this look; adorable.

Bonnie took a few sneaky photos before crossing over to her girlfriend and tapping her on the shoulder. "Marcy? Wake up. It's Bonnie."

Marceline swatted her hand away, "It's too early. Marcy is tired."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes and shook Marceline even harder, "It's four in the afternoon." And then, imitating her girlfriend, "Marcy better get _up_ or Bonnie is going to leave and take all of these free Twizzlers with her."

Marceline opened her eyes and sent her girlfriend a short-lived scowl, tugging the hood of her onesie – which had an adorable dinosaur face and ears on it – over her head. "Fine. I'm up. You didn't need to resort to bribery."

"Apparently I did," Bonnie shot back, pulling a packet of Twizzlers from her backpack; the strawberry kind – she knew that they were Marceline's favourites, "These are for us to share. I brought some trashy romantic comedies with me too."

Marceline barely spared her a passing glance as she opened the Twizzlers and pulled one out, biting it almost in half. "Cool. No romantic comedies, thanks. I can't even hate-watch those things."

Bonnie wanted to bite back with a comment about how some romantic comedies were actually quite good, and that Marceline shouldn't group them all together, but she was taken off guard when Marceline leaned forwards and put the Twizzlers on the table.

Bonnie's face sunk into a frown. She'd bought those purposefully; she knew they were Marceline's weakness and had hoped that her girlfriend would unconsciously eat most of them by herself.

"Uh-oh," Marceline held the last quarter of her Twizzler between her fingers in a manner reminiscent of a smoker holding a cigarette, "You're wearing your protective girlfriend face. What's wrong?"

Bonnie let out a soft sigh. She didn't want to vocalise her worries; Marceline seemed to be in a good mood and she knew that even a whisper of what Bonnie was thinking would send her collapsing in on herself. Bonnie didn't want to make that happen – Betty had explained to her that Marceline was taking a 'mental health day'. Simon allowed her to have three every semester, and apparently she'd been up all night with bad dreams and had a bad panic attack in the early hours of the morning.

Bonnie couldn't send her girlfriend to a bad place, so she tread carefully. "You remember when you told me about…you know…and we set ground rules?" At Marceline's hesitant nod and wary flash in her eyes, Bonnie reluctantly continued, "You promised that you'd be honest with me completely. What have you eaten today?"

Marceline blinked at her, and Bonnie saw something flash in her eyes before she returned her facial expression to neutral. Was that fear? Surprise? Relief? It'd been too fast for Bonnie to tell. "I had an apple when I woke up. Then at about two I had some tomato soup and bread."

Bonnie felt herself relax. She'd been expecting 'nothing' or an attempt at avoiding the question. "Okay. Good. That's good."

Marceline sunk down on the couch, fiddling with the zipper on her onesie. "You didn't have to come over, you know. I'm fine."

Bonnie refused to let the conversation go down that road. No _way_. Instead, she completely disregarded Marceline's statement and tugged on the sleeves of her girlfriend's onesie. "This is cute. You make a great dinosaur."

"It's a _Charmander_." Marceline corrected her, flicking through the channels to find something interesting. Her gaze flicked over to Bonnie and her face sunk into a frown at her girlfriend's confused expression. "You know? Charmander? Pokémon?"

"Oh, I've heard of Pokémon!" Bonnie exclaimed, snapping her fingers as it clicked in her mind, "My younger -" _Whoa_. _Stop right there, Bonnie. Correct yourself_. "I think I have some of the cards lying around in the attic somewhere. I'm afraid I'm not all that familiar with the different names. I know Pikachu."

Marceline stared at her, head cocked to the left slightly in a manner similar to confused puppy, and Bonnie _knew_ she'd picked up on her slip-up. Of course she did. "You were going to say something else."

"No, I wasn't." Bonnie insisted. "Just that I know a few people that collect them. Family and stuff."

"Why'd you stop yourself, then?" Marceline frowned. Surely if it was worth completely changing your story for, it was important. Right? Or was she just overthinking things? "If you were just talking about a younger cousin, why did you stop like it was some sort of secret?"

"Marceline," Bonnibel stared down at her lap, her fingers fiddling with the hem of her pink dress, "you know that I love you."

"Yeah. So?"

" _So_ …this just," Bonnibel sighed and finally met Marceline's concerned gaze, "It isn't something that- I, uh, can't tell you about this. It's not that I don't trust you – I'd trust you with my life – but I just don't like to talk about these things. It's better to just keep it bottled up."

"It's that thing, isn't it?" Marceline's voice dropped to a low murmur, "That thing that makes your parents all protective. That thing you won't tell me about."

All Bonnie could manage was a nod. She was too busy trying not to think about how her lungs felt like they were going to be crushed by her rib cage, how her heart was beating ten times faster than what was probably healthy and that she felt queasy at the thought of saying anything.

 _Don't think about it, don't think about it_ , she told herself, _don't. Think. About. It. You know better than this._

She couldn't bear to look at Marceline. She knew that her girlfriend was putting the pieces together, connecting the dots until everything made sense. Marceline was smart. She'd figure it out.

What Marceline said next made what felt like a million tonnes crash down on Bonnie, crushing her until there was nothing left. "You have a sibling, don't you?"

"I -" Bonnie looked up at Marceline, who was distorted like an image in a funhouse mirror, "had. Had a sibling."

The next thing Bonnie knew, Marceline's protective, comforting arms were wrapped around her waist, and her head was guided into the curve between Marceline's shoulder and neck. Her body was shaking with sobs – she could barely see two feet in front of her, like she'd just been plunged underwater and everything was fuzzy and smudged. All she could feel was the pain. Like someone had cut right into her chest and ripped out a piece of her.

"Is it okay if I ask what happened?" Marceline whispered into Bonnie's neck, "It's okay if you don't want to talk."

"No -" Bonnie pulled back from Marceline's hold, "No, I should tell you. I owe you that much."

"You don't owe me anything." Marceline felt Bonnie's arm wrap around her shoulders and pull her so she was rested against her.

"It's alright." Bonnie whispered, her hand tracing along Marceline's sharp jawline before weaving into her hair, "I'll tell you. I -" She sucked in a deep breath, unable to believe that this was actually happening. This was something that she hadn't ever planned on telling anyone other than the people that needed to know, "I had a little brother. His name was Ned but we all called him Neddy. He was six and a half years younger than me – he would've been eleven right now."

"He was born prematurely and as a result of oxygen deprivation had several mental conditions that hindered his growth. He had trouble talking and communicating with others and he went to a special school for disabled children as it would have given him the best help possible. Mom didn't think he'd ever be able to manage speech past the level of a three year old, but he was the sweetest kid you'd ever meet and he meant well.

"He was rather clingy of me and we used to spend a lot of time together when we were kids. I used to play games with him – stuff like hide and seek. Because of his disabilities he didn't really understand right and wrong and when he was coming on a little too strong and he would sometimes get a little too excited and scare people off. Mom and Dad had to keep a close eye on him a lot of the time because he would wander; he'd see something like a poster to a Disney movie he liked and run over to it and end up getting lost.

"We went on this camping trip when we were…" Bonnie trailed off, trying to think. She'd tried to block out as much of this memory as possible, "I was thirteen and Neddy had just turned seven. Everything went well at first; night one passed without hassle and he stayed by me in the tent – initially Mom had wanted to share with him, but he wanted to be with me. I loved him so much."

Bonnie's head fell back into the curve between Marceline's neck and shoulder and she choked back a small sob, "We were originally staying for three nights, but the second night we were there, I – I woke up in the tent by myself. And I freaked out. I ran over to my parents' tent and woke them both up, told them that he'd gone missing. They got up and looked, and I stayed by the tents in case he wandered back. I was in hysterics; he was nowhere to be found.

"My parents were searching for hours – they'd called the police, Mom called her work to see if they'd found him because she was worried he might've been hurt. I sat and uselessly cried by the tents. Eventually, my Dad found him. He'd -" Bonnibel squeezed her eyes shut to cut off the soon-to-be waterfall of tears, "He'd fallen from this clifftop that was about a three-quarters of a mile away from our tents. It killed him."

"Bonnie, I'm so sorry," Marceline squeezed her tightly. Out of all the things she'd theorised about Bonnie's parents' protectiveness, this certainly hadn't crossed her mind.

Bonnibel wiped at her eyes, "Ever since then my parents have been incredibly over-protective. I don't blame them. They went through the loss of one of their children, and I know how much they hurt. It crushed me, and my pain probably wasn't comparable to theirs. I miss him so much. He would've really loved to meet you."

"He would've?" Marceline decided to steer the conversation down a lighter road. Although the topic of Neddy was inevitably upsetting for her girlfriend, at least this way they'd be talking about happy things. In a way.

"Oh, yeah." Bonnie nodded into Marceline's shoulder. "He adored meeting new people and he probably would've understood how happy you make me. He would've loved you. Especially if you wore this," Bonnie tugged at Marceline's onesie sleeve, "He liked to collect things - he had multiple card collections and stamp collections and all that stuff - and I used to buy him the Pokémon cards. He might've actually believed you were – ah, what's it called again?"

"Charmander."

"Yes, Charmander," Bonnie nodded her head, a sad, watery smile tugging at her lips. That could've been real, if things had gone differently. "I wish you could've met him."

"Yeah, me too." Marceline turned her head to the side to meet Bonnie's watery gaze.

Marceline didn't have time to think of something else to talk about before Bonnie was kissing her so delicately that her heart skipped a beat. Marceline tried to hold back her smile as their mouths worked perfectly against each other's like the right pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and every nerve in her body felt like it'd been set on fire as Bonnie's fingers tenderly traced her sharp jawline.

"Thank you for listening to me." Bonnibel murmured as she pulled away, "I'm sorry that I kept that from you for so long. It happened nearly five years ago but sometimes it feels like only five minutes."

"That's okay. I don't blame you." Marceline gently squeezed Bonnie's hand, "I can understand loss."

Bonnie blinked at her. _Marceline understood_. _She lost her mother. She knows what it's like. Probably knows how much worse it can be_. "Yeah. It sucks, doesn't it?"

"Totally," Marceline exhaled, trying to rid the room of any remaining tension. "Do you want to watch those shitty romantic comedies you brought over then? I know you secretly like them."

Bonnibel let out a watery laugh and pushed her lips against Marceline's. "That sounds amazing. Thanks, Marcy."

Marceline squeezed her hand before reaching down and grabbing the DVDs that were poking out of Bonnie's pink backpack. "Any time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the 'Bonnie's sibling' thing planned since July-ish (2015) and then Bonnie and Neddy aired in November. Genuinely think I'm slightly psychic.


	67. sixty-seven.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie gives Marceline a present.

**Saturday 17th** **January 2015**

"Can we go shopping?" Bonnibel asked as her fingers danced across the exposed, pale skin of Marceline's stomach. "Today. Just us, if you want."

Marceline grunted, half shuffling away from Bonnie, but the pink haired girl's arm stayed firmly around her middle, her fingers tracing intricate little patterns on her stomach. "It's too early. Ask again in six hours."

"It's 10AM." Bonnie tucked the covers of Marceline's bed underneath her chin.

Marceline kept her eyes shut, but flipped herself over to press up against Bonnie's side, her face hiding in her girlfriend's neck. "Exactly. Practically the middle of the night. Shut _up_."

" _Marceline_ ," Bonnibel huffed, her left arm settling around Marceline's waist while her other began tracing the same patterns on her girlfriend's neck; the skin was much cooler than that on her stomach. "If you're so insistent on being a lazy lump, you can at least move and let me get up and have some breakfast."

"No. You're my pillow." Marceline whispered into her neck. Blindly, she reached to her left and found the handle to the drawer in her bedside table, pulling out a cereal bar and dropping it in Bonnie's lap – all without moving. She _did_ knock an empty can of Coke from the table, but still. "Here. Breakfast in bed. I'm the most chivalrous girlfriend in town."

"You keep _breakfast bars_ in your bedside table? Why?" Bonnibel raised an eyebrow as she unwrapped it, looking down at her girlfriend. She was about ninety percent certain that Marceline had already fallen back to sleep. Typically. "You know what? Forget I asked."

Marceline shifted against her, nuzzling her face further into Bonnie's neck and Bonnie felt her heart melt. She pushed Marceline's bangs to the side – they'd fallen in front of her eyes, the rest of her hair haphazardly splayed behind her. Bonnibel loved playing with Marceline's hair; usually hair as long as her girlfriend's – waist length – ended up straggly and ratty, but Marceline's hair was so soft. Bonnie had the temptation to ask what conditioner she used, but she figured that would be kind of weird.

Bonnie decided that she might be able to slip out of bed and get a drink without waking Marceline, so she shifted to the right a little and went to sit up. And naturally, Marceline's grip on her shirt tightened and her previously relaxed expression morphed into an upset frown. Bonnibel smiled to herself, leaning back in bed and pressing a kiss to Marceline's temple.

She found one of Marceline's warm – for once – hands and weaved their fingers together, settling back down next to her now relaxed girlfriend. "You don't have to worry. I'm not going anywhere. I don't think I'll be able to get back to sleep so I'll just wait for you to sleep. Maybe I'll give you an extra couple of hours. I can always daydream to pass the time. Think about happy things like my family and my friends and you."

"If you're trying to butter me up to get me out of bed, it won't work." Marceline's voice was muffled by both the blankets and the fact that her face was hidden in Bonnibel's neck. "I'm still confused as to why _you_ want to go shopping. You hate shopping."

"Well…you know at my Aunt's wedding? I mentioned prom." Bonnie murmured, pushing Marceline's hair back again to reveal her ear piercings and the little finger sized hole in her earlobe where her black spike usually went through. "I want to start maybe looking at dresses. I've looked online a little bit but I'd like to go around town and take a look."

"You and I both know that when you get there, you'll probably want to go home." Marceline finally opened her eyes and slung an arm across Bonnibel's middle. "If you're really insistent I guess we could go to town. I have a question about prom, though."

"What about it?" All sorts of terrifying things went through Bonnie's mind. What if Marceline didn't want to go with her? Maybe her girlfriend had decided that she didn't want to go _at all_.

"Can I wear my pyjamas?"

Relief washed over Bonnie as Marceline spoke. She even laughed a little. "No, you _can't_. It's a formal event, Marceline." And, pushing her luck, "You can wear a tux, though. You'd look hot in one."

"Is that you subtly asking me to wear a tux to prom?" Finally, Marceline sat up and laughed, "I might, then. Maybe I'll show up in my onesie, though. I'll have to think it over."

"If you show up in that onesie, I'll pretend I don't know you." Bonnie warned. She was totally kidding, but she didn't want to be forever known as the girl who slow danced with the giant Pokémon.

"I thought you said I looked cute in it?" Marceline batted her eyelashes at her girlfriend.

"Yes, you do. Still not socially acceptable to wear to prom, though." Bonnie sat up herself, leaning forwards and kissing her girlfriend. "Are we going out, then?"

"If you want." Marceline shrugged. If she was being honest, she didn't care what she did. As long as they were doing something relatively fun. "I really don't care."

Bonnibel pouted, her eyebrows knitting together in a frown. "You should care. This is your relationship too, Marcy. You tell me what you want to do. I don't want to make you trail behind me like a lost puppy all the time. You can make decisions."

Marceline blinked at her. How the hell had Bonnie interpreted her _I don't care_ as that? "That's not – I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that I don't really mind what we do. I don't really have any ideas."

"Would you want to go into town?" Bonnie questioned. "I don't want to make you do something that you're not really bothered about doing. I can look for dresses with my Mom. I know that dress shopping probably won't interest you."

"Of course it won't," Marceline scoffed. She was fairly certain that was obvious, "but if you're wanting to go, we can."

"We're not going," Bonnibel concluded, laying down in the bed, "not if it's going to make you bored. I'll just get my Mom to take me. She'd like that. We never really have mother-daughter days that much anymore; we used to every weekend since I was on my own all the time. She'd always force me to go shopping."

Marceline hummed in response, staring at the empty patch of wall on Bonnie's right. She seemed a little off, like something was on her mind. Maybe Bonnie had said something that had upset her?

Bonnie smacked herself when she realised. Mother-daughter time. Dammit. She was an idiot.

"I'm sorry." Bonnie covered her mouth with her hand, pulling Marceline close to her, "I'm so sorry. God, I really need to shut up."

Marceline frowned at her, her voice muffled in the shoulder of the shirt she'd given Bonnie. "What?"

"Were you not upset because I was talking about spending time with my Mom?" Bonnibel found it hard to believe that Marceline had just spaced out for no reason.

"Why would I get upset about that?" Marceline's left eyebrow quirked up, hiding itself behind her bangs, "God, I know I'm a little sensitive about it, but I'm not made of freaking _glass_. You don't need to be that careful about it."

Bonnie shook her head. _Let's get off this conversational topic_ _stat_. "So…I needed to tell you something last night."

Marceline seemed a little flummoxed by the sudden change of topic, "What? Are you okay?"

Bonnibel found herself laughing – albeit a little awkwardly – at how concerned her girlfriend looked, "No, no, I'm fine. There's no need for you to get that protective glint in your eye. It's actually kind of a trivial thing."

"Trivial…," Marceline repeated, "So why didn't you tell me last night?"

"I was trying to fit it into casual conversation," Bonnie began, reaching forwards to grab her pink backpack from where she'd left it down by the foot of Marceline's bed, "but I couldn't figure out how to. I made you a thing."

"A thing?" Marceline was interested enough to look away from her phone, which she'd picked up to check for notifications, so Bonnie took that as a good sign. "What kind of thing?"

"Well," Bonnibel found the plastic bag she'd put it in and pulled it out of her backpack, but she didn't reveal what it was to Marceline, "I decided to start a new hobby, so Mom has been teaching me how to knit things for the past few months. And I made you something."

She opened up the plastic bag as Marceline glanced back down at her phone screen and pulled what she'd made out, holding it out towards her girlfriend.

"What'd you make me?" Marceline turned back to Bonnie and glanced down at the thing in her hands, a soft smile replacing her frown.

"It's a sweater." Bonnie unfolded it so Marceline could look at it properly. "Um, all I had was pink wool so I'm sorry about that and I didn't know your size so I just used mine and then took a few inches off. I get it if you don't want to wear it and -"

"Bonnie," Marceline cut her off with a laugh, "That's fine. I love it."

"You do?" Bonnie blinked at her, fiddling with the sleeve of the sweater. "Will you wear it today? I'll understand if you don't want to and if you were just saying that you liked it to protect my feelings -"

"Oh my god, nerd." Marceline threaded her fingers through Bonnie's with a smile, effectively cutting off her girlfriend's awkward rambling, "I wasn't lying. I really do like it."

Bonnie felt her face heating up as Marceline pulled off the oversized shirt she'd worn to sleep in and pulled the sweater over her head. Bonnibel couldn't ignore the twisting in her gut as she stared at her; Marceline looked _adorable_ in pink. The sweater was a little big on her – Bonnie figured she needed to take another few inches off – but it wasn't like Marceline was drowning in it. She looked cozy.

"If you didn't notice, I put a little heart here," Bonnie traced across the carefully stitched love heart on the left side of Marceline's torso, about two inches below her collar bone.

Marceline pulled Bonnie in for a hug, "I love it. Thank you."

"I'm really glad that you don't think it's lame." Bonnie murmured into Marceline's shoulder. "I was worried you'd just laugh at me and think it was stupid."

Marceline was actually slightly offended that Bonnie had thought that. Did she not know her at all? Marceline liked to think that she was good to the people she cared about, and Bonnie meant the world to her. Like she would just call something she obviously put time and effort into _dumb_.

"Of course I wouldn't do that." Although the notion actually irritated Marceline, her voice was soft. Bonnie seemed insecure enough. "You clearly put a lot of effort into it and it came out really well. I really love it, Bonnie. Promise."

"I – thanks." Bonnibel looked down at her lap, picking at a loose thread on Marceline's blanket. "It actually took me a few months; all I'm used to knitting is scarves. My Mom helped me a little bit with the shaping and sizing – like I said earlier we used me as a measurement and then took a few inches off. It probably could've used one or two more off, but –"

Bonnie's rambling melted into the background as Marceline watched her – her eyes were lit up with passion and she looked so excited to be talking about it; Marceline assumed it was because she wanted the sweater to be a surprise and she was finally able to talk about it, hence the gushing. Either way, Marceline thought she looked beautiful.

"…and I really think that it looks good on you, regardless of the extra couple of inches room on you. I should've asked what size you needed, you only look like you're about a four and I'm a size twelve so I guess I should've gotten confirmation before I made it but I really didn't want to give anything away and I'm just so _happy_ that you like it." Bonnie finally paused to take a breath and flashed Marceline a grin, "You really do like it, don't you?"

"I do," Marceline confirmed, leaning forwards and pressing a kiss to Bonnibel's cheek, "It's awesome. Now come on, you said you wanted to go out."

Bonnie blinked at her, "Really? But I didn't think you wanted to."

"Yeah, but you're having a good day and I want to make it even better." Marceline gave Bonnie a squeeze around the middle and finally shuffled out of bed, grabbing her skinny jeans from where she'd left them on her desk chair, "Come on, nerd. Get dressed."

And judging by the look Bonnie gave her, Marceline _had_ just made her day ten times better.

* * *

"You know, you were right," Bonnie cast a glance over her shoulder at Marceline, "I do kind of want to go home. It's cold and I don't like the cold."

"Yeah, well, what did you expect?" Marceline rolled her eyes. "Come on, this state might as well be called Minne _snow_ ta, it's that cold."

"While I appreciate the bad puns, I still don't like it." Bonnibel huffed, but it came out choppy because of her shivers. "At least you've got a sweater and a leather jacket. I forgot my coat since we slept at yours last night."

"Ah, yes, your non-existent coat." Marceline shrugged her leather jacket off and held it in Bonnie's direction. "Here. Like you said, I've got a sweater."

Bonnibel stared at the jacket, tempted to say no and assure Marceline that she was fine, but honestly, she was desperate. She pulled Marceline's coat on, aware that it was a little bit tight on her, and smiled when she could smell her girlfriend on it. That was enough to make her chest glow with an odd, internal warmth, and her smile to become fuzzy around the edges. "Thanks, Marcy."

"No worries," Marceline flashed her a grin, "so, where'd you want to go dress shopping?"

Bonnibel frowned at her and stuffed her hands in the pockets of Marceline's jacket. "Um, well, I kind of assumed that you'd know that. You _have_ lived here since you were four, remember?"

Marceline raised an eyebrow. "Do I strike you as the type who goes dress shopping every weekend? I don't know where you'd get that from."

Bonnie shivered again and grabbed Marceline's hand; it seemed warm in comparison to the weather. "Well... what are we going to do?"

"You could text Lady or someone," Marceline suggested, " _or_ you could follow me to the music store so I can pick up some acoustic guitar strings and then we can go home and watch TV?"

"You know," Bonnibel glanced around the storefronts around her, deciding that onesies and an _Orphan Black_ box set sounded far more appealing than wandering around aimlessly in the freezing cold until they found a dress shop. After all, all they'd be doing was browsing. She could do that when it was warmer. "I like that second option a lot. Music store and then home it is. Mine or yours?"

"Either. You have Netflix, though, so I'm thinking yours," Marceline decided, and began leading them down a street, "We should start watching Buffy together."

"I'm not really into all of that supernatural stuff though," Bonnibel quickly responded, "like, I prefer realism. Science fiction can be cool, though."

Marceline sighed, and dragged it out for as long as she could as though Bonnibel had just said something horrifically annoying. "Lame. You'd like it. Do I have to get out my secret weapon to convince you?"

"Depends what your weapon is." Bonnibel shot back with a smirk. "But I doubt it'll work."

It was Marceline's turn to smirk. "There's lesbians."

Bonnie's teasing smile was wiped from her face completely. "What? But I thought that it was a nineties and early 2000's show? You know, when there was extreme homophobia?"

Marceline flashed her a proud grin. "Yep. Season four onward there's a lesbian couple. Does that convince you to watch it, Butler?"

"I... fine. We'll watch it." Bonnibel stopped Marceline mid-celebratory victory dance. " _But_ I'm not watching it just because there are lesbians. I'm going to watch it with you because Sarah Michelle Gellar is hot."

"If that was your reasoning, we'd have watched it a long time ago, Bon," Marceline teased her, "but I will admit, she is pretty hot. I'm more of a Willow girl myself, but hey. Each to their own."

"Okay, if we're talking about attractive fictional characters," Bonnibel paused in thought, "Cosima Niehaus or Delphine Cormier?"

"Both of them are cool," Marceline scrunched her nose in thought and Bonnibel struggled to hold back the 'oh my god you're adorable' that was on the tip of her tongue, "but I'm going to have to go with Delphine. Bi girls reign supreme."

"Same here," Bonnibel nodded in agreement, "I'm pretty sure that Delphine was the reason I realised I'm probably the biggest lesbian on the planet. Her hair is magical. I have a thing for pretty hair."

Marceline hummed in acknowledgement. "Okay, who do you prefer out of Tatiana Maslany and... Cara Delevingne."

"Tatiana," Bonnibel answered almost immediately, "They're both on my celebrity crush list, but Tatiana Maslany will forever be at the very top of it. You?"

"Same, actually," Marceline nodded in agreement. "We have a good taste in women."

Bonnibel smirked at her. "I've got a hard one for you. Me or Alex Gaskarth?"

Marceline didn't even hesitate. "You."

"Really? You're a sweetheart." Bonnibel boosted herself up on her tiptoes to kiss Marceline on the cheek. "So, say we're both being held captive by a psycho killer and you have to choose which one of us to save. Who'd you pick?"

"You," Marceline easily repeated.

Bonnie kept challenging her. "What if to save Alex you didn't have to do anything but to save me you had to crawl through a tunnel full of spiders?"

Marceline shrugged. "I'd still pick you."

"Always?"

With an adorable smile and a squeeze of Bonnie's hand, Marceline nodded. "Always."


	68. sixty-eight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie and Marceline talk about their coming out experiences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning - eating disorder (mention), depression (mention).

**Thursday 22nd** **January 2015**

Marceline sighed, unlocking her car door and collapsing into the driver's seat. It was currently 5PM and she was only just leaving school – the most shocking thing of all was that this was voluntary. Sort of, anyways.

Because Marceline had skipped out on P.E for the past three years, she kind of needed to make up some credits. Surprisingly, she wasn't down on that many, and instead of joining a sports team like her brother had done last year – she could already imagine how badly that would go – she decided on staying after school on a Thursday and helping out in the music room. Tidying up sometimes, tuning instruments, stuff like that.

Except that wasn't all she had to do. She had to help children ages five through seven learn a new musical instrument. And she was actually really enjoying it.

(Not that she'd ever admit that.)

The fact that she found it fun to get kids into music didn't override how exhausted she was, and instead of texting Bonnie like she usually would after school, she decided she was going to get home, put on her sweatpants and take a night for herself. She didn't doubt that she'd be asleep by nine.

With a happy smile, she put the key in her ignition, turning it. Nothing happened.

 _Oh, no._ That was a red flag. Her car usually messed up in winter. Marceline assumed it thought _oh, it's a little too cold today, I'll just sleep in_ and decided that it wouldn't bother starting. It wasn't like that was weird; it was a fairly old car – her Dad had owned it before her – and they always had trouble starting as they got older. Right? Marceline wasn't a car expert, so she had no idea.

She tried to get it to start up a few more times before giving up completely and pulling her phone from her pocket. She went to her contacts, calling Simon first. No answer. She tried Betty and got the same response. Hell, even _Keila_ didn't pick up, and she was on her phone constantly when she wasn't at work.

Marceline considered walking, but it was already fairly dark and it took at least a half hour to walk to her house from school. She could always walk to Bonnie's, but she couldn't just drop in like that. She could always text.

_**Marceline (5:07PM): are you at home** _

Then, she had a few more futile tries at starting her car while she waited for Bonnie to respond. Aside from swearing at it to start, Marceline didn't really know what to do in this situation. She didn't think calling her car a motherfucker helped her at all, though.

She breathed a sigh of relief when her phone vibrated twice, and she checked her messages to see a response from her girlfriend.

_**Bonnie (5:09PM): No, I'm out in town with my Mom. We're going to dinner in about half an hour as my Dad had to go to the city with his boss today. She figured it'd be a good idea to have girl time. Why?** _

Marceline read over Bonnie's little anecdote for a moment, smiling. She loved how her girlfriend rambled.

_**Marceline (5:09PM) oh okay then, I'm still at school and my car won't start so idk what I'm gonna do** _

Marceline switched screens, flicking back through her contacts list, her thumb hovering over her last resort. God, she must be desperate if she was going to do _that_. She was about to press down on the _call_ button, when a sharp knock on her car window nearly made her jump out of her skin.

She spun around, her mood and expression souring when she saw who it was. "Ash."

"Is there a problem here, Abadeer?" He raised an eyebrow and his mocking smirk almost made her wonder if _he_ did anything to her car. It was a likely explanation, plus he had no reason to be by the school since he'd graduated nearly four years ago. "I could drive you home, if you want."

That predatory smirk solidified her decision of _no way in hell_. "That's a joke. Are you stalking me or something?"

"Why would I waste my time in stalking _you_? Last time I saw you, you didn't exactly do me any favours. And now I hear that you're a lesbian." He drummed his fingers on the roof of her car. "But I just thought I'd offer you a ride home. I already have an idea in mind of how you can repay me."

The vomiting noise Marceline made was only half fake. Even the thought of _that_ made her skin crawl. "You're disgusting. Why are you even here, anyways? It's a little weird that you're twenty-two and hanging around a high school, annoying an _eighteen year old_."

"I was just out for a walk and happened to see your car. Figured I'd come and say hello. Offer my services. All that." That irritating smirk still hadn't left his face, like he knew something she didn't. Like he thought he had some sort of leverage over her. Marceline wanted to smack it right off.

"Yeah, well you can fuck off," Marceline shot back, turning back to her phone screen, "I don't want or need your help, asshole."

Ash held his hands up in defence, although that _fucking_ smirk made it look a lot less sincere. "God, I was just trying to help. You know my door is always open."

Marceline knew he didn't mean that in a way someone like Bonnie would mean it. She wasn't an idiot.

"You know what I'm going to do with your open door?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, "I'm going to slam it on your _head_ one hundred thousand fucking times if you don't leave me alone." Marceline _wished_ she could've driven off after that. Preferably over him.

"You know what? You're a bitch -"

"Wow, that's original," She deadpanned, her grip on her steering wheel tightening, "Fuck off, Ash."

She was surprised that was all it took for him to walk away. Usually it took a lot more than just _fuck off_. Usually there was a lot more threatening involved. And that kind of freaked her out.

Either way, she shrugged her interaction with Ash off her shoulders and turned back to her phone, pressing down on the call button she was about to press before her jerk of an ex-boyfriend showed up. She _hoped_ the person she was calling wouldn't pick up so she could try Simon again, but of _course_ , luck wasn't on her side.

" _Marceline_ ," The voice cut through her phone speakers, and she cringed at hint of irritation in it, " _Why are you calling me?"_

"Um…hey, Dad," Marceline awkwardly murmured, "Do you think you'd be able to pick me up, please? I'm at school."

Hunson's sigh was audible through the phone's speaker, _"I'm with an employee. You have a car, so you can drive yourself."_

"It's not starting," She stopped herself from adding _how the fuck do you think I got to school in the first place_ and instead said what her Dad would want to hear. "It's alright if you can't, but it's dark and I don't feel comfortable walking home."

No _way_ was she walking home now that she knew Ash was out there. For all she knew, he was still lurking somewhere in the bushes, probably with some important part from her car in his hand.

Hunson sighed again, and Marceline knew what that meant. It was the same sigh that occurred every time he talked to her and she said something he didn't like. She knew that it translated into _you're such a burden_ and it made her feel guilty even though she tried not to care what her Dad thought.

Eventually, he responded, _"I'll be there in ten minutes. Don't you dare show me up in front of one of my employees."_

Marceline breathed a sigh of relief as the phone cut off. She tried to ignore that last part; it upset her that she was the one that he thought would show him up when her _brother_ – _okay, stop_. Marceline shut her brain up and let out a different kind of sigh, resting her head on the cold window.

It didn't take very long for her Dad to show up, so she left her car locked and slung her backpack over her shoulder, fast-walking over to his car. She sat in the backseat – both because she remembered he had an employee with him and she preferred to keep a respectable distance between herself and her father – and put her seatbelt on, placing her backpack on the other seat.

Hunson turned around to her and sent her a rather uncomfortable smile. "Marceline. This is Peter, one of my employees."

When she looked to the passenger seat of her Dad's car, she nearly fainted. _Peter_ , as in Bonnie's Dad. Oh _fuck_. "Uh…hi. It's nice to meet you."

She sent him a pleading look and hoped he'd play along. If her Dad found out she was dating Bonnie, he'd probably drive her out to a desert somewhere and leave her there. One time she'd accidentally let slip that she was bi during an argument and it'd taken her around six months to get him to believe that she was firmly heterosexual. And in that six months, he'd completely cut her off.

Thank _god_ , Peter just sent her a warm smile, "It's nice to meet you too. You're Hunson's daughter?"

"Yeah, I am." Marceline gave him a polite nod and sent a grateful smile back. Then, pushing her luck, "Do you have any kids?"

He laughed, "Yes, I have a daughter named Bonnibel. I think she's in your grade, you two may know one another."

Marceline hummed in thought, trying to get rid of the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "Maybe I'll talk to her tomorrow. Hit it off, make a new friend. You like it when I socialise, don't you, Dad?"

"I don't care what you do in your free time, Marceline." Hunson kept his eyes on the road, "You already waste half of it playing those instruments of yours. You know that's never going to get you any -"

"O _kay_ ," Marceline dared to interrupt him; she didn't need another shake in her confidence, "I'm going to put my earbuds in now."

And as she drowned out her father and Peter's casual conversation with the not-so-relaxing sounds of Tonight Alive, she sent a rather urgent text to Bonnie.

_**Marceline (5:37PM): when you're done with dinner with your mom I need you to come over to my house as soon as you can it's SUPER important** _

Then, she pressed the lock button on her phone and stared out of the window, trying to ignore the horrible thought at the back of her mind about what Peter had already told her Dad.

This wasn't good for her anxiety at _all_.

* * *

When Bonnie pushed open the door to Marceline's room and saw her girlfriend pacing backwards and forwards by the foot of her bed, she was a little surprised to say the least.

She was even more surprised when Marceline looked up at her and _didn't_ smile. Instead, she rushed past Bonnie and slammed her bedroom door shut, making the pink haired girl nearly jump out of her skin.

Then Marceline turned on her, eyes wide and frightened. "Do you know who your Dad's boss is?"

Okay, she _definitely_ hadn't been expecting that. Hadn't Marceline said this was important? How was her Dad's _boss_ important?

"What?" Bonnibel blinked at her, curling her fingers around Marceline's and leading her over to the bed, "I don't understand why the name of my Dad's boss is so important. And for the record, I don't know who it is. All my Dad has ever said is that he's kind of intimidating."

"Intimidating?" Marceline repeated, " _Intimidating?_ Bonnie, he's more than intimidating, and it's important because _he's my Dad_."

Bonnie froze. What? That couldn't be right. There was no way in _hell_ that her Dad's boss was Hunson Abadeer. Her Dad would've said something about the last names being the same to her. Did he even know Marceline's last name? This was all too confusing.

All she managed to get out was, " _What_?"

"My reaction exactly." Marceline flopped backwards on her bed, her head hitting one of her pillows. She groaned, "God, I hope he hasn't said anything about us."

"How did you find out?" Bonnie ignored the latter half of Marceline's statement, trying not to be offended. She tried to understand that Marceline's Dad wasn't as accepting of his daughter dating another girl as Bonnie's parents were, and although she found that a hard concept to grasp, she managed. "I mean, your Dad always seems super secretive and stuff so I don't get how you found out."

Marceline sent her a limp shrug. "I called my Dad to get a ride home as a last resort and Peter just so happened to be the employee he was with. I was a little shocked to say the least."

"Did he say anything to you?" Bonnie asked. She'd hate it if her Dad's obliviousness had gotten Marceline outed. Peter could be pretty unaware, so much that even Lynn chided him for it.

"Thankfully no," Marceline leaned forward and squeezed Bonnie's hand, "I spoke before he could say anything to me and I acted like I didn't know him. He caught on quickly."

Bonnie let out a small sigh of relief, laying back so she was next to Marceline, her fingers threaded through her girlfriend's. "Good. I wouldn't want anything bad to have happened because of my Dad."

"Of course you wouldn't," Marceline murmured in agreement, her hand moving up to play with Bonnie's pink hair, "Your hair is looking significantly brighter. Did you re-dye it or something?"

"Yes, my roots were coming through," Bonnie's answer was rather abrupt, but she had a question niggling at the back of her mind, a small whisper of a query that terrified her. And the answer that she'd probably get would be positively mortifying, but she asked it anyway. "Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything." Marceline said, and she meant it completely. And that was coming from the girl who couldn't bring herself to tell _Keila_ some things.

"What would happen to us if -" Bonnie paused, trying to reword that, "If your Dad found out about us, would he be able to do anything to us? What would he do?"

Marceline's face sunk into a frown. That was a tricky question to answer, because she didn't exactly know her father very well. Or like him all that much, either.

(That was a total lie. She loved him. And she hated herself for that.)

Marceline turned the question over in her mind, unsure if any answer she could give Bonnie would be satisfying. She decided to just speak her mind and tell Bonnie her theories on what he may do if he found out, because there was no way for her to know for certain.

She could always get her brother to do some digging, but he'd definitely arouse some suspicion – Marshall didn't have much tact, and _hey, Dad, what would you do if you found out that Marceline's in love with another girl_ wasn't exactly the most subtle of questions.

"I don't know for certain," Marceline finally answered, "but he'd probably freak out and try to keep me away from you and split us up as much as he could. He'd probably send me away somewhere for therapy, which is _fucking rich_ since he can't be bothered to pay for any now when I'm actually mentally ill, and he'd probably force me to move back in with him where he can keep me on a leash for the rest of my life."

"Right," Bonnie quickly responded, smiling as Marceline's calloused fingers traced patterns on the back of her neck, "let's never let him find out, then."

"Agreed," Marceline concurred, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to the corner of Bonnie's mouth, "I guess I'm just glad that I have someone like Simon, you know? A parent figure that I can tell things like this to."

And now for another question that Marceline probably wouldn't want to answer. Bonnie was doing just _great_ tonight. "Do you think – would your Mom have…how would she have reacted if you brought me home and not some guy?"

There was a small pang of hurt in Marceline's chest. She wished she'd had the chance to bring Bonnie home to her Mom, but that would never happen. And that absolutely _destroyed_ her.

"She…I know for a fact that she was cool with gay people, so she would've acted as though it was the same as me bringing home a guy. She would've – probably checked you out first – but she would've loved you. Who wouldn't? You're basically a parent's dream child. You're smart, polite, talkative…even though you'll deny it, you're a social butterfly. And you have…what're those things called? Manners, I think. I don't know, I don't have them."

Bonnibel laughed, lightly nudging Marceline's shoulder, "Shut up, you can be polite and well mannered. You were when you met my parents for the first time. Even though most of the time you're a distasteful jerk, you can be polite when you want to be."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh at the phrase _distasteful jerk_ , "Yeah, and look at how well that worked out. Your Mom didn't even like me at first."

"Of course she liked you!" At Marceline's doubtful look, Bonnibel blushed and murmured, "She likes you now. And she never said she didn't like you, just that she was _wary_. _I_ was wary when I met you. How did you even know about that?"

"I pretended to listen to music when you and your Mom were trying to convince your Aunt to like me." Marceline sent her a sheepish smile, "And of course _you_ were wary. I glared at you and told you I didn't like you. Makes sense to be wary of that."

"I'm pretty sure one of the main reasons my Mom likes you is because you're really respectful of my asexuality and you're always there for me when I need you and you're just perfect." Bonnie's hand rested on Marceline's waist, "You really know how to treat a girl right, Marcy."

Marceline smiled, "Hey, don't act like you're not the best girlfriend in the world. I can tell you things I can't even tell _Keila_ , and she's been my best friend since I was five."

"Are you really never going to tell her?" At Marceline's confused tilt of the head, Bonnibel sighed and clarified, "You know? About your eating disorder."

Bonnie noticed how all of the muscles in Marceline's body seemed to tense up at the exact same time. "No. Never. She can't find out. I didn't even tell her about my depression."

 _What_? Okay, that was something that Bonnie didn't know. Keila had no idea that her best friend was depressed for over two years? "How did you manage to hide it?"

Marceline played with the drawstrings of the pink hoodie that Bonnibel was wearing. "You know back before we got really close? In like February or March time last year?" Bonnie nodded, unsure as to why this was relevant, "You asked me if Keila and I had ever fought and I said no. I lied."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, "Why'd you lie? You trust me, don't you?"

"Of course I trust you," Marceline said that like it was obvious, "but I didn't then. I didn't know you enough to trust you because the reason we fought was because of something personal."

"Was it to do with up here?" Bonnie asked, pushing Marceline's bangs from her eyes and tapping her lightly on the temple with the tip of her forefinger.

"Yeah," Marceline nodded as Bonnie fiddled with the black spike in her earlobe, "Basically, when I was depressed, I kind of…took it out on others, in a way. Aside from sucking the life out of everything, I was easily irritated and would snap at almost anything. It got to the point where Keila was all I had left, and one day she said something that I snapped at and we got into a really big argument and she basically told me that she was done and left.

"We didn't talk for about a month and a half, but it was enough to make me worse. I kind of stopped caring completely, you know? I stopped turning up to school as much, ditching to do other things, and -"

"Other things?" Bonnie hoarsely cut in. "What does that mean?"

Marceline sighed, "Drinking, mostly. Sometimes I'd go to the cliff and think, but that would only happen on a really bad day."

Bonnie hoped that _go to the cliff and think_ didn't translate into something else entirely. If it did, she didn't know what she would do with herself.

"I know what you're thinking." Marceline pulled her train of thought into the station, "I wouldn't have done that. Not even without Keila. I mostly just drunk false happiness from vodka bottles and vented my feelings to pigeons or nearby cats."

"It sounded really hard." Bonnibel knew that was an understatement, "I wish I could've been there for you."

"No. I wouldn't want you to see me like that. I don't – I hate thinking about it." Marceline shook her head, "Anyways, like I said, Keila and I didn't interact at all for about a month and a half, and then one day when I actually bothered showing up at school, she ran over and hugged me and told me that Simon had explained that I had depression and it was getting really bad and she promised me that I'd always have her no matter how bad it got. And she kept her promise."

Bonnibel leaned forward, pushing her lips against Marceline's, "I'm going to promise that, too. Also that I'll never do anything to hurt you."

"I know you won't." Marceline flashed her a grin, "You're the best, Bon."

Bonnibel squeezed Marceline's hand, rolling over onto her back. "Do you want to do something to get our minds off the fact that both of our Dads know one another?"

"Please," Marceline shuffled over to Bonnibel, resting her head in the curve of her neck, "Any TV shows we never finished?"

"Not that I can think of from the top of my head." Bonnie glanced over at Marceline's laptop that was sat on the other girl's messy excuse of a desk. "We could start something new? There's a couple of shows I wanted to start watching."

"Like what?" Marceline sat up, "Give me a list."

Bonnie cleared her throat, sitting up to look Marceline in the eye, "Well, I've never seen Doctor Who which is surprising for a sci-fi nerd like me, I want to get started on Teen Wolf -"

"Teen Wolf, huh?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, "I've seen it all. You remind me of Lydia."

"I do? Thank you," Bonnibel smiled at the comparison. She decided to take that as a compliment. "I want to watch The 100, too."

"Yeah, we'll do that." Marceline nodded, standing up and grabbing her laptop. She pushed the power button and then walked back over to the bed, putting it in front of Bonnie. "I've seen it already but I'll re-watch for you. The main character Clarke is bisexual, so it's automatically the best show ever."

"I'm down for a strong bisexual lead," Bonnie agreed, glancing up at her girlfriend, "Cosima being gay is one of the reasons I started watching Orphan Black. Came for the lady love, stayed for the clone drama."

"Do you just watch any show that has lesbians or bi girls in it?" Marceline asked her, not looking up from her laptop.

"Pretty much," Bonnie admitted, "Before I came out to my parents I made them watch some shows that had lesbian characters in it because I wasn't sure how they'd react, and I'd drop subtle comments about how cute I thought Delphine was in Orphan Black. And when my Mom and I used to watch Criminal Minds together, I may have mentioned how cute I thought JJ and Emily were together. Also it's good to have romance that you can relate to, you know? I'm sick to death of heterosexual romance in pop culture."

"You need to watch Faking It." Marceline informed her, jumping topics before Bonnie could ask what it was about, "I don't think you ever told me what it was like when you came out."

"I don't think you've told me what it was like for you, either," Bonnie retorted, "but if you really want to know, I guess I could indulge you. Only if I get your coming out story afterwards."

"Deal," Marceline replied, "Tell me while I get this show up on here. I think I lost the link."

"Well, I was…fifteen, I think. It was sophomore year but I'm fairly certain it was before my birthday. We'd just been out for a family meal and my cousin had brought her new boyfriend with her, and a few people made little comments about how I hadn't started dating yet and about how one day it was going to be _me_ bringing the boyfriend to a family meal," Bonnie paused for a laugh, "which is _hilarious_ because I'm probably the biggest lesbian on the planet.

"Anyways, we got home and I went into my room, Skyped with Bea for a little while and hung up when she started talking my ear off about her crush – some guy in our lit class – because at this point my crush on her was _enormous_. I finished off my homework and went downstairs and watched some television with my parents. My Dad went out with one of my uncles and so it was just my Mom and I.

"She started talking about how it was kind of _weird_ that I wasn't dating yet – sidenote: I've noticed that when you're gay you start dating a lot later than you do when you're straight. I mean, it took me until I was seventeen to be in my first relationship, and straight people are usually dating when they're at least thirteen." Bonnie knew she was rambling. Naturally, when she went to apologise and get back to the story, Marceline spoke.

"God, I know right?" Marceline curled her fingers around Bonnie's. "It kind of sucks. It's probably because everyone is figuring themselves out, you know?"

"Yeah," Bonnie sighed, "Anyways, I told Mom that I didn't have any interest in dating guys and she told me that I'd feel differently when I was a little bit older. Needless to say, I set her straight."

Marceline raised an eyebrow. "Meaning you told her how incredibly gay you are?"

"I might as well have puked a rainbow." Bonnibel laughed, "I told her that I was gay and that I had a crush on Bea and then she went kind of quiet and I was so frightened that she was going to kick me out then and there. And then she just said that she was going to bed and left the room. So I was freaking out all night, and the next day at school, and I couldn't even talk to Bea about my dilemma because she didn't even know I was gay. Anyways, the bell rang and my Mom picked me up as she usually did, but instead of going home, she took me to the mall.

"You know that malls aren't exactly my favourite place in the world, so I was a little bored but grateful that my Mom was acting normal. We went and got ice cream and then we were walking by a few of the stores and I felt her tap me on the shoulder, so I looked up and saw her pointing at something. Naturally, I followed her gaze, unsure of what she was pointing at, and then she just looked at me and said, 'That girl over there, Bonnibel. She's cute. You should go talk to her.'

"Of course, instead of taking her advice and talking to the girl, I just hugged my Mom so tightly. I felt like I was going to cry – in a good way, though. I'd been freaking out all day and then I knew that she was not only going to accept me, but get involved and still have girl talk with me, but instead of the topic being boys, it was other girls.

"We went out on Saturdays to the mall since Mom wanted me to get out of the house – hanging with Bea usually involved doing a science experiment – and we'd go shopping and then go for lunch. Somewhere along the way she'd see a girl she thought I'd find cute and get my attention with 'Bonnibel, I found you a girlfriend,' It'd been about a month of this when she told me that I needed to tell my Dad, and gradually work through the rest of my family; the latter half of that I ignored until I started dating you. She encouraged me to tell Bea, too. Glad I didn't until a lot later – we both know how well that worked out.

"The day I told my Dad was a lot different. I didn't just let it out in the middle of conversation like I did with my Mom. Instead, I went into his office and sat down and just told him, and he accepted it right away. Told me that he was cool with it and that he still expected whoever I end up with to treat me right and be chivalrous and all that. Family days out were excruciatingly embarrassing after they both knew, though."

Marceline laughed, "Please tell me they didn't try to set you up with random girls on the street."

"Not exactly," Bonnie half laughed, half cringed at the memory, "we'd go out to the movies or for a meal as just the three of us, and whenever they'd see a cute girl, there'd be a sudden onslaught of _talk to her_ or _should I get her to come over here and chat with you_ or _tell her she's pretty_. If they ever saw _me_ checking a girl out, it was double the fussing. One time they even went as far as purposely getting me to sit next to this really cute girl at the movies. It was embarrassing as hell, but I can laugh about it now."

"Wow," Marceline sent her a sympathetic look, "I feel like your parents playing matchmaker was disastrous every time though, right?"

"Oh, definitely. It was awful when the girl would hear them, too." Bonnie shook her head, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Even though she hadn't appreciated the embarrassment back then, she knew she was incredibly lucky to have such amazing parents. "Anyways, I think I'm owed your coming out story, now."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "It's really not all that interesting."

"Neither was mine, but I still told you." Bonnie said, "Come on, Marcy. Please?"

"Fine," Marceline sat back against the headboard of her bed, "I was fourteen and was trying to think of a way to come out to Simon. I wasn't too worried about Keila since I already knew that she was pansexual, so it wouldn't have been a big deal to her, but I had _no_ idea how Simon would react. I told my brother first, so at least I had one person at home that knew. The first thing he said to me was 'Does that mean I can ask you for your opinion on hot girls?', and I rolled my eyes and told him he could've done that even if I was straight.

"One day Simon decided he wanted to go on the train to Minneapolis for a day out, and he told me that if I wanted I could invite Keila, so naturally I said yes. Keila came with and we went out for the day – the two of us went off on our own for a bit and stared at hot people and shopped and stuff, and because it had been raining all day and my hair isn't naturally straight, it went all frizzy and gross and -"

"There is _no way_ your hair isn't naturally straight," Bonnie cut in, frowning at her girlfriend, "I've seen you with wet hair."

"Tied up," Marceline corrected her, "My Mom had curly hair and my Dad has straight hair so when they had me and Marshall I guess that just combined or something? You can only tell on me that it's all weird and wavy, though."

"Huh," Bonnie blinked at her, "I want to see that, one day."

"You will." Marceline squeezed her hand, "So yeah, my hair went all frizzy and weird, and when we met up with Simon he pointed it out by saying _your hair isn't straight_ and I just kind of shrugged and replied with _neither am I_."

Bonnibel burst out laughing, "No _way_. I can't believe you came out in a joke."

"Well, I did." Marceline flashed her a toothy grin, "Needless to say, Simon was a little shocked and Keila told me my joke sucked and smacked me upside the head. When we got home and Keila had told me she already knew I wasn't straight, Simon wanted a 'little chat' with me. He sat me down and asked me if what I said was true and I said yes, and then he told me that it was fine and as long as whoever I ended up with was good to me, he didn't care who I dated.

"Telling Betty was weird, though. I met her in freshman year and she literally hated me and Marshall with a passion -"

"Wait, what?" Bonnie cut in again, "Betty _hated_ you?"

"Yeah. Like I've said before, freshman year was the little rebellious phase. Talking back to teachers, being disruptive, all that jazz." Marceline shrugged, "So she hated me. It'd been about four months since we'd met, and because I'd kind of calmed down a little she'd started warming up to me.

"One day, Simon suggested that she should take me and Marshall out somewhere to _bond_. We all objected to that, and my brother actually got out of it by pretending he had a thing with Guy the next day. I ended up going out with Betty and it was _really_ fucking awkward and she tried making small talk by using the thing a lot of teenage girls are interested in – that weird, alien species called _boys_.

"She started pointing out some mediocre teenage boys and I felt really fucking uncomfortable so eventually I just said _I'm bi_ , _can we stop this now_? She was a little taken aback but then just shrugged and pointed out a couple of cute girls and after that I thought she wasn't so bad." Marceline finished, leaning her head on Bonnie's shoulder, "And now I'm her favourite."

Bonnie frowned. "Does she like your brother?"

"I think they have a mutual tolerance thing going." Marceline shrugged, "I don't know. I know she likes me, though. Probably because I don't argue with her if she asks me to help out with the laundry or whatever."

"It's kind of weird, trying to picture you being disruptive in class," Bonnie pointed out. Since Marceline was so quiet at school, it was kind of weird to picture her being disruptive _anywhere_.

"I know what you mean. I'm not exactly the loudest and most extroverted person in the world. It's kind of like," Marceline paused to think of a good enough comparison, "it's almost like if Finn was to be quiet and introverted all the time. Out of character, you know?"

"Yeah, I get what you mean." Bonnie slung an arm around Marceline's shoulder, "Anyways, are you going to show me this television show? The 100?"

"Oh, yeah." Marceline nodded, clicking play on the page she'd brought up on her laptop, "You'll love it, I promise. Lots of lady love in the second season."

Bonnie laughed, "Good to know it has your stamp of approval. Now shush, it's starting."

"Okay, _Mom_. Jesus." Marceline rolled her eyes, snuggling up to Bonnie and pulling her laptop closer to her, sucking in a deep, relaxed breath. And considering she was on the brink of a panic attack earlier, this wasn't a bad way to end the day at all.


	69. sixty-nine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marceline gets drunk. The results are kind of hilarious.

**Friday 30th January 2015**

"You alright there, Bonnibel?"

Bonnie nearly jumped out of her skin at the unexpected voice that was accompanied by a cold hand on her shoulder. She spun round, her expression softening when Finn came into view. "Yes, I'm fine. Just waiting for Marceline to respond to my text."

"Did you ask her if she wanted to hang out with us?" Finn collapsed onto the couch next to Bonnie, grabbing a handful of the McDonald's fries that Cake had left vulnerable on the coffee table – Bonnie had stolen a few herself.

"Yeah, I texted her while LSP and Cake were with Lady upstairs," Bonnie gestured towards the ceiling for emphasis, "You know, so they couldn't stop me. It's weird, though; usually she's responded by now."

"Maybe she's just busy with her other friends or something. Doesn't she usually hang out with a bunch of scary people with tattoos and piercings and stuff?" Finn asked, stealing a few more fries.

"Marceline has a few piercings herself," Bonnie pointed out, "and I'm aware that she hangs out with some older people, but you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Keila has piercings and tattoos and she's one of the nicest people I've ever met."

New York Bonnie would've been agreeing with Finn wholeheartedly and rolling her eyes at now-Bonnie, saying that anyone who modified their body and drank alcohol was nothing but a lazy layabout. Bonnie was so unbelievably grateful for how Marceline had changed her attitudes towards certain things. She was so much more accepting with Marceline than she'd _ever_ been with Bea.

"I just figured she was into partying on a Friday night, not watching Netflix with us." Finn shrugged, his gaze training on the television screen. "Most of her friends will be out, so I just thought she'd be with them."

"Marceline spends the majority of her Friday nights watching Netflix with me," Bonnie left out the part where they cuddled and made out, "and I assumed that was what she was doing. She usually answers her texts quickly, so that's why I'm a little bit worried about her."

The ping of Bonnie's phone cut whatever Finn was about to say in response to that short, and she practically leaped over to the coffee table to read Marceline's response to her two texts – one asking if Marceline wanted to hang out, and the other asking if she was alright.

_**Marceline (9:24PM): im fansatic!** _

_**Marceline (9:24PM): *fantasic** _

_**Marceline (9:25PM): **FANTASTIC! i think thats right** _

Bonnie knew she shouldn't laugh, but the constant spelling errors and the lack of punctuation brought across a perfectly clear message – that her girlfriend was completely drunk.

_**Bonnie (9:26PM): Are you at a party? I can come and get you if you want – Jake or somebody can drive me if necessary.** _

Bonnie made a mental note to get her driver's licence as soon as she could, as it would make situations like these much easier since she wouldn't have to rely on her friends or parents for a ride.

_**Marceline (9:26PM): im havin fun but i wanna se e yuo bon bon** _

_**Marceline (9:27PM): princess** _

_**Marceline (9:27PM): sceinse nome** _

_**Marceline (9:27PM): bonnibtut** _

_**Marceline (9:28PM): i lvoe you** _

Bonnie smiled down at her phone, tucking it in her pocket for a moment as she looked around the room, "Would any of you guys be able to give me a ride somewhere?"

"Depends where," Jake didn't look up from the TV, "Do you want to go home? Are you not sleeping over anymore?"

"I am, but I need to get Marceline." Bonnie explained, unlocking her phone and typing the first half of her response text, "She's drunk and at a party somewhere and I want to pick her up."

_**Bonnie (9:30PM): I love you too, Marcy. Can you tell me where you are? I'm going to come and see you. x** _

"As long as you know where it is, I'll give you a ride," Jake offered, pushing the blanket he had over his legs onto the other side of the couch that Lady had previously occupied. "We're coming back here after, though. Just make sure that your drunk girlfriend doesn't projectile vomit on any of my stuff. If she does, you're cleaning it up."

Bonnibel frowned, "Why not her? It's her puke."

"Marceline is scary. She can death glare her way out of it." Jake said as he walked past her and into the hallway to grab his shoes.

Bonnie just rolled her eyes, glancing down at her phone screen and smiling at the new text.

_**Marceline (9:31PM): at keilas house in her guitar room** _

_**Marceline (9:31PM): the guitars are near ly as prety as you gumdrop** _

_**Marceline (9:31PM): but not like you pretty bc youres o pretty i wanna marry u** _

Bonnibel positively beamed down at the screen, the brightness of her smile lighting up the entire room. Even drunk, Marceline had managed to make her blush.

She pulled her shoes on and grabbed her coat, following Jake outside to the car, tapping out her response as she blindly opened the door and sat in the passenger seat.

_**Bonnie (9:34PM): I'm just getting in the car now. I'll be with you in about ten minutes. Stay put in the guitar room, sweetie. x** _

"Where are we headed?" Jake asked her, putting the key into the ignition and pulling out of the driveway. "Marceline's house, or what?"

Bonnie didn't take her eyes off her phone screen. "Keila's apartment. Do you know where that is?"

Thankfully, Jake nodded, "Yeah, I know where we're headed. How drunk is she?"

"Judging by her texts, very." Bonnibel laughed, holding up her phone to let him read the most recent one out of his peripheral vision.

_**Marceline (9:35PM): allright bon bon i want to kills you** _

_**Marceline (9:35PM): *****KISS YOU! nt kill you hahahaha oopsites** _

"It's kind of cute, don't you think?" Bonnie smiled down at the screen fondly. Marceline was adorable when she was drunk.

(She was adorable all the time, but that wasn't the point.)

"It won't be cute when she's puking all over your bathroom floor." Jake pointed out. "Tell her if she comes to my place afterwards, she has to stay in the bathroom at all times."

Bonnie laughed and looked back down at her phone screen, intending to pass Jake's message onto Marceline, but stopped as she read the last message that Marceline had sent her.

_**Marceline (9:36PM): bonni i hav a candry ring for you sp we can be engayged** _

(Something told Bonnie that the last 'typo' wasn't unintentional.)

_**Bonnie (9:37PM): I'm flattered, Marcy. Are you going to come with me to Jake's house afterwards? All of our friends are there.** _

_**Marceline (9:37PM): ok if you wanns to** _

_**Bonnie (9:38PM): I'm nearly there, Marcy. Hang tight. :)** _

_**Marceline (9:38PM): nearly ar jakes ?** _

_**Bonnie (9:39PM): Nearly at Keila's, silly. Couple more minutes and I'll be there. Just hang on and play on one of her guitars or something.** _

_**Marceline (9:39PM): yes ok** _

Bonnie looked up from her phone, breathing out a sigh of relief when Jake's car pulled up in front of Keila's apartment building. "I'll be two minutes. I just need to get her and bring her out here."

"Do you need any help?" Jake glanced over at the building, apparently uneasy about letting Bonnie go in alone. Bonnie didn't mind; she knew she looked defenceless, but she could handle herself.

"No, I should be fine," Bonnie assured him, "In and out. Two minutes."

She ran away before he could say anything else.

Although Bonnie had no idea which apartment was Keila's, it wasn't too hard to locate due to the loud music acting as Bonnie's personal map. She quickly pushed through the crowds of Keila's definitely not sober friends and checked the closest rooms to her, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw Marceline sat on the couch in a room full of musical instruments – mostly guitars – fiddling with her fingers.

"Marcy." Bonnie announced her presence, a warm feeling spreading in her chest at Marceline's bright smile, "Hey. Come on, let's get you out of here."

Marceline nodded, stretching out her arms and wiggling her fingers. "Carry me."

"I can't carry you, Marceline," Bonnie laughed, helping her girlfriend up. Marceline slung an arm around Bonnie's shoulders and put her weight on her. "Fine. This can be the compromise. No piggyback rides, though."

"Do we _have_ to go to your house's friend?" Marceline groaned as Bonnie walked her out of the door, waving a quick goodbye to a drunken Keila who was on the couch, talking to a guy Bonnie didn't recognise.

"Don't you mean my friend's house?" Bonnie laughed as Marceline's face sunk into a confused frown, "Not if you don't want to, but I'd like to spend some time with them."

Marceline huffed, but leaned up and pressed a kiss to the side of Bonnie's nose. Bonnie assumed that it was intended to hit her cheek. "Fine. And don't yell at me for grammaring wrong."

"Grammaring? Are you creating a new verb there?" Bonnie teased, giving her girlfriend a soft squeeze. "I bow down to your linguistic abilities. Clearly yours are so much more superior and developed than mine."

Marceline hummed. "Yes. Is there vodka at Jake's house?"

"No, there isn't," Bonnibel said, rolling her eyes as Marceline's groan, "Even if there was, you wouldn't be having any."

Marceline pouted, "Why not?"

"You're drunk enough already," Bonnibel pointed out, motioning to how Marceline was leaning on her to walk, "I don't want you to pass out. You can barely walk."

" _Please_ ," Marceline scoffed, "The room is barely even _spinning_."

Bonnie looked around them. They were walking outside, headed towards Jake's car. "The fact that you think you're in a room is slightly worrying."

"Are we not?" Marceline frowned and spun on her heels, nearly falling over – thankfully, Bonnie was there to grab her before she could hurt herself. "Oh, we aren't. When did we go outside?"

Bonnie laughed, "We came out a few minutes ago."

"No we didn't." Marceline's eyebrows knitted together in a frown and her nose crumpled and Bonnie couldn't resist kissing her because she looked so _precious_. "We came out in October. Remember? Maja outed us."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes as she opened up the back door on the left side of Jake's car. "I wasn't talking about that. Come on, sit down."

"Will you sit with me?" Marceline asked as Bonnie helped her climb into the car, her innocent expression replaced by a scowl as she bumped her head on the roof. She rubbed the knocked patch with her palm. "Ouch. That hurt. Jake, your car is mean."

"I'll be sure to let it know that later." Jake replied, sending Bonnie a look in the rear-view mirror. Bonnie could almost read his thoughts from it, and she knew that what he was trying to communicate was something along the lines of _man, she's wasted_.

Bonnie reached over Marceline to buckle her in, "Of course I'll sit with you, Marceline."

She closed the door, skirting around the car and jumping in the backseat, buckling herself in. She smiled when Marceline grabbed her hand and began absently playing with her fingers. "I really love you, Bonnie."

"I know you do, Marcy. I love you lots too." Bonnibel curled her fingers around Marceline's and squeezed her girlfriend's cold hand, "We're going to head to Jake's house now. Everyone else is there."

Marceline frowned at her, "Is _LSP_ there? God, she's so _stupid_."

"Mean." Bonnie poked her girlfriend's upper arm, "Yes, she is. If LSP says anything out of line I'll set her straight. Don't worry about a thing."

"Okay." Marceline rested her head against the window at the exact same moment as they drove over a speedbump. "Ouch. Your car hurt me again, Jake. My car would never do that. My car is broken, though. Simon is getting it fixed."

"That's nice." Jake commented, glancing back at Marceline in the rear view mirror. "How much did you drink, exactly?"

Marceline hummed in thought. "I don't know. A few drinks of vodka, I think. Maybe about five?"

"Just…vodka? Not with Coke or anything?" Jake asked, "And _a few_ hardly equates to five."

"Nope. No Coke." Marceline turned back to Bonnie with a smile, "Can I have Coke at Jake's house?"

" _That_ I can allow," Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand as her girlfriend stared at her, "Just no more alcohol for tonight, alright?"

Marceline pouted and let out a far too exaggerated to be real sigh. "Fine. Party pooper. I'm having _fun_."

"You can have fun while you're sobering up." Bonnie responded, "We'll snuggle under a blanket and watch films with the rest of the gang. Yeah?"

Marceline shrugged, squinting at her as though she was trying to figure something out. She leaned forwards in her seat, restricted by the seatbelt across her torso. "You have freckles."

Bonnibel blinked. She hadn't been expecting that observation at all. "Uh…yes. Yes I do. Why is that important to point out?"

Marceline tilted her head to the side in a manner likened to that of a confused puppy, her nose crinkled in a frown. "I never noticed that before. There's more on this side," Marceline prodded Bonnie's right cheek, "than on the other side."

Bonnie frowned, squeezing her eyes shut as Marceline pinched her nose. Her voice came out nasally, "Why are you poking me?"

Marceline let go of her nose, her fingers moving to play with Bonnie's left earlobe. "Because you're pretty. And you're my girlfriend."

"Thank you." Bonnibel guided Marceline's hand away from her face, curling her fingers through the other girl's. "You're absolutely gorgeous, too."

"I'm bisexual." Marceline announced, tugging on the drawstrings of Bonnibel's purple hoodie with her free hand, "Isn't that great?"

"It's very great, Marceline." Bonnibel frowned as Marceline poked her in the cheek again, "Can you stop poking me?"

Marceline groaned, but her hand fell back to her lap. "But it's not great, is it? Straight people always forget and think you're gay and gay people exclude you from the community because you're 'half straight'. Whatever that means. And everyone thinks that you'll cheat on them. I wish I was gay like you."

Bonnibel frowned. Even though she was drunk, Marceline had a point. A lot of their friends had mistaken Marceline for being gay, and Marceline had been asked if she was gay every two minutes when Maja had outed them. And although Bonnie would never admit this, she used to be cold towards bisexuals for whatever 'straight privilege' she'd assumed they had.

(Of course, she'd matured since then.)

"I don't think that you'll cheat on me." Bonnie sent Marceline a soft smile, "And I would _never_ exclude any queer person from anything LGBT. There's a B in there, isn't there? It doesn't stand for… birds or books or something."

Marceline laughed, and Bonnie felt a warm glow in her chest at her girlfriend's amused smile, "Birds. You're funny."

"You're really cute when you're drunk." Bonnie murmured, brushing Marceline's bangs from her eyes.

She hadn't intended for Marceline to hear that, but judging by the way her girlfriend's expression melted into a lazy smile, she'd picked up on it. "Thank you. I thought that I was cute all the time though."

"You always deny it when I say that," Bonnie pointed out, "It goes through my head a lot, though. You'll be doing something simple, like waking up on a morning or taking notes in class and I'll look at you and think 'man, I am _so_ lucky'. Because _you_ are unbelievably beautiful."

Marceline blinked at her, furrowing her brows in confusion and giving a live example of one of the things Bonnie inwardly cooed at. "You're too amazing. I did have a candy ring to propose to you with like I said over text but I ate it. Sorry."

Bonnibel laughed, squeezing Marceline's hand. "That's okay, Marcy. We can wait until we're older and can afford to buy non-edible rings. Sound good?"

"Yeah." Marceline bobbed her head in agreement, "Sounds perfect."

* * *

Bonnibel kept a tight hold on Marceline's hand as she led her into Jake's house – the rest of the group had kicked their shoes off and left them on the floor by the door, and Bonnie really didn't like the idea of her drunken girlfriend tripping over one of them and hitting her head on something.

Bonnie sat Marceline down on the stairs, nodding at her girlfriend's shoes. "Are you going to untie those yourself?"

Marceline hummed in thought, grabbing at them and hooking a finger under one of the loops. She pulled, and as Bonnibel had predicted, made a tight knot that she'd probably struggle untying if she was sober.

Marceline blinked down at her shoe, pulling at the knot in a futile attempt at undoing it. After a few more attempts at this and pulling at different angles, she groaned and folded her arms across her chest.

Marceline stuck her lower lip out in a childlike pout, looking up at Bonnibel. "It's broken."

Bonnie's laugh melted away into a soft _aw_ , "It's not broken. You just got it in a knot by accident. Let me help you."

Marceline stuck out her foot in Bonnibel's direction, watching as Bonnie's fingers unknotted the shoelace. Then, to avoid the same thing happening to her left foot, Bonnie untied those and pulled Marceline's shoes off, leaving them in the pile where everyone else had dumped theirs.

"Alright, Jake says that Marceline is wasted," Lady walked out of the front room with a curious look that had a hint of amusement hidden in there, "I really want to see this."

"She's not that bad," Bonnibel mitigated, "She's just…a little confused. It's quite adorable, actually."

Lady stared at her, unimpressed. Everything about her look read _really, Bonnie_? The pink haired girl was wondering if Lady had mastered some sort of telepathy, as she could virtually _hear_ the other girl's sarcastic monotone.

Apparently, her new-found telepathy wasn't sufficient enough, as Lady kept talking. "Marceline could be a serial killer and you'd probably still think she was adorable."

Marceline sent Lady a frown, "I couldn't be a serial killer. I feel bad if I kill a bug."

Bonnibel laughed, "Actually, she's not kidding. Back when it was summer vacation, a moth got into her bedroom and she killed it and felt super guilty for like an hour. Apparently the moth's family would be upset or something."

"And that was when she was _sober_?" Lady raised an eyebrow, continuing at Bonnie's nod, "Wow. Alright then. Well, maybe this one," she nodded at Marceline, "will be a little more sociable now that she's drunk."

Bonnie just shrugged, helping Marceline up, "Possibly. Alcohol makes you lose your inhibitions, so she'll probably be at least slightly more talkative."

Marceline's confused expression deepened, "Who else is here? Is Keila here?"

"Keila is still at her party." Bonnie replied. She'd told Marceline who was present in the car, but apparently the list had already slipped her mind. Typical. "It's just the regular gang here, minus a couple of us. Finn, Jake, Lady, Fionna, LSP and Cake. Gumball didn't come and Phoebe had to go home earlier because of her curfew or something."

Marceline scowled. "I don't like LSP."

"I know, but you can always be civil." Bonnie squeezed her girlfriend's hand, leading her into the lounge behind Lady, "We're just watching a few movies, anyway. Nothing big, honestly."

Marceline stared at her, as though she was debating whether or not she'd listen to her. Bonnie knew that if Marceline was sober right now, the answer would be a flat out _no_ , and there'd probably be enough sarcastic comments thrown around to break a world record.

Bonnibel sat them down on the couch next to Finn, grabbing her blanket from where she'd left it before. She draped it over the two of them, pulling Marceline closer to her, "Have you decided if you're going to be civil, then?"

Marceline looked over at LSP, sending her a less intimidating version of her usual glare – probably the effect of the alcohol – and then shrugged. "Fine, I guess. For you."

"Aw, even when you're drunk, you're too good to me." Bonnie teased, kissing the tip of Marceline's nose. "We're watching The Avengers right now. I don't understand any of it."

"I like The Avengers." Marceline sent her an excited smile, "I really like Marvel."

"You like Marvel?" Finn peered around Bonnie, "That's cool. I didn't know you were into this sort of thing. Who's your favourite Avenger?"

Marceline hummed in thought, resting her head on Bonnie's shoulder. "Iron Man. Or Black Widow."

"Mine is Captain America," Finn sent Marceline an enthusiastic smile, "I'm super excited for Civil War."

Marceline's face crumpled into a frown. "Why would you be excited for a _war_? That's dumb."

"What? No, I mean the new Captain America movie." Finn explained, glancing over to Bonnie who had been watching the entire exchange and not really understanding any of it. "She's super drunk, isn't she?"

"Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't notice before." Bonnibel smiled as Marceline leaned on her and closed her eyes, and began running her fingers through Marceline's inky black hair, "She's incredibly intoxicated. She's just lucky that I think she's cute when she's drunk."

Marceline shifted against her, moving so that she was laying against the arm of the couch, her legs sprawled across Bonnibel. She leaned forwards and took her socks off, rolling up her skinny jeans to just over her knee. "Tickle my legs."

"You _want_ me to tickle you?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, the left corner of her mouth twisting upwards into a half-smirk. "I thought you were never going to tell me your ticklish spot."

"I don't mean like that! Just tickle them." When Bonnie just stared at her and remained unresponsive, Marceline nudged Bonnie's arm with her cold foot. "Do it."

"How can I tickle them if they're not your ticklish spot?" Bonnie questioned, but ran her fingers down the cold skin on Marceline's calf, tracing random patterns, "Like this?"

Marceline nodded in confirmation, "Yes. They're not my tickle spot. That's my neck."

Bonnie filed that information under _ways to annoy Marceline_. "Oh, alright then. Do you like this sort of tickling?"

Marceline hummed in affirmative. "It's nice and relaxing. My Mom used to do it to calm me down as a kid."

"That's sweet." Bonnie commented. At least she knew how to calm Marceline down – that would be useful information if her girlfriend ever had a panic attack around her. "I was going to stay here overnight. If you want, I can call my parents and ask them to pick us up. We can sleep at my place."

Marceline closed her eyes, "Stay. Don't want your parents to see me drunk."

Now that she thought about it, calling her parents was a bad idea. Yeah, they'd stay. It wasn't like anything bad could happen. Besides, if they stayed, there would be someone to watch Marceline around the clock; even though Bonnie knew that her girlfriend wasn't exactly a stranger to alcohol, it still made her nervous to think of her being alone while she was drunk. Anything could happen to her – she could get hurt, pass out, choke on something and die. Bonnie was aware that she was overthinking this, but she had a right to be worried.

"Alright then. We'll stay," With her free hand, Bonnie weaved her fingers through Marceline's, "Are you going to get some sleep?"

Marceline only nodded in response, feebly squeezing Bonnie's hand. Bonnie guessed that she was trying to communicate something along the lines of _goodnight_.

"Okay." Bonnie's fingers danced across the exposed skin on Marceline's calf, "Goodnight, Marcy. I'll have an aspirin ready for you in the morning so you won't be too hungover and grumpy all day."

"Alright. Night, Bonnie." Marceline mumbled in response, shifting onto her side and taking one last glance around the room before her eyes slowly closed again.

Bonnie didn't stop tracing patterns on Marceline's leg until she fell asleep herself.


	70. seventy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie and Marceline go for breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning - eating disorder (implied)

**Saturday 7th** **February 2015**

Bonnibel's eyes snapped open as a cold hand rested on her exposed stomach.

She glanced to her right, the tension leaving her body as she stared down at Marceline, still asleep and pushed up against her on the couch; they must have fallen asleep at some point the night before, as the television screen was still on, displaying the main menu of the DVD they'd been watching – _Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Five._

For a moment, Bonnie couldn't understand why her parents hadn't come in and switched the television off. Or why they hadn't sent her and Marceline up to her bedroom to sleep, rather than cuddled up on the couch underneath a blanket that was far too short – both of Marceline's feet were sticking out at the bottom, and Bonnie knew that her own toes were exposed, too.

Then she remembered that they'd been up until 2AM. They'd intended to go to sleep at a normal time, but once an episode would end, they'd both look up at the clock and decide that they had time for one more episode. And one more episode ended up turning into six more episodes before they must've fallen asleep.

Still, that didn't explain why her parents still hadn't turned the TV off. Lynn had to leave for work at eight, and Peter had always been an early riser, so why was the house so quiet? The silence was almost eerie.

Bonnie carefully shifted onto her side, her nose brushing against Marceline's as she rested her head on the pillow that she'd brought down when they'd started their Buffy marathon. Her girlfriend still had her eyeliner on from the day before – it'd smudged, but not very much, and still looked better than anything Bonnie could do. Marceline's hair was messy, haphazardly splayed both in front of her and behind her. Bonnie didn't know _how_ she managed it; her own hair was only down to her shoulder blades, and before she'd had it cut to a more manageable length she had trouble dealing with it. Marceline's hair was longer than hers had ever been – down to her hips – and she still succeeded in making it look _perfect_ every single day.

Bonnie smiled to herself as she took in how peaceful Marceline looked. There was no trace of worry, no frown, nothing likened to a scowl, and Bonnie loved it. She adored seeing her girlfriend so relaxed, no bad thoughts running through her mind as she slept. Bonnie brushed Marceline's hair behind her ear, staring for a little while longer in an attempt to take a mental photograph. She wanted to remember how beautiful Marceline looked right now – hair a mess, eyeliner smudged, nose ring crooked.

Bonnie's hand fell around Marceline's waist, glancing over at the clock hung on the wall. 6:25AM. She'd only had four and a half hours sleep, but she wasn't feeling very tired. She also didn't feel like waiting for Marceline to wake up.

 _Well, it was her freezing cold hand that woke me up_ , Bonnie thought, _this is only justified_.

She poked Marceline in the side, "Hey, Marcy. Wake up."

Marceline shifted slightly, but stayed unresponsive. Bonnie wouldn't stand for that. Deciding that her method of poking wasn't working, she resolved to shake Marceline until she heard the other girl mumble something along the lines of, "Is this an earthquake?"

"Not an earthquake," Bonnie replied as Marceline opened one crimson eye, "just your girlfriend. Hi."

Marceline didn't return her greeting. "Are there any other natural disasters occurring right now that I should be aware of?"

"Oh, wow," Bonnie allowed herself a small laugh, "Six in the morning and you're already being sarcastic. I think that's a new record."

"I'll take that as a no for the natural disaster thing, then." Marceline closed the one eye that she'd opened, "I'm going back to sleep."

"Hey, that's mean." Bonnie poked Marceline in the side, "Your freezing cold hand woke me up, so you should stay awake with me."

"It's 6AM." Marceline replied, not opening her eyes. "I'm not staying awake."

Bonnibel frowned. She didn't want to be left alone for the next few hours, but she knew that Marceline wouldn't willingly get up at 6AM without some form of an incentive. Or blackmail.

"If you don't get up, I'll tickle you." Bonnie threatened, holding up a hand to show that she was deathly serious.

"Very funny, Bonnie," Marceline's voice was muffled by the pillow, "I'm not ticklish."

"Want a bet?" Bonnie moved her hand closer to Marceline's neck, "If I were you, I wouldn't risk it. Drunk Marcy may have told me a few things."

Both of Marceline's eyes snapped open. " _What_?"

Bonnie smirked. _That_ had woken her up. "Yeah. She's a very reliable source of information. Now I know that all I have to do to get something out of you is slip a bit of vodka into your Coke."

"What did I tell you?" Marceline's eyes were wide – Bonnie wasn't sure if it was in fear or surprise. "Bonnie. Tell me what I said."

"You told me that your ticklish spot was _right,_ " Bonnie paused, digging her fingers into Marceline's neck, " _here_."

It had the desired effect; Marceline squirmed, arms shooting out to push Bonnibel away from her and legs flailing, all while repeatedly shouting _stop_. Marceline twisted out of Bonnie's grip, forgetting that they were on a tiny couch, and landed on the floor with a scowl on her face.

Bonnie couldn't help but burst out laughing – Marceline was sat on the floor looking so _offended_ that it was hilarious. Marceline folding her arms across her chest and scowling just made it funnier.

"I hate you, sometimes." Marceline climbed back onto the couch, sprawling herself half on the sofa and half on Bonnie. Bonnie didn't blame her – she _was_ taking up most of the room, after all.

Bonnibel shook her head, kissing Marceline on the tip of her nose. "No you don't. You love me."

Marceline hummed, biting on her lower lip in thought. "Yeah. I guess I do. But if you tickle me again, I won't hesitate to chop your hand off and beat you with it."

Bonnie laughed, "Yeah? You and whose army?"

"I wouldn't need an army. I already know that I could take you." Marceline's hand rested on Bonnie's waist, "I'd kick your ass all the way back to New York."

"Pretty sure I was the one who pinned you down back in December." Bonnie pointed out, jabbing Marceline in the sternum with her pointer finger. "You're a little weakling, remember?"

Marceline's scoff was coupled with an eye roll, "Okay, fuck you. I was going easy on you."

Bonnibel raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, _alright._ I still won."

"I can't believe you woke me up at six in the morning, tickled me and made me fall off the couch, and now you're calling me a weakling." Marceline put on her best irritated expression, but Bonnie could see the smile fighting to be seen, "You know, I don't think this relationship is good for me. Later, Bon."

"Very funny," Bonnie lightly socked Marceline in the shoulder, "If you wanted, we could go for an early morning walk."

"And now you're trying to make me _exercise_?" Marceline put far too much emphasis on that for it to be a legitimate response. "God, do you even know me at all?"

"Calm down, I didn't mean a massive seven hundred mile hike to Ohio to visit my grandparents." Bonnie laughed. She gestured over herself, "Come on, I'm pudgy. Do I look like the type of person who wants to do that? I was talking more of a…half a mile walk to McDonalds."

Marceline paused in thought for a moment, "Alright then. If you're buying."

* * *

"What do you want?" Bonnie motioned to the overhead menus above the counter, jingling her money in the pocket of her purple coat, "I'm loaded."

Marceline stared at the menu, "Black coffee. I need a wake-up call. Caffeine high is usually how I start my day."

"What about…" Bonnie trailed off, direction her gaze to the front of the line and gesturing towards the menu with her hand, "you know? Breakfast. Most important meal of the day."

Marceline blinked at her. Bonnie knew she shouldn't be starting this conversation. It was half seven – far too early for this. "I haven't had breakfast since I was ten."

Marceline hoped the implications underneath that were clear enough. Bonnie didn't seem to get it. "Still, I think it's important that we get you something. You could always -"

"Just stop." Marceline cut her off, "That isn't – it's not because I'm sick. Drop it. Just get me a coffee."

Bonnie opened her mouth to make amends, but Marceline stalked off to a table and left her alone in the line. That really wasn't how Bonnie wanted their early morning McDonald's trip to end up. She didn't duck out of line to explain to her girlfriend that she was just concerned, and bought Marceline her coffee as she'd requested.

(She might have asked for an extra hash brown as well.)

Then, she carried the tray over to the table that Marceline had picked, setting Marceline's coffee in front of her. Nervously, Bonnie got out her breakfast, holding the extra hash brown out for Marceline. "Here. They must've given me two by accident."

Marceline didn't look like she believed that at all – Bonnie's sheepish smile probably gave her away – but she took it anyways. "What's that?"

Bonnie took the lid off the container her breakfast was in, "Big breakfast – it's scrambled egg, sausage, a McMuffin and a hash brown. I always get them when I come here for breakfast. One time back in New York, I left for school early with Bea and we headed to McDonald's before getting the subway. It was great."

Marceline frowned, "Has she texted you lately? You mentioned that she sent you a message on your birthday."

"Yeah. That message, I ignored," Bonnie replied, "but she wished me a happy New Year and I replied to her. All I said was _you too_ , and there's been no contact since. I don't think I'll ever really be friends with her again. Possibly acquaintances, but that's all."

"Oh. Alright then," Marceline sipped on her coffee, rubbing at her tired eyes, "And _no_ , I'm not jealous, before you ask."

Bonnie didn't know whether she should believe her or not. "Well, you have no reason to be. I'm in love with you, Marceline. All I felt for her was just – it was a silly little crush."

"I know." Marceline said, tapping out a rhythm on the table, "I'm sorry that I snapped at you before, by the way."

"That's okay." Bonnie reached across the table to squeeze her girlfriend's hand. "I'm sorry that I tried to push you."

Marceline sent her an awkward smile in response. "What's the plan for today, then?"

"I don't know. If Lady and the rest of the group don't have anything going on, we can hang out at my place and have another twelve hour Buffy marathon. I'm really getting into it." Bonnie said, "The lady love is probably one of the main reasons for that, though."

"I should've told you there were lesbians in it last year." Marceline replied, ignoring the fact that in early February last year, they weren't even friends. "We'd probably be re-watching right now."

"We need to find more shows to watch together. I'm pretty sure we're going to run out soon." Bonnie pointed out, "Maybe a movie series next? Nothing too scary, though. I'd probably get nightmares."

Marceline barked out a laugh, remembering something. Most likely a potentially embarrassing something that Bonnie had wanted to forget. "Remember that time when – it was before we got really close and we were having our first sleepover – you let me put a horror movie on when you were scared because you didn't want me to think that you were a wimp or something."

Bonnie's prediction had been spot on. She was fairly certain she'd repressed that memory as her awkward friend-making skills weren't something she liked to dwell on. "Thanks for reminding me how much of a dork I am. I just wanted you to think I was cool, alright?"

"I had a pretty big crush on you back then." Marceline reminded her, "I already thought you were cool. You were like…this unattainable dork that was just – you were nice to me without any sort of motive. Not to mention how cute you are."

"Unattainable? Hardly." Bonnie scoffed, "You're in a relationship with me right now. I'd say I'm perfectly attainable."

"I didn't even know that you were gay at first, so in my mind, you were horrifically unattainable." Marceline pointed out. "I was tempted to check your Facebook under that 'interested in' thing, but I didn't because I figured that was borderline stalking. I will admit to looking at a lot of your photos though."

Bonnie laughed. Marceline, stalking her Facebook before they were even friends? That mental image was far too amusing. Besides, Bonnie would be lying if she said she hadn't done a little bit of scrolling out of curiosity.

(By a little bit, she meant a _lot_.)

"Don't worry about that, honestly," Bonnie waved Marceline off, taking a sip of the latte she'd bought with her breakfast, "I might've gone through a few of your pictures when you accepted my friend request."

Marceline raised an eyebrow. "Is _a few_ code for something else?"

"The entire profile pictures album, all of your tagged photos and the only other photo album on there made by you, documenting a few days in the city with your bandmates." Bonnie sent Marceline a sheepish smile. "We're both stalkers."

"Oh my god, dude." Marceline laughed at her, "You went _way_ deep."

Bonnie felt her cheeks burning in embarrassment. "What? You're an attractive girl. Of course I was going to do a little Facebook stalking. I might've found your Twitter, too."

Marceline's eyes widened even further and she burst out laughing, "Seriously? Dang, man. You're dedicated, I'll give you that."

"I didn't really look at your Twitter, though," Bonnie defended herself. Sure, she'd memorised the username for future reference – she'd seen some of Marceline's more recent tweets about her, which were _beyond_ sweet – but she mostly just stuck to staring at Marceline's Facebook photos. "I just looked at your photos on Facebook. It took me like three weeks to work up the courage to add you. Luckily your page isn't restricted to friends only so I could do all the scrolling I liked."

"I kind of want to ask if you intentionally searched for me or if you stumbled upon it after making friends with my brother." Marceline said, "Either way, I don't really care. It's not like you're some creepy pervert that was stalking me. You're you, so it's cool."

"Obviously you're listed on Marshall's page as his sister, so that's how I found it." Bonnie explained, not adding the part where she'd intentionally clicked on the _family_ part of Marshall's Facebook to find Marceline. "I remember going through your pictures and I was kind of shocked when you were actually _smiling_ in them. I thought…"

Bonnie trailed off, not wanting to finish that last part. Either way, Marceline just laughed and sent her one of her toothy grins. "I smile lots. Depends on who you are, though."

"Well…I thought that," Bonnie sucked in a deep breath, "I thought that you were really beautiful and even though back then I thought that you didn't like me, I really wanted to grab you in History class and kiss the straight right out of you."

Marceline frowned, "First off, not straight. Second, you told me you didn't develop feelings for me until the end of March-ish. Doesn't line up, nerd."

"I found you attractive." Bonnie began her explanation, "Even when we'd started being friends and my feelings towards you were platonic, I knew that you were aesthetically pleasing and the idea of kissing you wasn't so bad or off-putting in any way. The casual attraction developed into actual feelings for you when I got to know you properly, when I had a good enough grasp on your secretly dorky personality."

Marceline hummed in thought. "Alright. Well, at least now I know that I'm dating a stalker."

"You stalked me, too," Bonnie pointed an accusatory finger at Marceline. "You're _just_ as bad as me."

"Maybe not _just_ as bad. I mean, I did drive by your house a few times in the hopes of coincidentally bumping into you." Bonnie snorted in laughter and Marceline sat back and thought about what she'd just said. "God, that's so _sad_. That's borderline _depressing_."

"The fact that you did it a _few_ times makes it just that little bit sadder," Bonnie laughed, "You're a weirdo. Did I ever tell you that?"

Marceline shrugged, "We're both weirdos. Means we're a perfect match."

Bonnie reached across the table, fiddling with Marceline's left hand, her fingers running across the pads of Marceline's thin fingers that were calloused through years of playing beautiful music. Marceline's hands always had a faint smell of guitar strings and wood, as if she'd just let go of the neck of an old acoustic guitar.

"Yeah. I guess we are." Bonnie finally responded, "The scary punk and the horrifically unintimidating nerd. That's a great duo."

Marceline tilted her head to the side in a manner similar to that of a confused child. "I didn't know you were punk."

"Shut up," Bonnie rolled her eyes, "You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I did." Marceline squeezed Bonnie's hand, taking a sip of her coffee, "So, did you stalk me on any other social networks? You mentioned you had my Twitter. Manage to dig up my old 2009 Myspace? Or my Tumblr?"

"I've seen a couple of your more recent tweets." Bonnie carefully admitted, "And now I _really_ want to find this Myspace. I take it you were one of those people that went through an emo phase? Your Tumblr, I'll let you keep quiet. I don't understand Tumblr."

"Yeah, please _don't_ look for the Myspace page, actually." Marceline made a look that was a cross between amusement and disgust. "I definitely had an emo phase. God."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow as Marceline cringed at whatever memories she had of her 'emo phase'. "I bet you were cute."

Marceline scoffed. "I was _twelve_. Had super bad acne, always wore my glasses -"

"You look _adorable_ in your glasses, so you can take that off the list." Bonnibel cut in. She didn't think that Marceline believed her at all.

Marceline rolled her eyes, "Alright, whatever. Either way, I was super nerdy and wanted to be 'cool', I guess? It makes me cringe to look back on. And saying I was…chunky, would be putting it charitably."

Bonnibel frowned, gesturing over herself, "Were you like…my weight?"

" _God_ , no." Marceline exclaimed, shaking her head. "I don't know what the official weight is until you're super unhealthy, but I was getting there. You're one of those actually healthy people."

"I'm not." Bonnibel shot that down, "Have you seen how many cupcakes I eat in a week? Probably the entire state's worth."

"Well, whatever." Marceline shot back, "Either way, don't go looking for the Myspace. I don't remember the password so I can't take it down."

"You do realise that when you're a famous musician, all your little stalkers will dig it up, right?" Bonnie pointed out, biting into her hash brown.

"You've got a point. Fuck." Marceline cursed, pulling out her phone. "I have to remember that password. To be fair, I'm surprised that Keila hasn't already given you the link."

"Keila wouldn't do that to you." Bonnie assured, although she was kind of tempted to send Keila a Facebook message for the link. She wouldn't, of course – Marceline wasn't comfortable with her doing that – but she was curious. "She's your best friend."

"Yeah, best friends tend to enjoy embarrassing you." Marceline said, "I have _no_ doubt in my mind that she'd give you it if you asked. So…please don't ask."

Bonnie tried to look reassuring by putting on a warm smile and squeezing her girlfriend's hand. "You don't have to worry about that. I won't go looking for any pictures from your self-proclaimed awkward days. You've probably seen a ton of my awkward old photos around my house."

"I've seen the one of twelve-ish year old blonde Bonnie in glasses with braces." Marceline let out a soft laugh as Bonnie's cheeks flushed. "Calm down, Bonnie. I think it's cute."

"I _hated_ my blonde hair so much." Bonnie grumbled, fiddling with a strand of her pink-dyed hair. "I never really knew how to do it so most of the time I just brushed it and let it stay flat, which I obviously regret now. I was so _nerdy_."

"Was?" Marceline's left eyebrow quirked up, hiding behind her hair. She laughed when Bonnie sent her an offended glare, "Hey, kidding. You're _totally_ cool."

"I know that I'm a nerd," Bonnie rolled her eyes, "I was just ten times worse back then. It was no wonder I had no friends – I used to talk about the fact that I spent my weekends experimenting on…I don't know, plant leaves or something."

Marceline frowned. "You had Bea."

"Not until ninth grade," Bonnie reminded her, "We're talking about middle school Bonnie, here."

Marceline finally took a bite out of the extra hash brown that Bonnie had given her. "I would've been your friend."

"I thought you were homophobic back then." Bonnie teased, "You'd have probably sensed my incredible level of gayness and ran."

"I didn't know that you knew you were gay in middle school," Marceline pointed out, "and it's not like you would've told me. Even if you did I'd have probably told you how confused I was at that point, too. Maybe some experimental making out would've happened."

Bonnie snorted with laughter, "Really? I doubt someone who looks like…well, _you_ , would've kissed dorky me."

"You're forgetting that this was _middle school_." Marceline pointed out, finishing off the hash brown and then gesturing over herself, "Glasses, acne, overweight, did nothing with my hair. We were all awkward back then. The whole transition between child and adult is pretty much the most awkward stage in everyone's life."

"You've got a point, actually." Bonnie laughed, "Either way, I would've kissed you back then. You're a very good kisser, so…"

"Again, _middle school_." Marceline stressed, rolling her eyes. "This was before all of the games of spin the bottle at different parties. Depending on which grade we're talking about, I might not have kissed anyone yet."

"I still would've kissed you. It's about the person on the inside, not the looks." Bonnie pointed out. In fact, the only reason she'd started liking Marceline romantically was once she'd got to know her. "I know you'll probably tell me you've changed a lot since middle school or whatever, but it's your personality that I'm in love with. Your good looks are just a bonus."

Marceline's previously stoic expression broke into one of her toothy, lopsided grins. "You're way too sweet."

Bonnie finished off her coffee with a shrug, "I'm just telling the truth."

"I don't know if I've asked you this before or not," Marceline slowly began, "but if you were straight…or bi, even…would you date my brother? I mean, he's essentially the male version of me."

"Looks wise, he is." Bonnie agreed with her, but there were a few subtle differences. Marceline had a dimple in her right cheek, and Marshall didn't. Marceline had better eyebrows and a different eye colour. Marshall didn't have his nose pierced. Marceline had a better jawline. Bonnie could go on, if she wanted to. "But you're two completely different people when it comes to everything else."

Marceline tilted her head to the side in interest. "Go on."

"Well, aside from the obvious fact that you're female," Bonnie started, "You have different interests. You stay in and watch Netflix on a Friday night, whereas your brother enjoys going out and partying. You're introverted, he's extroverted. Your brother smokes, you don't, and -"

"I drink." Marceline reminded her, "And I do go to parties. Sometimes. Usually when Keila tells me to go."

"I know that, but you're still different. I wouldn't date Marshall, and I'm not saying that in a mean way." Bonnie explained, "He's into more of a partying and social lifestyle. You're cool with spending nights in with me. And – this isn't intended to be unkind in _any_ way – but you're so much smarter than him. We can have intellectual conversations if we want and you usually get any nerdy jokes of mine. And on the occasions that you do get drunk, we still have fun. You're just a little more disoriented and confused than usual."

"So even if you were completely straight, you'd still like me best?" Marceline asked, and Bonnie found it hard not to smile at the hopeful expression on her girlfriend's face.

"Yes." Bonnibel confirmed, "Even if I was completely straight, I would like you best. I highly doubt that in a parallel universe where I'm straight, I'd be dating your brother right now. I'd probably just be super close friends with you, which is weird to imagine."

"I don't want to imagine a universe where I'm not with you." Marceline murmured, "It sounds like it sucks."

"I second that," Bonnie smiled, "It's weird to think that if other things hadn't happened in the past, we might not be here right now. Like…if I didn't get bullied back home, my parents might not have considered moving. If my Dad's promotion hadn't been here. If you'd scared me off with your stupid empty threats -"

Marceline bowed her head, trying to hide her smile, "You bring those up so much, considering you forgave me for them multiple times."

"I'm _kidding_ , you know that," Bonnie laughed, "But it's a valid point. If you'd scared me so much that I'd decided not to bother, we might not have even been friends, let alone _girlfriends_."

Marceline hummed in thought, "Yeah, I guess. Maybe if I didn't go on the England trip you wouldn't have told me you liked me. Or if you didn't tell me you liked me at all."

"That's true. We could just be best friends right now." Bonnie pointed out, before shaking her head. She didn't like the thought of that at all, "But I love how things worked out. Not being able to kiss you whenever I want? Sounds awful."

"As much as I liked being your best friend," Marceline reached across the table and played with Bonnie's hand, "I like this a lot more."

"Yeah," Bonnibel squeezed Marceline's hand, "Me too."


	71. seventy-one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valentine's Day antics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning - eating disorder (mention/implied)

**Saturday** **14th February 2015**

"Hey, Bonnie?"

Bonnibel cracked one eye open, frowning at the sound of Marceline's voice. It had been muffled by the duvet and pillows, but Bonnie was certain she heard it. It was barely 10AM yet – Marceline usually hibernated until at _least_ twelve on a weekend.

"Yes?" Bonnie shuffled onto her side, sending her girlfriend a soft smile – not that Marceline could see it. She was face down in the pillows, her back facing the ceiling. "What's up?"

Marceline forced herself up, shifting her body weight onto her forearms. "So…it's Valentine's Day."

Bonnibel blinked, checking her phone's lock screen for certainty. _Oh_ , so it was. Either way, the date was irrelevant to her as she smiled down at her lock screen wallpaper – a selfie she'd forced Marceline to take with her back in London. It'd been like that for eight months. Although Marceline had complained when Bonnie asked her for a photograph, her smile was as bright as Bonnie's. Maybe even brighter.

"It is," Bonnie concurred, "What's your point?"

"Well…" Marceline bit on her lower lip, shuffling closer to Bonnibel and twisting their fingers together, "Are you bothered about doing anything? I know that some people hate Valentine's and other people love it, so…I was just wondering."

Bonnie wasn't sure if Marceline was asking because she hated Valentine's Day and didn't want to do anything, or if she was asking because she liked it and wanted to spend a romantic day together.

"How do you feel about it?" Bonnie asked, pushing Marceline's inky black hair out of her face, "God, you look like the girl from _The Grudge_ right now."

Marceline snorted in laughter, "Wow. Most people get 'hey babe, happy Valentine's Day, you're so amazing'. I get 'you look like the girl from _The Grudge'_. Amazing."

"You didn't answer my question." Bonnie rolled her eyes, "And you know that I was kidding. You're beautiful. _Babe_."

Marceline laughed even harder, "You didn't answer _my_ question, and please _never_ call me babe again."

Bonnie huffed, lightly poking Marceline in the leg with her foot. "Can you just answer me?"

Marceline folded her arms across her chest in defiance, kicking her back. "I asked you first."

"This isn't kindergarten, you don't need to argue like a five year old." Bonnie reminded her, but she knew that if she didn't answer Marceline, she wouldn't get an answer back. "This might surprise you considering the amount of romantic comedies I watch, but I kind of… _hate_ Valentine's Day."

Marceline breathed an obvious sigh of relief, "Thank _god_. Same here. It's a fucking Hallmark holiday, designed to make you feel guilty if you don't buy whoever you're dating a card."

"From that, I'm going to assume that you didn't get me a card," Bonnie replied. Although she hated the whole concept of Valentine's Day, it would be nice to get a card from someone. Maybe that was just a horrific kindergarten memory coming back to her, though. "Which is cool. I don't mind if you did or didn't."

"Oh, I did." Marceline opened up the drawer in her bedside table, dropping a red envelope into Bonnie's lap. "The guilt put on you anyway coupled with my anxiety and panic disorder? Of course I got you a card."

Bonnibel beamed, sitting up and pressing a kiss to the tip of her girlfriend's nose, "You're such a sweetheart. Your card is in my bag; it's been sitting in there since I went into town with my Mom after school one day last week and she told me I should get you one. I was going to give you it at school yesterday but then you decided to stay over, so I saved it."

"Tell your Mom I said thanks." Marceline teased as she leaned over the side of the bed to grab Bonnibel's pink backpack. She passed it over to the pink haired girl, who was reading the card she'd been given with an amused smile.

"You know, this is really beautiful," Bonnie laughed, quoting the poem that Marceline had written for her, "Roses are red, violets are blue, I effing hate Valentine's Day, you're lucky I love you."

"Pretty sure I said _fucking_ there, Bonnie," Marceline teased as Bonnie went searching through her backpack, "I debated actually writing you a legitimate poem, but I figured you'd just make fun of me if I did that."

"You're right," Bonnie dropped Marceline's card next to her, "I would've. Here's yours. No artistic poems, but I did draw us as stick figures holding hands."

Marceline pulled the card out of its envelope, laughing at the little doodle on the inside, "I can't tell which one is which."

Bonnibel glanced at the just about identical stick figures, pointing at the slightly taller one, "You're the taller one, obviously."

"That's barely a _millimetre_ taller. Come on, Bonnie," Marceline jokingly criticised as she read the rest of the card, a simple _I love you, Marceline_ , "I've got like, four inches on you. You're tiny. Barely up to my shoulder."

" _That's_ the over-exaggeration of the century," Bonnibel poked Marceline in her upper arm, "Four inches isn't – I'm 5'3, alright? That's not too short."

"You get so defensive about your height, it's adorable," Marceline leaned down and kissed her cheek, slinging an arm around her, "You're like a tiny ball of rage."

Bonnie decided not to comment on that. "Yeah, well you're like a giant…totem pole." She cringed – that was terrible, "No, wait, I mean -"

Too late. Marceline was already in stitches. "Totem pole? Amazing. Science gnome and totem pole. Sounds like the best crime fighting duo ever."

"This Valentine's Day is already going horribly," Bonnie rolled her eyes, "and to think, I thought my kindergarten experience would be the worst."

Marceline bit back another bout of laughter for long enough to ask her, "Kindergarten experience? Spill."

Bonnibel cringed. She should've known that Marceline would want to know. Of course. "Um…well, in class we were supposed to give people valentines to celebrate – it was mostly just friend groups giving them to each other, and because I didn't really have any friends…I didn't get any."

Marceline let out a sound that was half an _aw_ and half sympathetic. Her arms wrapped around Bonnie, and she kissed the pink haired girl on the top of her head. "Bonnie! That's so – I would've given you a valentine. But hey, at least it was just friend groups. It's not like you gave one to someone else."

"I _did_ , actually." Bonnie admitted, cringing, "I gave one to this girl I thought was really pretty. She laughed at me."

Marceline scowled, "What a bitch."

"She was one of the ones that went on to shove me around in middle school and beyond. Especially after I was outed." Bonnie said, sighing. "It sucked. I wish I had you then."

"Yeah, me too." Marceline concurred, squeezing Bonnie, "So, what's the plan for today? If we're not doing anything romantic are we just going to chill out and watch Netflix?"

"My friends are heading out shopping today, so we could go with them," Bonnie suggested, "I know that Jake and Lady are still going since they don't really do Valentine's Day that much either, and Finn invited Phoebe along – I know they're not dating but he really likes her – so there'll be other sort-of couples there. We could tag along?"

"If that's what you want to do, then you can text them." Marceline took Bonnie's phone off charge and passed it to her. "If any of them need a ride, I'll have three extra seats in the car."

Bonnibel smiled, typing out a text on her conversation with Lady, "Aren't you sweet? You know -"

She didn't get to finish her sentence; her Mom and Dad walked in. For a moment, Bonnie was quite stunned – her parents usually left her and Marceline to themselves. They had no reason to come in, especially in the morning. Bonnie was fairly certain that they knew of Marceline's nocturnal tendencies.

"We were going to wait until you came downstairs to give you this," Peter started, holding up an envelope, "It's from NYU. It came in the mail this morning."

Bonnie froze, putting her phone to one side, her text to Lady half written. She held her hand out for the envelope – it was thick, which was a good sign. Either she was in or they'd sent her a 250 page letter about how much they didn't want her.

(She tried pushing that possibility out of her mind.)

Bonnie carefully tore open the envelope, one hand gripped onto Marceline's. If she didn't get in, there was even less of a chance that she and Marceline might live together next year.

Bonnibel felt like she was going to puke as she pulled out the contents of the envelope, the first thing she saw being the cover letter. She braced herself as she read through it, although her nerves were making it quite hard to focus past _Dear Miss Bonnibel Butler_.

She took in a deep breath and felt Marceline squeeze her hand, reading the next line.

 _You have been successful in your application to New York University_.

Bonnie couldn't stop the girlish squeal from reverberating at the back of her throat, pulling Marceline in for a hug. "I got in!"

"You did?" Bonnie felt Marceline's arms slowly wrap around her waist, "That's amazing, Bonnie."

Bonnibel beamed up at her parents over Marceline's shoulder, "As long as I keep my grades up, I'm going to NYU!"

She let go of Marceline to jump up and hug her parents, then sifted through the rest of the papers that she'd been sent with her acceptance letter. She spared the accommodation booklet a passing glance, but she knew that as long as Marceline got into Juilliard, she wouldn't need an on-campus room.

After a few more moments of celebration, her parents left her and Marceline to themselves again, and Bonnie attacked her girlfriend with another hug.

"Nothing can put me in a bad mood today," Bonnie couldn't physically wipe the smile off of her face – it seemed as though it'd been welded there. Not that she cared. "I'm going to the college of my choice, I have a perfect girlfriend to spend Valentine's Day with…everything is amazing."

"I guess this would be a good time to tell you I got into Juilliard, then." Marceline casually announced, giving Bonnie another piece of amazing news, "I found out on Wednesday."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Bonnie exclaimed, still not taking her eyes off her college stuff, "We could've spent the rest of this week looking at apartments after school. Maybe something halfway between the two schools?"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you freaking out about how you hadn't got a letter yet." Bonnie had to admit that Marceline had a point, there. Knowing her, she would've obsessed over it and checked the post every single day. "And what's all this talk about apartments?"

Bonnibel stiffened. Maybe her prior announcement that nothing could ruin her mood had been inaccurate. Was Marceline trying to imply that she didn't want to move in together?

Bonnie decided to go about this carefully. "Well…I think I mentioned it when we both talked about going to schools in New York. It makes perfect sense to move in together – you don't know anyone there and although I know people I don't exactly have any friends there – so we'd have company. I already know that I can deal with you for more than twenty four hours because of the amount of sleepovers we have. We work, you know? If you don't want to -"

"Hey, nerd," Marceline interrupted Bonnie's rambling, "I never said I didn't want to move in with you. I just didn't think you were being serious when you'd mentioned it before, that's all."

"Why wouldn't I be serious about it?" Bonnie asked, tilting her head to the side and examining Marceline's confused expression, "Even if we weren't together like we are, I'd still want to. It just makes sense."

"Wow…alright, then. Let's do it." Marceline nodded in affirmation, "But you should know that I don't know how to cook and I suck at ironing things. And I snore when I get a cold."

Bonnibel laughed, squeezing her girlfriend's hand. "Well, you'll be happy to know that I used to do the ironing for my allowance as a kid, and I'm an okay chef. As long as you can set the table and help me with the washing up, I think we'll be fine."

Marceline sent her a toothy grin, "I don't know if we'll survive. I'm useless and I'll probably drive you crazy."

Bonnibel kissed her cheek. "You already drive me crazy. In the best way."

* * *

"You know, I'm surprised that you two aren't off on some sort of romantic lesbian road trip or something," Lady said as Bonnie sat down next to her, her fingers curled around Marceline's, "You know, since it's Valentine's Day and all."

"We both hate it." Marceline explained as she sipped on the Coke she'd bought from McDonald's. "So we decided to treat it like a normal day."

"We got each other cards," Bonnie supplemented in an attempt to make it perfectly clear that she and Marceline weren't Valentine's Day grinches – if that was a thing, "but there isn't going to be a 'romantic lesbian road trip'. Although that _does_ sound like a lot of fun."

"I'll make a note of that for next year," Marceline added, "Maybe if Keila has a girlfriend then, she can come with."

"Sounds like a good plan. I'll put it in my planner." Bonnibel concurred, smiling when she met her girlfriend's crimson gaze, "Maybe the road trip can be from New York to here to visit these guys."

Marceline hummed, "Yeah, cool."

Finn slid into the seat next to Marceline, sending her and Bonnie one of his usual exuberant grins, "Hey, guys. Happy Valentine's Day. We're waiting for everyone else to come out of that shop," he nodded across from the food court, towards a generic clothes store aimed at teenage girls, "and then we're going to go into any stores that interest us and then go to the arcade."

"Actually, Finn," LSP sat down in the chair opposite Bonnie, sparing Marceline a venomous glare, "I have a plan for today since Brad will be joining us."

Bonnie caught Marceline's eye roll out of her peripheral vision and thought _yeah, Marceline, same here_. "I thought you and Brad were on a break."

LSP seemed surprised that Bonnibel was interested in her love life. Although the interest was feigned, Bonnie still wanted to stay on the other girl's good side. "We were, but then he called me a few weeks ago and we stayed up all night talking and now we're back together."

Marceline snorted, "That'll last."

Although it was muttered, LSP turned on Marceline with a vicious glare, "Why don't you shut up about my relationship? You don't know the _first_ thing about me and Brad. Freak."

Bonnie turned to Marceline, wondering if she needed to console her. Marceline's only reaction was an eye roll.

In a hushed voice, Bonnie leaned closer to Marceline's heavily pierced ear and said, "Are you alright? I can call her out on that if you want."

Marceline laughed, and it didn't sound forced at all. Bonnie figured that was a good sign. "The thought of you calling anyone out is hilarious, and as much as I'd like to see that, I'm _fine_. Her second grade insults really don't bother me."

Bonnie searched Marceline's face for any evidence of a lie, coming up short. As Bonnibel was usually able to tell if Marceline was upset, she accepted that Marceline really didn't care. That was a relief.

In case she actually had been upset and Bonnie had just failed to detect it, she squeezed Marceline's hand in a manner that she hoped was comforting, before addressing the rest of the group, "So…who else is here?"

"The usual group, mostly," Lady answered her, "Aside from the people here, Jake, Gumball, Phoebe and Cake are with us. Fionna said she had a thing to do with her parents today."

Bonnibel's face sunk into a frown. "A _thing_? She didn't specify what that was?"

"No…" Lady's facial expression mirrored Bonnie's, "Why would she need to?"

Bonnie just shrugged in response. A _thing_ on Valentine's Day had set off a few alarm bells, but she wasn't about to bring that to Lady's attention. "No reason. Marceline?"

Marceline glanced up from her phone. Bonnie caught a glimpse of her phone screen – she was texting Keila. Probably planning on getting the older girl to stage some sort of rescue so she didn't have to spend the day with Bonnie's friends.

"What's up?" Marceline slid her phone into her pocket, "Are we actually going to _do_ something rather than just sit in the food court?"

"No plans of action have been formulated as of yet," Bonnie replied, "I think that'll happen when everyone else arrives. What were you talking to Keila about?"

"Creeping on my texts, huh?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, smirking in amusement. Despite her initial response, she told Bonnie anyways. "Nothing much. She just asked me what we're doing today since it's Valentine's Day and I told her. Then she told me that if we were just seeing friends we could've seen her."

"Which is what you'd prefer to be doing," Bonnie finished for her, "We can see Keila later, if you want. You could invite her here, but I don't think this is really her scene."

"If I tell her that… _certain people_ are here, I'm sure she'd come and be my buffer," Marceline pulled her phone out of her pocket, typing out a quick message probably resembling an SOS to the older girl. "I'm pretty sure the only reason she texted me is because we usually spend Valentine's Day together, wallowing in self-pity. She usually drowns her sorrows with pizza and alcohol and I need to be there to hold her hair back when she pukes."

Bonnie shot her a doubtful look, "I'm going to assume that although the initial plan is for you to stay sober, you never usually do."

Marceline smiled at her. "You know me so well."

"Hey, guys," Jake leaned between Marceline and Bonnie to grab the last handful of his fries that he'd left on the table, "Didn't steal any of my fries, did you?"

"Nope," Bonnie shook her head, "That was Finn."

Jake sent his cousin a glare, but it was only half serious, "I told you not to touch them." Finn began spluttering in apology, but Jake just laughed as he sat on Marceline's right, "You can make it up to me when we go and check out the sporting gear. I need some new shoulder pads."

Bonnibel curled her fingers around Marceline's, "I don't think a few fries equate to buying you some new shoulder pads."

"Yeah, Jake," Phoebe sat down next to Finn, and his face and neck stained with red, "Go easy on Finn. I'm pretty sure the only money he brought was ten dollars for his McDonald's."

Lady leaned around Jake to address Bonnie, "Did you and Marceline get some lunch before you met us?"

"I bought myself a cheeseburger and fries from McDonald's when we got here, and I gave Marceline my drink since I wasn't thirsty." Bonnie explained, "We don't need to stop for anything else, I don't think."

Lady's gaze flicked to Marceline and noticeably narrowed, "And you? Didn't you get anything to eat?"

Marceline inhaled sharply and tried to think of a way around that as Bonnibel traced soft patterns on her knuckles. Even though Lady had asked her about her eating habits back in December, she'd thought that the other girl had dropped it.

Apparently not. Clearly, Marceline hadn't flown under the radar enough, and if Lady picked up on something, what's to say someone else hadn't? Someone like _Keila_.

Marceline's lungs were void of air and her heart was pounding through her shirt, but she tried to make herself look as casual as possible as she replied, fiddling with the packet of pills in her jacket pocket. "I shared some of Bonnie's fries but we had a big breakfast so I wasn't too hungry."

Lady's eyes narrowed even further, as though she didn't believe that at all, "Alright. Fine."

Marceline breathed a sigh of relief as everyone stood up. Following their lead, she turned to Bonnibel, who was still attached to her hand.

She expected to see some sort of disappointment on her girlfriend's face. She thought that Bonnie would have been at least a little upset to just watch her lie to Lady like that, but when she looked over, Bonnie's face was neutral.

"I'm sorry," Marceline's immediate instinct was to apologise, "I'm so sorry, I -"

Bonnie squeezed her hand as they caught up with her friends. "You don't need to apologise. It was just…self-preservation. You don't want her to know and I don't blame you for that. It's not like you're best friends."

Marceline frowned, but she was relieved that her girlfriend wasn't angry at her. "So you're saying that if it was someone like…Keila, you'd be -"

"Speaking of Keila," Bonnie cut her off, not wanting to get onto this topic, "did she say she was joining us?"

Marceline blinked at her, stunned by the sudden subject change, "I don't know…I'll check."

Bonnibel watched as Marceline pulled her phone out of her pocket. She jumped a little as someone brushed up against her, but it was only Finn. "Did you just say Keila?"

Bonnibel nodded in confirmation, "Yes. Is that okay if she joins us? I don't want Marceline to be lonely or anything."

"She's the one that got really drunk on Halloween and tried to perform that dance from Mean Girls with Marceline, right?" Finn asked.

Bonnie laughed at the memory, "Yeah, that's her."

Finn smiled, "That'll be fine. I don't think anyone will have a problem if Marceline invites a friend, as long as they're not one of those scary people she used to hang around with."

"You do realise that I'm _right here_?" Marceline leaned around Bonnie, "And I don't spend time with them anymore. That's in the past."

Bonnie wanted to ask, but stopped herself. If it was in the past, Marceline probably wasn't comfortable talking about it, "Alright. Is Keila coming?"

"Yeah. She said she'd meet me outside in about an hour." Marceline stuffed her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket, "But I'll just have to deal without her until then."

"Alright, then. I'll walk with you to meet her when she arrives." Bonnie linked her arm with Marceline's, "And we can -"

Marceline pulled her back abruptly, stopping her from walking right into the back of Jake's wrestler-like build. The entire group had apparently stopped – something was either blocking their way, or LSP had seen something in a store and there needed to be an intervention staged before they were stuck in there for three hours.

Bonnibel leaned around her friends to see what the hold-up was. Turns out it was neither of the aforementioned possibilities. No. It was Marshall.

And he was kissing Fionna.

* * *

"I can't believe it."

Marceline's reply was bored and monotonous. "Yeah, that's what we're all thinking."

"No, but you don't understand," Lady shook her head so fast that Bonnie was worried she'd get whiplash, "It's like - she didn't even tell me? I'm supposed to be her best friend?"

"Maybe she thought you'd have a bad reaction." Bonnie tried to suggest something that wouldn't upset anyone, but that was kind of hard. "Or maybe it was Marshall who didn't want people to know."

Gumball scoffed. For the most part, he'd been silent since what they'd seen; something Bonnie had chalked down to shock. "Yeah, that's unlikely. We all know that it was Fionna. She probably didn't want anyone to know that she was dating the guy I've-" he cut himself off with a sigh and a shake of his head, "you know, I don't even care."

LSP rolled her eyes and turned on Marceline with a scathing look. "I find it hard to believe that you didn't know about this. He's your twin brother. The only time he could've seen her is at home, and as far as I'm aware, you don't get out much. I think you knew about it."

"Really? Bare in mind the fact that I haven't spoken to him for about a month, _and_ the fact that he moved out." Marceline sent LSP the falsest smile she could muster. "We don't talk about things like this if we even talk at all. Even if he had mentioned it, I probably wouldn't care enough to listen."

Bonnibel threaded her fingers through Marceline's and squeezed them reassuringly. "I think they've both been lying to a lot of people. The thing is, how do we go about telling them that we know?"

Again, Gumball scoffed. "Great. They'll start being all lovey-dovey in front of us."

Finn sent him a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure if Fionna knows it upsets you, she won't do that. She's your friend."

"Exactly," Jake reinforced, "When has she ever been lovey-dovey around boys before, anyway? That wouldn't change just because she might be dating someone."

Marceline hummed in agreement. "Yeah. And even though Marshall can be kind of an asshole sometimes, he's a good guy. Just a little dumb."

Gumball rolled his eyes. "I still don't like it."

Bonnie looked around at her friend's faces; most of them looked... _disappointed_ , almost. It was weird - their reaction to her and Marceline's relationship had been so much better, and at that point, they hadn't really liked Marceline all that much. But they were still supportive. She would've thought that even with all the drama that had been surrounding Marshall, they'd be happy for Fionna. She wouldn't be with someone if she didn't like them.

Eventually, she just sighed and rested her head on Marceline's shoulder. They probably only needed a little time to let this sink in.

Yeah, it'd be fine.


	72. seventy-two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aka the one where Bonnie goes a little crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning - anxiety/panic disorder

**Wednesday 18th** **February 2015**

Bonnibel leaned over her notebook, scrawling out a few notes for her science class in shorthand. She had far too many papers out in front of her, taking up the entirety of the table she'd occupied at Starbucks – Marceline couldn't even fit her drink on there.

Admittedly, ever since she'd gotten her acceptance letter, she'd been a little bit more determined to keep her grades up. Probably a little too determined, since she hadn't slept for at least thirty hours and the only thing that was keeping her eyes from closing was the high dose of caffeine from the makeshift quadruple espresso that Marceline had ordered her; two double espressos in one cup, with at least six packets of sugar in – Bonnie was going to be awake for the rest of the week if she ordered another one.

"Are you going to stop studying?" Marceline looked so concerned and even though Bonnie was extremely sleep deprived, she felt really bad for not telling her girlfriend that she'd been up all night and using the excuse of a mini-date during lunch break to grab some caffeine. "You've barely looked up from that notebook all day."

"I'm fine, Marceline, I just -" Bonnie's response was cut off by a yawn, "need to finish studying for my finals."

Marceline sent her an incredulous look, and leaned across the table to look at Bonnie's notes. They were barely legible, the pink haired girl's handwriting lopsided and cutting through the neat lines on the page. "Bonnie, finals aren't until _May_. It's February. I think you can chill out."

"I can't," Bonnibel shook her head so quickly that she made herself dizzy, "Need to get into NYU."

Marceline blinked at her, "You're already in, Bon. Do you not remember getting your letter on Saturday?"

Bonnibel rubbed at her eyes, nodding. "Of course I remember. I have to keep my grades up to go so I can live with my girlfriend. You, I mean."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, the left corner of her mouth tilting up in a smirk. Although her facial expression read amused, Bonnie could see the concern in her eyes. "How much sleep did you get last night? And don't bother lying. I can tell if you're lying."

"I didn't -" Bonnibel stopped herself, shaking her head, "That doesn't matter."

Marceline rolled her eyes, leaning over the table and grabbing Bonnie's coffee. "No more caffeine for you. You're coming to my house tonight and I'm going to make sure you get some sleep."

"I don't need to go to sleep." Bonnie protested. She shook her head even more, her eyes widening, making her look almost frantic. "I need to _study_."

"You can't study if you burn yourself out, Bon," Marceline closed Bonnie's textbook, which her girlfriend automatically flipped back open. Marceline slammed it closed again, pulling it across the table. " _Stop_. At this rate, you'll get so crazy you'll start hallucinating."

"I will?" Bonnibel blinked up at her, but apparently that wasn't very important information as she reached her hands out for her notebook, "Give me. Need to study."

"No." Marceline firmly replied, stuffing Bonnie's notebook into her backpack. She swept the remaining papers off the table and into her bag, "I'm keeping these for the rest of the day. No more studying."

Bonnibel pouted, "Please, Marcy?"

"Don't _Marcy_ me. It won't work." Marceline folded her arms across her chest, nodding towards the door, "We need to head back up to school now. My car isn't exactly reliable lately and we have biology at half one."

"School? Oh, yes," Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation, "Biology. Alright then. Can I have my notebook back?"

"No, you can't." Marceline stood up, helping Bonnibel from her chair and threading her fingers through her girlfriend's, "Come on, let's get you to school. We'll get through the rest of the day and then you can take a nap at my place so I can keep a good watch on you."

"Do I get my notebook back after?" Bonnie asked as Marceline led her outside, "I really need my notebook."

"You don't _need_ it, Bon. You want it." Marceline corrected her. She pulled open the passenger door to her car and helped Bonnie inside. Dumping their backpacks in the back seat, she made her way to the driver's side and got in. "And _no_ , you don't get it back. You need to chill out. Finals are ages away. You can't do this to yourself. It's unhealthy."

Bonnibel scoffed. "Yeah, _you're_ one to talk about doing unhealthy things to yourself."

It took a moment for the words to register in both of their brains. When they did, Bonnibel set off on some sort of rambling apology; Marceline felt like Bonnibel had just punched her in the gut. It wasn't like Bonnie to make little comments like that; it sounded like something that her Dad would say, and that made it ten times worse.

Marceline tried to ignore the lump in her throat and the pain in her chest and how her lungs felt like they were going to burst and tuned back in to hear Bonnibel midway through some sort of apology.

"And I didn't mean to say that, I'm just so _stressed_ and tired and I need to do my homework and you won't let me so I got angry and this isn't working you look like you want to smack me," Bonnibel took a breath and paused for a yawn, "Go ahead, smack me. I'm ready."

Marceline blinked at her. _Yes_ , the offer was tempting, but she'd never lay a finger on Bonnie. Not like that. Even though her brain was finding it hard to process anything, she was able to brush _that_ off.

"I'm not -" Marceline began slowly. Somehow she was managing to keep her anger in check. "I don't want to smack you. If you're going to make those sorts of comments, then I'm not going to try and help you. You can have your stupid notebook back and study yourself into oblivion. I don't care."

She was lying, and even a sleep deprived Bonnie could tell that from a mile off. Still, the words stung, like someone had just poured salt into an open wound.

"That's…I'm sorry, Marcy." Bonnie smacked herself – a little too hard. "There, I smacked me for you. Sorry. I'm not thinking clearly and you _know_ that I'd never say something like that to you if I was. I'm an idiot."

"Yeah, you are," Marceline murmured, trying to get the words out of her head. The person on the inside, the one that wanted to talk and voice her opinions and launch into a full scale rant, was trying to break free. She wanted to tell Bonnie that her obsessive studying was _hardly_ comparable to an eating disorder. Marceline _never_ wanted that to happen to her, but Bonnie pushed herself too far and didn't seem to care.

But, Marceline kept quiet, because she knew that if she tried to explain she'd mess up and stutter or wouldn't get her points across. And there was that fear in the back of her mind that Bonnie would just laugh her off, and say that what she was trying to explain was stupid.

Marceline hated her anxiety even _more_ in situations like this. It's not even that something like this was new to her – she barely spoke in school because she was terrified of her peers. If her pencil in art class was blunt, she'd just suck it up and use it rather than walking three feet to the sharpener because she just _couldn't_ make herself get up.

(And if she asked someone to do it for her, she got called lazy.)

Marceline rubbed her hands on the steering wheel of her car, trying to describe the feel of it in her head. Maybe that would take her mind off how her head was cloudy and she felt like she'd been dunked underwater – Bonnie's continuing apology was muffled, everything was blurred and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

Her chest tightened, her ribs collapsing against her lungs and pushing all of the air out of them. Marceline ran a clammy hand through her hair – the steering wheel wasn't working. _Come on. Five things you can feel, Abadeer. You can do this_.

The car suddenly felt a lot smaller than it did a few minutes ago and Marceline tried to ignore that as she focused on taking deep breaths, though each time she did the air didn't quite make it all the way into her lungs, catching in her throat and choking her like a pair of invisible hands wrapped around her neck. Her head felt fuzzy, like she was about to pass out, and she knew that she needed to just _breathe_ but nothing was working, her throat locking shut and crushing her windpipe.

She jumped back as she felt a soft hand on her back, the sound of Bonnie near her ear. Even though her girlfriend was right next to her, it was like she was miles away at the same time, her voice distant and muffled like someone had smothered Marceline with a pillow.

Marceline felt hands on her shoulders, turning her to face Bonnie. Her girlfriend's image was smudged and hazy, and Marceline's breaths started coming out in short bursts as Bonnie talked to her, but she could barely hear or understand was she was saying. Bonnibel might as well have been speaking German.

Marceline tried not to think about what Bonnie had said to her, but the only other thing she could hone in on was the guilt at the pit of her stomach, because she _knew_ that she was going to make them both late to get back to school and she knew that she was being such an inconvenience. Marceline felt like she was being silly – it was a trick of the mind and she knew it, but that didn't change the fact that she felt like she was _dying_.

" _Marcy_ ," The stern undertone of Bonnie's voice cut through the ocean of panic that she was trapped at the bottom of, " _Look_ at me."

" _Fuck_ ," was all Marceline managed to contribute, squeezing her eyes shut and focusing on the colours behind her eyelids. Blue stars, like the irises of Bonnie's eyes. Green circles with overlapping red rings on top of a streaking yellow horizon, an illusory escape.

"Marceline," Bonnie's grip on her shoulders was much tighter and Marceline's eyes snapped open at the sound of her name, "Listen to me. Even though I can't exactly think straight right now I'm going to…tell you a story. Yeah. A happy one. Is that alright with you?"

"We're going to be late," Marceline shakily gestured to the time as she choked that out through choppy breaths.

"Don't you worry about that," Bonnibel took Marceline's trembling hands in her own and shook her head, "This story is from when I was living back in New York. I think I was…fifteen. I can't remember my exact age but what I _do_ remember was that I was still in my awkward stage. My body hadn't really filled out exactly and I remember feeling really… _disproportionate_. That makes absolutely no sense, does it?"

Marceline shook her head and tried to focus on Bonnie's story and not how her chest felt like it'd caved in on itself, her lungs crushed beneath bone. She felt her girlfriend tracing soft patterns on her knuckles and splayed out her hand so her girlfriend could outline up the curve of her wrist.

"Anyways, it was a Saturday and I was out with my Mom for lunch, since Bea was busy with her parents. We went shopping for a little while and everything was fine, and then we're in the middle of conversation when I looked over my Mom's shoulder and saw this really cute girl. And naturally, she followed my gaze and encouraged me to talk to her.

"After a little persuading, I decided to give it a shot. I'd never seen her before and she didn't go to my school, so if she realised I was flirting it wouldn't have been a big deal. I walked over to her and as she was alone, I sat down at her table. She looked up at me and I just froze and couldn't think of anything to say – in hindsight I probably should've prepared a script with my Mom before talking to her, as I'm incredibly socially awkward. I just kind of stared at her for a little while and it got to the point that I was sure she thought I was some sort of psycho, so I just looked at her and said, 'hi, I work for the store and I'm doing a survey of customers. How would you rate your experiences here on a scale of one to ten?' She so _obviously_ knew that I was lying, and after asking her three completely made up questions I walked back over to my Mom and spent the rest of the day cringing at my terrible attempt at flirting."

Marceline finally looked up at Bonnie, taking in the dark rings under her eyes and the freckles on her cheeks and the pimple on her chin. She jumped as Bonnie's fingers ran through her hair, and Marceline allowed herself a shaky laugh at her girlfriend's story.

"That's cute." Marceline finally murmured, wiping at her eyes. "Thanks."

"I told myself I'd never tell you that since I knew you'd laugh at me," Bonnie flashed her a tired, albeit genuine smile, "but desperate times call for desperate measures."

Marceline stayed silent, but curled her fingers around Bonnibel's and lightly squeezed her girlfriend's warm hand. She'd finally come back to earth; her heart was pounding and air was finally passing through her lungs again, the clouds in her head parting to let her think clearly.

Bonnie's smile faded into something more serious and she leaned forwards to kiss the corner of Marceline's mouth. "I'm really sorry, Marceline. I never should've said that and I feel really bad about it. I didn't mean to set you off."

"It's…I'll get over it." _After a couple of vodkas_. "Don't beat yourself up about it. You're tired and you didn't mean what you said."

"I made you have a _panic attack_." Bonnie pointed out, "I'm supposed to be the one that stops those from happening. Not the one that causes them."

"Can we just drop it, please? We're already late for biology." It came out harsher than intended, but Bonnie stopped talking and nodded.

Marceline had to take a few minutes to completely calm herself down before driving, and she was grateful for Bonnie's silence. Her girlfriend merely traced patterns on Marceline's hand until she announced that she was ready to go and started the car up.

It'd been a long day for both of them.

* * *

"What's _this_?" Lady raised an eyebrow as Marceline and Bonnie sat down in their usual seats, "Bonnibel Butler, _late_ for a class? And a _science_ class, as well. This must be a once in a lifetime event."

Bonnibel rubbed at her tired eyes, "We were at Starbucks and lost track of time, alright?"

Marceline knew that Lady had picked up on the redness of her eyes and how Bonnie looked like she'd been awake for the past week. "Are you two okay? You both look a little…tired?"

Bonnie shrugged, "I'm the tired one. Didn't sleep last night. She's the sad one."

Lady's gaze flicked to Marceline, and the dark haired girl just _knew_ she'd pry. Lady wasn't exactly known for being incurious. "Why are you sad?"

"No reason." Marceline quickly answered. Probably a little too quickly, as Lady's eyebrows shot up behind her hairline, "I just…had a panic attack. I'm fine now, though. Not upset at all."

Lady's expression softened and she sent Marceline a sympathetic smile. "That sucks." It wasn't long before the smile dropped, and was replaced by a curious look, "Did you have a chance to talk about your brother after…you know. What we saw."

"Not yet," Marceline replied. Since Marshall didn't live with her anymore, it was kind of hard to get hold of him. He never answered his phone and Marceline didn't exactly want to call her Dad's house phone, and at school they had a general mutual avoidance policy; he acted even more immature around his latest friend group, and Marceline didn't want to have to smack him in the middle of the hallway. That probably wouldn't go down very well.

"Well…ask him. Don't tell him that we all saw – we're going to wait and see if Fionna will say anything. Gumball is kind of…" Lady trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Distraught? Indignant? Enraged?" Bonnie supplied. Apparently she wasn't too sleep deprived to whip out her huge vocabulary.

"Maybe a combination of the three," Lady nodded, turning back to Marceline, "Just…be subtle about it, okay? We just want to get an understanding of the situation before we talk to Fionna about it. Gumball wants to confront her right now, and I'm kind of worried that he's going to lose patience if we don't get an explanation soon."

Bonnibel smiled, looking between Lady and Marceline, "Look at you two, working as a team. Never thought I'd see that."

"Same here," Lady laughed, "To be fair, I never thought that the terrifying Marceline Abadeer would be in a lesbian relationship with one of my best friends. Or that she'd be such a closet nerd."

"Of course I'm a closet nerd." Marceline said that like it was obvious. "And _again_ , I'm -"

"Bisexual, I know," Lady interrupted her. "But still. It's just a little shocking if I think about it from my opinions last year. You. Dating. Actually nice and stuff. And with _Bonnibel_."

Bonnie didn't know if she should take offence from the tone of Lady's voice. Either way, she just calmly replied, "What's weird about that?"

"Well…you're all bubbly and nice to everyone and she just walks around giving people death glares," Lady rolled her eyes at Marceline's laughter, "Well, you _used_ to do that. I just never really thought that you two would actually _work_ together, you know? I thought that you were too different."

Marceline shrugged, "We like the same TV shows, she cuddles me and she's a good kisser. What more do I need?"

Bonnibel sent her a tired smile, leaning over the table to kiss Marceline on the cheek. "You're a sweetheart."

Lady smiled at the two of them, before she turned back on Marceline, "You're definitely going to talk to Marshall, right?"

"Once he answers his phone, yes." Marceline bobbed her head in confirmation, "Don't worry, Lady. I'll get some answers eventually."

"You'd better," Lady replied, "because like I said before, Gumball's ready for some confrontation. Wouldn't you be mad if you saw Bonnie kissing a guy?"

Marceline didn't have a chance to respond before Bonnie was making gagging noises. "Ugh, no thanks. The thought of kissing a boy is traumatic. I'd rather kiss a slug, to be honest."

"Fine, then," Lady rolled her eyes, "Marceline would probably be mad if she saw you kissing a slug."

Marceline laughed, "That mental image is pretty amusing, to be fair."

Bonnibel sat up, twirling her pen between her fingers, "Yeah, still better than the thought of kissing a boy."

"What if Zac Efron walked in right now and asked to kiss you?" Lady proposed, "Would you do it?"

Marceline thought that one over, "If I was completely gay and that happened, I probably still would. I mean, it's Zac Efron. Might as well. It's like if I was straight and someone asked me if I wanted to make out with Jenna McDougall. It's kind of a _go on, then_ situation."

Bonnibel chewed on the inside of her mouth in thought, "Maybe. It'd be cool to tell people if I'm not out to them. But it's most likely a no. Would you make out with…Taylor Swift if she asked you?"

"It's Taylor Swift. Yes." Lady easily responded, "Like Marceline said, it's a _why not_ situation."

"To be honest, I made that quite easy. Taylor Swift is really pretty." Bonnie admitted to herself, threading her fingers through Marceline's. "Not as pretty as Marcy, but still."

Marceline scoffed, "Yeah, no way."

Bonnibel tucked Marceline's bangs behind her ears, "You are. I can promise you that this isn't the sleep deprivation talking. You're really, really attractive. And you're all mine."

And naturally, Marceline flushed bright red and tried to hide her face with her hoodie, muttering something about disliking being embarrassed in class.

Bonnibel just smiled.


	73. seventy-three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie and Marceline watch a certain web series about lesbian vampires.

** Saturday 28th February 2015 **

In Marceline's opinion, February hadn't exactly been a very good month. And surprisingly, school – although tiring and annoying – hadn't been the problem.

Bonnie had.

Ever since Bonnibel had opened her college acceptance letter, she'd been acting strange. She was a lot more on-edge and had been high strung ever since Valentine's Day. Marceline would try to take her out on a date, and Bonnibel would refuse to leave her desk because everything was about homework and school and finals and _college_.

And Marceline was sick of it.

She knew that school was important to Bonnie. She knew that studying and learning meant as much as music did to her, but it was getting kind of annoying when Bonnie was repeatedly blowing her off.

And naturally, when she woke up to a few texts from Bonnie, she didn't expect much. She didn't smile, didn't feel that familiar swarm of butterflies in her stomach. She felt nothing but mild irritation.

_**Bonnie (10:01AM): Hey! Didn't want to text you earlier in case you woke up but would you mind picking up coffee on your way over? I was studying all night and I'm super tired.** _

_**Bonnie (10:22AM): Sorry, change of plans. I realised I'd forgotten to study chemistry at all last night, so I'll be working on that today. Rain check?** _

Marceline threw Hambo across the room in frustration. Ditched. Again. Feeling a little bad for taking her anger out on her unsuspecting teddy bear, Marceline typed out an annoyed response that she felt she was entitled to. Something along the lines of _no, you're not taking another fucking rain check. I'm coming over and you're leaving the house even if I have to drag you out._

But she didn't send it. Marceline couldn't really tell if she had a right to be annoyed. Yes, it was the fifth rain check this week, but Marceline found it hard to tell if her anger was justified or if she was overreacting on a normal day. Maybe she should just calm down and not see Bonnie. She could spend the time with Keila, Guy or Bongo. She could maybe – although this was a stretch – ask if Finn, Jake and everyone were doing anything. She could try to have sibling time with her brother; she still hadn't talked to him about the Fionna incident.

But then another text came through and her train of thought came to a halt.

_**Bonnie (10:31AM): I'm sorry, Marcy. I know that you're ignoring me judging by the 'read' underneath my texts – either that or you fell asleep with your phone unlocked or something. I just really need to get this done. We could do something tomorrow?** _

Marceline rolled her eyes at that last part. Tomorrow. Yeah, like that'd happen. There'd be another cancellation and Marceline would've set her alarm for nothing.

Now that she thought about it, she decided on going back to sleep. Maybe that would make her anxiety shut up. Although it was background noise right now, she knew that if she got _one_ more rejection text from Bonnie, all sorts of thoughts would explode in her mind about how her girlfriend didn't care about her anymore, thought she was annoying, was too kind to just break up with her. Even though she was fairly certain that those things weren't true, it still bothered her.

(Anyone would be annoyed if they were replaced by _homework_.)

_**Marceline (10:32AM): okay** _

That was all she sent in reply. No angry rant. Hopefully, the one word reply to the three texts that Bonnibel had sent would perfectly convey Marceline's irritation. One word replies were brutally cold, especially to Bonnie's infamously long texts.

Then, she put her phone on her nightstand and turned over, hugging her pillow against her chest. She was going to get some extra sleep, and she definitely _wasn't_ going to turn over and read Bonnie's reply to her message. If she replied at all.

Naturally, when she heard her phone vibrate against her bedside table, she flipped over in bed and grabbed it, quickly reading her girlfriend's response.

_**Bonnibel (10:35AM): You're mad at me for cancelling, aren't you?** _

Marceline wanted to reply with _damn fucking right I'm mad_ , but she didn't think that would go down well. _Subtlety,_ she reminded herself.

_**Marceline (10:36AM): i don't see why i wouldn't be** _

She regretted that message the minute she'd sent it. She really didn't want to start an argument – aside from being ditched five times in the past week, they hadn't argued. Not even over Marceline's eating.

_**Bonnie (10:36AM): What's that supposed to mean? I have to study. It's important.** _

_**Marceline (10:37AM): oh wow, sorry that homework is more interesting than me** _

Okay, Marceline had to admit that that was a little immature, but she was angry and wanted to make a point. Screw being subtle.

_**Bonnie (10:38AM): You know that's not what I meant. I'm just busy, alright? Lots of work to do and school kind of comes first.** _

Marceline scoffed. That was _rich_.

_**Marceline (10:38AM): you've ditched me five times this week to study for finals that are three months away** _

_**Marceline (10:38AM): you're prioritising things a little bit too early, don't you think?** _

_**Bonnie (10:39AM): It's about college. Why don't you get that? I'm working hard so I can definitely go and live with you next year.** _

College. Of course. Everything was about college, and that was one of the reasons Marceline was so annoyed.

_**Marceline (10:39AM): I want to live together next year too but I'm not blowing you off to study for things you don't need to study for yet** _

_**Bonnie (10:40AM): You know what? Fine. Come over. You're distracting me enough anyways through here. I guess it wouldn't be so bad having you play music in the background while I work.** _

_You're distracting me enough anyways_. That stung. It made Marceline feel like she was nothing but a problem, a minor irritation in Bonnie's life.

_**Marceline (10:40AM): fuck no** _

_**Marceline (10:41AM): if I come over I'm not sitting in your fucking room watching you study** _

_**Bonnie (10:42AM): Stop swearing at me. And I'm sorry that I had to cancel. I just really want to get these notes written up. You know that I love you and want to spend time with you. :)** _

Marceline rolled her eyes, forgetting that Bonnibel couldn't see her. To nobody in particular, she muttered, "If you wanted to see me you wouldn't ditch me for studying."

Unsure if she should even respond, Marceline locked her phone and put it back onto her bedside table. She crossed the room to grab Hambo before climbing back into her bed, wrapping her duvet around herself as tightly as she could. Then, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to think about anything other than Bonnibel.

And honestly, that was the first time she'd ever had to do that.

* * *

Marceline cringed when the light in her bedroom was flicked on. She burrowed under the covers without looking at whoever decided to disturb her, groaning. "Go away."

She felt her bed dip under added weight and rolled her eyes, turning away from the person and pulling Hambo closer to her chest. She wanted to sleep away the irritation and then maybe hang out with Keila later. Either that or just drink.

"Simon, seriously," Marceline buried her face in her pillow, "I'm not in the mood and I want to sleep."

A voice that was definitely _not_ Simon's penetrated the ten layers of blankets Marceline had burrowed herself underneath. "I didn't walk all the way here just for you to stay there and sleep. Come on. Up."

"Bonnie?" Marceline couldn't help but feel a flicker of hope that Bonnie had finally seen some sense and decided to slow down with all of her revision, but she still didn't move from under the duvet. "What do you want? Thought you were studying."

"That was three hours ago," Bonnibel smoothed out her pink dress and ducked underneath the covers. She moved forwards, hoping to _god_ that her dress wouldn't get wrinkled, shuffling herself close enough to her girlfriend so that their noses were touching, "Did you not get my text? Or did you go back to sleep?"

"What do you think?" Marceline scowled at her, but didn't move away. Bonnie took that as a good sign. "Of course I went back to sleep. I had nothing else planned."

Bonnibel sighed. She knew that was a passive-aggressive jab at her cancelling their plans. "I told you I was sorry. But I'm here. I couldn't concentrate thinking that you were mad at me."

"Good to know that all I have to do to make you endure the torture of my company is to get mad at you." Marceline muttered. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Go home, Bonnie. Obviously you'd rather study."

Bonnie's hand rested on Marceline's waist, fiddling with the unbuttoned flannel shirt her girlfriend was wearing. "I'd rather be with you. I made plans with my girlfriend and I want to be with her. Is that okay?"

Finally, Marceline smiled that toothy, lopsided smile of hers, and Bonnibel knew that it was genuine. "Alright. Okay. Should I put pants on?"

Bonnibel laughed, "If we're going outside, that's probably a good idea. If not, then I think I can live with you keeping your legs out all day."

(They _were_ very nice legs, after all.)

Marceline hummed. "Okay, then. Sorry I got mad at you."

"That's okay, Marcy." Bonnie gave her girlfriend a comforting squeeze. "Even though I was rather irritated at first, I thought about it and realised that you kind of had a right to be mad. I'd blown you off a lot this week and I feel really bad about that. We're okay, right?"

"Yeah. We're okay." Marceline flashed her another smile, finally moving the covers down so they were no longer completely over them. "Just…don't do that to me again."

Bonnibel nodded, curling her fingers around Marceline's. In an effort to change the subject, she thought of something that would hopefully rid the air of any residual tension. "So…are we going to finish season two of The 100? I've been reading a lot of Clexa fanfiction before bed, lately. I know that's kind of dorky, but -"

" _God_ , same here." Marceline replied, "Either that or anything to do with Carmilla."

Bonnibel raised an eyebrow, "Carmilla?"

Marceline blinked at her in confusion. "Did I not tell you about it? I discovered it a few weeks back and watched the first season. It's a web series about a lesbian vampire."

Bonnibel beamed, "A lesbian vampire? Sign me up. Where can I find this?"

Marceline sent her a smirk. She leaned across Bonnibel and grabbed her laptop from where she'd left it the night before, opening the lid. She set it out in front of them. "I think I just figured out what we're going to do today."

"So," Bonnie started as Marceline waited for her laptop to power up, "give me the details. What's a kind of…spoiler-less summary of this show?"

"Alright, so basically, it centres around a girl called Laura who's just going to college for the first time," Marceline paused to type in her computer password, "and she's given this journalism project so she decides to film it, but goes out to a party with her roommate before she can get a good start. Then when she gets home, her roommate is missing. _Then_ she gets a new roommate called Carmilla who's super sketchy, and finds out that a bunch of other girls have gone missing too."

"So it's basically her trying to figure out what happened to her roommate?" Bonnie asked, smiling when Marceline leaned back to rest against her, resting her laptop between them.

"Yeah, basically," Marceline stared at her laptop screen as she waited for her browser to load. With a frown, she turned to Bonnie, "So, I was thinking about you the other day."

"About me?" Bonnibel raised an eyebrow. "Good things, I hope."

Marceline nodded as she found the link to the show, "Of course. I was just wondering if you ever miss New York."

Bonnie paused in thought, weaving her fingers around Marceline's. She did, sometimes. Not the people or the person that she was before, but the little things. She missed being half an hour away from her Aunt Susan and Gracie. She missed the walks in Central Park with Bea. She missed taking the subway to and from school. She missed being able to go to Times Square on the weekend.

But she didn't miss those things as much as she would miss how things were now. She would miss weekends with her friends more than she missed her walks with Bea. She would miss dates with Marceline more than she'd miss taking the subway home from school. She would miss her school life here more than going to Times Square.

"Sometimes." Bonnie admitted, twisting her fingers through Marceline's, "It was my home. I lived there for seventeen years. And when we just up and moved, I kind of had a bit of…resentment towards my parents, I guess. Even though things sucked there since I was outed and lost Bea, I still had people to hang around, even if they were just my family members. I liked giving my Aunt a little bit of time off and babysitting Gracie. I liked the increased time I spent with my Mom. And the setting was familiar to me, as well.

"When my parents initially proposed the idea of moving once my school life turned to hell, I was a little bit confused. At first, I thought that they just meant moving my _school_ , not moving out of state. I was kind of opposed to that, too – I thought that maybe if I stayed around her, there would be a chance for reconciliation with Bea. Admittedly, I was a little bit delusional; there was no way we'd be friends again. Especially if I hadn't moved away.

"It was after school that my parents broke the news to me. I came back home on the subway – which I'd started to dislike since Bea basically glared at me until I got to my stop – and then walked the rest of the way home. I got in, and they sat me down and told me that we were moving." Bonnie thought back, smiling at the memory. Although she'd been upset then, she was glad for it now. "I was so upset when they told me, which is probably surprising. But I just…I didn't want to leave my home just because of people at school. I hadn't wanted them to drive me away.

"The thought of moving freaked me out every single day. I knew it was happening, knew I couldn't stop it. I knew that Bea wouldn't bother saying goodbye to me. She never did – it hurt that you can be best friends with someone for two years and they don't even say goodbye to you when you're moving just because you're _gay_." Bonnibel stopped herself. She knew she'd end up ranting if she kept on this subject, "When we finally arrived here and got to the new house, I was _terrified_. When I was unpacking, I didn't want it to be real. I didn't want to have left behind everything that I was familiar with just because of bullying. I was terrified of starting school. I wasn't even planning on making friends – I just wanted to stay low key and under the radar, but of course when you're the new girl, that never happens –"

"What do you mean by that?" Marceline interrupted her. The web page with the show on it had loaded properly, but she didn't seem to have noticed. "Why didn't you want to make friends?"

"Bad experiences?" It came out more like a question than an actual response. "Because of the whole Bea debacle, I was content with keeping to myself. I was frightened of making any female friends in case I fell for them and there was a repeat of the whole Bea disaster, and I was terrified of making friends in general because I didn't want to get attached to anyone just to have them ditch me later on when I came out.

"Of course, I realised how silly I was being when I actually got to school and saw all of the friend groups around me. I didn't want to be alone if I was forced to be around that all the time. So when Lady started talking to me in my first class, I was polite and didn't act standoffish, like I was planning on doing. I figured that there'd be no harm in making _one_ friend, and if I distanced myself from them, they couldn't hurt me. But naturally, Lady had a giant friend group and by the end of the day, I decided that I liked the company, and they all seemed like nice enough people. So I stayed."

Marceline raised an eyebrow. One question had gone unanswered. "Why did you start following me around like a little lost puppy, then?"

Bonnie laughed, "Honestly? You're really attractive. If you were sat next to an attractive girl, you'd try to talk to her, wouldn't you?"

Marceline snorted in laughter, "No. I'd probably just stare at her. Especially if she was a raging bitch like me."

Bonnie shrugged, "I thought you might've been having a bad day and that's why you were mean to me. Then I asked my friends and they said that you were just like that and I should stay away, but I found that hard to believe – nobody's _that_ mean."

"So you're saying that my being _too_ mean gave me away?" Marceline sent her an incredulous look. "I find that hard to believe."

"Well, it did." Bonnie replied, "And I saw how nice you were to people like Simon and Keila and your brother, and I noticed that when I came over to your house to help Marshall study for science, you were significantly less abrasive."

"Continuity errors, huh?" Marceline mused. "Well, I have to hand it to you. You figured me out."

Bonnie sent her a proud smile. "To be honest, I was kind of proud of myself when I befriended you. Not only was I friends with an incredibly hot girl, people kind of gave me credit for doing it. I know that sounds weird, but when I'd say you're my friend, people would be kind of stunned about it. I guess it was kind of a double victory for me.

"Accidentally coming out to you was a little more traumatising than I'd let you see." Bonnie admitted, "I was so frightened – not because _you_ knew, but because I was worried that I might've slipped it out to someone else at that stupid party. Thankfully, I didn't, but the thought was horrifying. I was also kind of frightened that you'd let it slip to someone. I know you wouldn't now, but we'd literally _just_ made friends.

"Finding out that you were bi was probably one of the best days in the whole settling-in era. It was like – just finding out that I had another queer girl to talk to made things all that easier, you know? Not that I wouldn't be able to talk to you if you were straight, but just knowing that you were out and you didn't get any crap for it was so comforting. Also when I started liking you it was nice to know that there was a tiny chance I could date you – if you were interested, that is.

"Starting to like you was pretty scary, too. I felt more for you than I had for Bea, which at that point I hadn't thought was possible. Also, you're way out of my league." Marceline objected at that, but Bonnibel didn't listen. Her eyes just swept over Marceline's face and she smiled to herself. _Yep. Gorgeous_. "So naturally when we started dating I just assumed I'd just wake up and it'd have been a dream. Fortunately, I still haven't woken up yet."

Marceline sent her a grin, "You're so sweet. Can't believe you made friends with me just because I was _hot_ , though. Damn. Never thought you'd just want to get in my pants, Butler."

Bonnibel scoffed, "Don't flatter yourself. I didn't want to be your friend _just_ to get in your pants. Ace, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," Marceline rolled her eyes, "Just teasing."

"Wanted to make out with you and cuddle you and wake up next to you on a morning?" Bonnie continued, "When I started crushing on you, definitely. You were just…nice to look at. At first I thought it was solely a little harmless Marcy-appreciation, but of _course_ I developed feelings for you."

"And how much 'Marcy-appreciation' do you allow yourself to indulge in now?" Marceline sent her that teasing smirk.

"Oh, trust me," Bonnie's gaze swept over her girlfriend, " _Lots_."

Marceline grinned. "Awesome. And with _that_ information, I'm going to introduce you to Carmilla."

Bonnibel watched as Marceline pushed the space bar on her computer. The video started up, the paused image of the girl on the screen speaking for the first time.

For a moment, Bonnibel just watched her, smiling at the girl's enthusiasm. Bonnie's eyes fell on the TARDIS mug in the corner of the shot as the girl's roommate walked in, and she felt her smile widen – even though she'd never seen Doctor Who, she felt like she could probably identify with this girl a lot.

"She's cute," Bonnie commented, nodding to the girl as her roommate tried to convince her to go out, "What's her name?"

"Laura," Marceline answered, "She's the protagonist. The girl she's getting ready with now –" Marceline nodded to the screen as the two girls got ready with a cheesy pop song playing over a montage, "is Betty. You like her?"

"Yeah. She's kind of nerdy and I like that in a girl," Bonnibel's gaze snapped back down to the screen as the pop music cut off, the show skipping to the morning after, "And she's really pretty. What's the actress called?"

Marceline smiled to herself. "Elise Bauman."

"You like her too, I'm guessing?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, half watching a stunned Laura calling out for Betty, and half watching red blossom on Marceline's cheeks.

"Yes," Marceline admitted, "Just wait until Carmilla arrives. She's so fucking hot, dude."

Bonnie laughed. "Hearing you talk about hot girls is kind of weird. You don't usually do that sort of thing. Unless you just don't do it around me?"

Marceline casually shrugged, "I just figured that since you're my girlfriend, it wouldn't be very polite to talk about how attractive I find other girls or guys."

"No, I don't mind at all," Bonnibel assured, "We can talk celebrity crushes if you – _wow_. That's Carmilla?"

Marceline glanced down at the screen, "Yeah. Told you she was hot."

"Yeah. Wow." Bonnie repeated, staring at the dark haired girl on the screen. She could see a few similarities between her and Marceline, actually. They had the same sharp jawline, the same inky black hair, they both had smooth – albeit husky – voices. "If this show existed when we were in middle school, I think all I would've had to do to realise that I'm gay was to just look at her. Wow. She's definitely on my celebrity crush list."

Marceline nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I second that."

"I wouldn't think that you'd get celebrity crushes," Bonnie said, "You always seemed kind of…above all of that fangirly stuff."

Marceline snorted in laughter, "Dude, no. I have a list of celebrity crushes that's probably long enough to reach _China_."

"Oh, yeah?" Bonnie asked. Admittedly, she was a little interested. Plus, she wanted to see if she could compare them to figure out if Marceline had a type. "Give me a shorter version of this list, yeah?"

Marceline frowned, not taking her eyes off the screen. "Just girls?"

"That doesn't matter," Bonnie easily responded, "Just give me your top five."

"Alright," Marceline drummed her fingers on Bonnie's thigh in thought, "Natasha Negovanlis – she plays Carmilla – Elise Bauman, Alex Gaskarth, Jenna McDougall and Cameron Hurley."

"Okay…I know some of them. Jenna McDougall is the blonde girl on that poster in your room? She's in a band, am I correct?" At Marceline's nod, Bonnie continued, "Yeah, I can understand that one. The first two are new additions to my list, too. I know who Alex Gaskarth is, and although I'm gay, I can understand why you like that. He seems like he'd be your type of guy. No idea about the last one, though."

"I'm surprised by your quite extensive knowledge." Marceline teased, "Alright, give me your top five."

Bonnibel hummed in thought, "Tatiana Maslany is definitely number one. Taylor Swift, Karlie Kloss, Cara Delevingne and Eliza Taylor."

"Damn, Bon," Marceline commented, smirking, "You've got a good taste in women."

Bonnibel smiled, turning back to the screen to see two new characters talking to Laura, "Thanks. Who're they?"

"LaFontaine and Perry." Marceline replied, "LaF is non-binary, and Perry's their childhood best friend. And before you ask, _no_ , they're not dating. I think it'd be cute if they were, though."

After watching a few moments of their interactions, Bonnie couldn't help but agree with Marceline wholeheartedly. LaFontaine had also slowly become her favourite character in their mere four minutes of screen time so far, but any science nerd was automatically high on Bonnie's list, so that was understandable.

The next character to be introduced, Danny, also made it onto Bonnie's list. She also found Laura's excruciatingly awkward attempts at flirting with her quite relatable – it reminded her of the times she'd attempt to flirt with Marceline and just end up making herself flustered.

"I'm not sure who I like together more – Laura and Carmilla or Laura and Danny." Bonnie murmured as she watched the scene with the three of them in. Naturally, Carmilla was sat on her bed being antisocial as usual, occasionally pitching into Laura and Danny's conversation with a sarcastic comment.

"It's definitely Laura and Carmilla for me," Marceline easily replied, "They remind me of us, in a way."

Bonnibel smiled. She could see that. "Yeah. You're the Carm, of course. I'm definitely Laura."

"You're like a cross between Laura and LaFontaine." Marceline said, frowning in thought, "Like, you've got LaF's love of science and Laura's dorkiness."

"I think you have a few Laura qualities in you, too. But I will admit, you're mostly Carmilla." Bonnie allowed herself a small laugh before adding, "It works, too. Since you're both vampires."

Marceline snorted with laughter, "I'm the Carmilla Karnstein to your Laura Hollis, huh?"

Bonnibel leaned up, pressing a kiss to Marceline's cheek. " _Definitely_."


	74. seventy-four.

**Saturday 7th** **March 2015**

"I'm sorry, who are you and what the _fuck_ have you done with Bonnie?"

Bonnibel closed her notebook, putting her school-borrowed textbook back into the pile on her desk. She spun on her desk chair to face Marceline, who had paused in the midst of tuning Peter's guitar and was staring at her with an incredulous look.

Admittedly, Bonnie could understand why she was stunned. "No need to worry, Marcy. I'm still Bonnibel over here. I just said that I wanted to go shopping with my friends."

"Yeah, that's the part I don't understand," Marceline plucked at the B string she'd just tuned, a perfect note ringing out, "You _hate_ shopping, and you've stopped studying for it. You wouldn't even stop studying last night."

Bonnie had to admit that was true. Marceline had come over unannounced because of a panic attack, and Bonnie hadn't exactly been the best girlfriend in the world. At first she'd tried to turn Marceline away, as she was in the middle of a very important experiment. She'd like to blame that on the sleep deprivation messing up her priorities – she'd not slept for two days before Marceline showed up.

Of course, she'd let her girlfriend in eventually, and attempted to use her studying to calm Marceline down, giving her the task of reading off Bonnie's instructions for her experiment for her. Naturally, when Bonnie had slept on what she'd done, the pit of her stomach felt extremely heavy in guilt and she'd apologised to Marceline profusely. And this morning, finding it hard to concentrate on her studies as she still felt bad and was incredibly worried about Marceline's wellbeing – the number of panic attacks had risen to about three a week – she decided that they were going to do something other than sit inside.

"I know," Bonnie eventually sighed in response, "but I figured we both needed to get outside for a little while, and our female friends are going dress shopping. Makes sense for us to go with, since we're both going to prom and stuff."

Marceline frowned in confusion. "I thought you wanted me to wear a tux?"

"I do." Bonnie explained, " _But_ I want you to have some input on my dress. I already went out with my Mom a few times back in January, and we saw a couple of dresses that we both liked that I want your opinion on."

"Oh. Alright, then." Marceline put the guitar to one side, "I guess we can go. Do I have to deal with the torture of LSP's company?"

"We're going dress shopping, Marceline." Bonnie rolled her eyes like it was the most obvious answer in the world, which it kind of was. "Of course you will."

"Damn. And to think I was hoping for another LSP-free weekend." Marceline let out a sigh, and Bonnie wasn't sure if it was feigned or not. Probably a bit of both. "I'm sad, now. Ruined my year, there."

Another eye roll from Bonnie. "Don't be so melodramatic. I'll call Lady and tell her that we're coming and you can go and put some pants on. Okay?"

Marceline glanced down at her bare legs and then over at her skinny jeans. She let out a groan in anguish. "Can't I just not go? I want to play guitar."

"You just don't want to wear pants," Bonnie pointed out to her. And, as the courteous girlfriend she so obviously was, Bonnie crossed the room and grabbed Marceline's black skinny jeans – one of her more ripped pairs, apparently – and tossed them over to her. "Put your pants on and let's go. I really want to show you these dresses."

Marceline pouted at her, making no move to put her jeans on. "Can't we just stay here and make out in your bed?"

Bonnie wasn't having any of it. As much as a make out session sounded great, she wanted to get out of her room. She had a feeling that the guilt was getting heavier in her stomach as she spent more time in here. "You know, if you're really _so_ desperate not to wear pants, I could lend you that dress I got you in on New Year's Eve. My friends would _love_ that."

Finally, Marceline pulled her jeans on. Bonnie allowed herself a little smile in victory. "God, no need for blackmail. If I found out you took _any_ pictures or spoke a word of that to anyone, I'll hire an assassin to get you. No joke. Either that or I'll just punch you out myself."

Well, looks like Bonnie was on Marceline's hit-list. Not that she'd ever admit that she had three pictures of Marceline in that pink, hilariously frilly dress saved to her phone, her girlfriend's face bright red in embarrassment.

"You're lucky my phone was switched off when you wore it, then." Bonnie easily lied, "You looked so cute, I would've loved to take a picture to put in my scrapbook."

 _Been there, already done that_ , Bonnie thought, _bought the t-shirt_. She had an entire page titled 'Marceline in embarrassing outfits'. The three dress pictures featured, along with an image of Marceline in her Charmander onesie. Her Halloween sort-of costume was in there too, but that classed as more attractive than embarrassing.

"You have a _scrapbook_?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, "You know what? I don't want to know. I'm sure there's tons of embarrassing stuff in there."

"If it makes you feel any better," Bonnie's face flushed bright red when she thought about what she was going to admit, "There's at least two pages creatively titled 'Marceline being attractive' which includes a lot of the photos I take of you when you're not suspecting it. Mostly it's just you staring off into the distance in a daydream. One of them is from when you caught me doing it, and you're just rolling your eyes and trying to hide your cute little smile."

Marceline laughed at her, "Wow. Stalker, much?"

"Pretty sure we've established that we're both raging stalkers," Bonnibel pointed out, "Let's not forget that you stalked my Facebook."

"You stalked mine, too." Marceline pointed out, "And now I find out you take photos of me when I'm not looking. I think you win in the 'which one of us is the bigger stalker' contest."

"Oh, shut up," Bonnibel rolled her eyes, "At least you're admitting that you're one too. Anyways, now that you've got your pants on, time for your next challenge. Brushing your hair."

Marceline ran a hand through her undoubtedly tangled onyx locks. She held out her hand in Bonnie's direction, wiggling her fingers. "Give me the hairbrush, then. Either that or you could just do it for me."

"You're not five, Marcy." Bonnibel reminded her, "You can concentrate for long enough to brush your own hair. Pretty sure you've been doing it for eighteen years."

"Yes, but I'm tired. I didn't get much sleep last night because I forgot Hambo." Marceline pointed out. "Therefore I need to be spoiled. Brushing my hair for me would give me the perfect spa-like experience before the rest of the day, which is bound to be torturous if LSP is within fifty feet of me."

Bonnibel picked up her hairbrush from her dresser, clawing out a few of the pink hairs stuck between the bristles. She tossed it in Marceline's direction. "There, I got it for you. You've been spoiled. I'm going to go and do my makeup."

Marceline made a noise that was a cross between a harrumph and a whine. "Please do it for me? I cut your hair for you. Besides, mine's too long, I can't reach it all. Why do you think it's messy most of the time?"

"You're ridiculous, Abadeer." Bonnie shot back, but she crossed the room and sat on the bed behind Marceline. She brushed her fingers through Marceline's hair; although she'd barely gotten out of bed, it was still soft. Impossible. "If it's so long, just cut it."

Bonnie knew that suggestion was the equivalent of telling someone to go and murder the Queen – sacrilege. If Marceline showed up at her house one night with all of her hair sheared off, Bonnie would definitely lose her cool, and even though they didn't show it, Bonnibel knew that if Marceline cut her hair or even propose the notion, her friends would freak out and convince her not to. Even LSP probably would. Hair as long and perfect as Marceline's must be preserved.

"Sometimes I think about doing that," Marceline informed her as Bonnie began brushing her hair, "I read novels where the female protagonist has a sort of…moment of clarity and then chops all of her hair off. Like in The 5th Wave. Stuff like that."

"But you wouldn't?" Bonnie paused in the middle of brushing, looking around Marceline to see her girlfriend's facial expression.

Marceline just looked amused. "Why? Only dating me for my luscious long hair, huh?"

"Of course not," Bonnie easily replied, resuming brushing, "It's just so pretty. You know -" She paused to allow herself a little laughter at the memory before voicing it to Marceline, "When you first saved me from Ricardio and I cried on you, I used the excuse of being physically close to you to touch your hair."

Marceline frowned, thinking back. "I don't remember that at all. I remember the whole you crying on me thing, but I don't think I ever noticed you touching my hair. Probably because I was too busy thinking _don't you dare do anything, don't look at her, don't smell her, don't try to kiss her, don't even hug her back_ because at that point I was really crushing on you and was fairly certain that you could already figure me out."

Bonnibel flashed her a grin. "Sweet. I was so tempted to ask you what shampoo and conditioner you use, because it's just so… _wow_. Usually hair that's as long as yours ends up all straggly and gross, but -"

" _Thanks_ , Bon," Marceline cut in, feigning offence, "Really appreciate the compliments, babe."

Bonnibel gave Marceline a light tap on the head with the hairbrush, "Shut up. I was _going_ to say that yours is super soft. I love playing with hair, but I never really thought that you'd like it if I touched it as much as I want to, since you're kind of selective about touching."

"What does _that_ mean?" Marceline's face morphed into a combination of a frown and an amused smirk, "I told you like a year ago that you have…100% access."

Bonnibel raised an eyebrow, repeating, "100% access?"

"Yes." Marceline nodded, not wanting to explain what that meant in case she said anything that Bonnie was uncomfortable with. "So you can touch my hair whenever you want. Not that I get why you'd want to. It's just hair."

"It's the holy grail of hair." Bonnie reiterated. "You're the goddess of hair."

"Wow," Was Marceline's only comment on that, "Well, if you're good, I might tell you my secrets."

Bonnie just smiled and ran her fingers through her girlfriend's hair, discarding the brush completely.

* * *

 

"What's _she_ doing here?"

Bonnibel flinched at the disapproval and judgement in LSP's tone as they met outside the mall. The expression the other girl was wearing wasn't much better either. Her nose was turned up in disgust as she looked at Marceline – who was looking right back at her with an intimidating glare – and her brown gaze was laced with derision.

"Marceline is here with me." Bonnie carefully responded, slowly curling her fingers around her girlfriend's. "I've already narrowed my choices down to three dresses and I want my girlfriend's opinion."

Lady sent her a bright grin before LSP could say anything else, "That's sweet. You'd better tell my best friend how beautiful she looks in her dresses, Marceline. Or there'll be hell to pay."

"Yeah, why do you think Jake doesn't come with us anymore?" Cake asked from where she was sat on the bench beside LSP, "He wasn't polite enough and payed the price. I doubt _you_ even know what politeness is."

Bonnie spoke before Marceline could, "Thanks for your concern, but Marceline is _very_ sweet to me and will no doubt tell me straight if she doesn't like a dress if she wants. That's kind of the reason I brought her here."

"I don't think you should trust her judgement, Bonnibel," LSP wasn't even looking at Bonnie when she said that, "I don't think dear Marceline over here even knows what a dress _is_. But don't worry. She might find out."

Marceline didn't want to think about what that meant, and instead just rolled her eyes, "I know that you find it hard to keep your fucking mouth shut due to your chronic bitch disorder, but can you just not voice your idiotic opinions? Nobody asked you for them anyways."

With that, Marceline looked back down at her phone as though nothing had been said in the first place, both Bonnie and – surprisingly – Lady looking at her with an impressed smile. It shut LSP up too, so Marceline took that as a win.

As they walked into the first dress store, she felt someone brush up against her side. Assuming it was Bonnie, she turned and smiled at them. It wasn't – it was Lady.

Lady sent her a grin. "How long have you been sitting on that comeback?"

"Probably since kindergarten." Marceline admitted, "Back when I was too scared to say anything back to her."

"To be fair, I would've stood up for you if I'd known that you're actually the good guy in all of this," Lady replied, "And I'm sorry about them. Bonnie, Phoebe and I are all in favour of your presence."

Marceline just shrugged, "I kind of stopped caring what she thought a while ago. The most she's ever done is call me a freak and shove me over in the playground."

Marceline couldn't help but flinch back when Lady put a hand on her back and guided her inside the first store. It was compact – only selling dress clothes aimed at women, and several mannequins were on display, flaunting a few of the dresses on sale.

Marceline glanced through the racks that Bonnie and her friends were looking through with apparent detail – although the five people she was with seemed to find it very interesting, Marceline didn't. At all. A lot of the dresses looked exactly the same, just with a different embroidery or colour scheme, and although Marceline hated to admit it, LSP had a point; Marceline knew _nothing_ about dresses.

Marceline owned a grand total of two dresses – a black one for nice occasions, such as weddings or other formal events she was forced to go to, and a purple one that she'd worn to Keila's prom with her. And she wasn't even the one that picked them out. The prom dress had been with Keila; Marceline trusted the other girl's judgement enough to go off what she'd said had looked good, and the black one was one of Betty's choices. Although, Marceline had a little input in the latter dress. Her terms were _must be black_.

Either way, Marceline didn't understand the mechanical way that Bonnie's friends were going about looking at dresses. Apparently, they all had specific colours that they were looking for with different cuts, necklines, embroidery and a load of other stuff that Marceline forgot in a matter of seconds.

In fact, Marceline was surprised that Bonnie knew what was going on. Although she wore casual summer dresses a lot of the time, Bonnie had never really struck Marceline as the type to know a lot about fashion.

"I found it," Bonnibel grabbed something from the clothes rack and spun on her heels to face Marceline, hiding the dress behind her back, "You can't look until I'm in it. I want it to be a surprise."

Marceline frowned as Bonnie skipped off to the changing rooms, unsure if she should follow or not. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Of course, Marce," Bonnie called back, keeping the dress hidden, "You have to see me in it and I don't think that I'm allowed to leave the fitting rooms still wearing it."

Marceline followed her excitable girlfriend to the fitting rooms, occupying a chair as Bonnie went into a booth. She sent Marceline one last smile as she drew the curtains closed, all the air left Marceline's lungs when she heard her girlfriend's little giggle from behind them. She could hear a little shuffling around, the sound of a zipper and Bonnibel muttering to herself, and she tried to hide her smile. Didn't work.

"Hey, Marceline?" Bonnie's voice echoed in the empty changing rooms, "Can you zip me up?"

"Sure." Marceline stood up, slipping behind the curtains of the booth Bonnibel had chosen. It was a tight squeeze – the cubicle was only meant for one person at a time – but Marceline managed to squash herself in and zip up the back of Bonnibel's dress.

Bonnibel twisted around to look at her, her face flushed bright pink to match the colour of the dress she was wearing. The room seemed a lot hotter than it had a few minutes prior. "So…what do you think?"

Marceline didn't even look at the dress. "Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful."

Bonnibel's blush darkened, locking her fingers at the back of Marceline's neck. "Thank you. You really think it's pretty?"

Marceline merely glanced at the pink dress that Bonnibel was wearing before her gaze met Bonnie's crystal blue one. "You make everything look pretty."

Bonnibel blinked up at her, "You're not even looking at the dress."

"I don't need to." Marceline breathed, leaning down and pressing a kiss against Bonnie's half open mouth.

Bonnibel let out a little squeak in surprise but pushed forwards, marvelling at how soft Marceline's lips were. She kissed her back earnestly, her fingers disappearing in locks of black hair, her back meeting the wall of the booth they were in. Bonnie's diaphragm fluttered as Marceline's fingers ran from the back of her neck and traced down her spine, their path setting Bonnie's nerves on fire as they came to rest on her lower back.

Marceline unlatched herself from Bonnie's mouth in favour of her soft jawline and left a trail of kisses down to the base of Bonnibel's neck. Alarm bells rang in Bonnie's head, every muscle in her body tensing up and a cold sensation running down her spine. Bonnibel leaned back, resting her head against the wall of the changing room as her hands fell onto Marceline's shoulders in an attempt to push her back.

It didn't register with Marceline and she kissed up Bonnibel's neck, sucking on the tender skin.

"Please stop," Bonnibel rasped, her grip on Marceline's shoulders tightening.

Marceline pulled away instantly, looking up at Bonnie with worried eyes, "What's wrong? Did I do something that you weren't comfortable with?"

Bonnibel nodded, pushing herself closer to the wall in an effort to give herself some space from Marceline in the cramped fitting room. It didn't work very well.

"Bonnie?" Marceline slowly put her hand on Bonnie's upper arm in a manner similar to a zoo guest petting a lion cub – as though she might lash out. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

Bonnie finally looked up at Marceline, sending her a watery smile. "Yes. I'm alright."

Marceline pushed Bonnie's bangs from her eyes, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have – sorry."

"It's okay. I just…being against a wall and…I'm not ready and -" Bonnibel tried but failed to form a coherent sentence and she cleared her throat, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "You know that I trust you and I really love you but I just can't -"

"Bonnie." Marceline cut her off. "I know. It's okay."

Bonnibel tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She failed, her voice coming out raspy. "Can we go back to the others now? I'm sure they're wondering what's taking us so long."

Marceline sent her a slow nod which was accompanied by a frown. "Alright. I'll leave you to get dressed."

Bonnie sent her a weak smile and nodded as Marceline slipped back through the curtains. Once they'd been drawn completely shut, she allowed herself to breathe a small sigh of…relief? Bonnie couldn't tell what it was, if she was being completely honest with herself.

The only thing she knew was that maybe she wasn't as comfortable with Marceline as she'd first thought.

* * *

 

Bonnibel distanced herself from Marceline as they sat down for lunch. Although she usually favoured sitting next to her girlfriend, she sat across from her, tucking her feet under the chair as she waited for her friends to bring back their food.

The silence was awkward – an unfamiliar occurrence for both of them – and Bonnibel spent most of it fiddling with the sleeve of her purple hoodie.

She tried making small talk. That's what people did in uncomfortable situations, right? Small talk? Bonnie had never been very good at that, though.

"So…what're you getting for lunch?" It came out awkward and choppy, her choice of conversational topic a dangerous one. "McDonald's or Burger King?"

"McDonalds," Marceline eyed her warily, "I'm getting some medium fries. Why?"

Bonnibel shrugged in response. "No reason. Just…making small talk."

 _Yes_ , Bonnie was aware that the first rule of small talk was to never actually admit that was what you were trying to do. She just still felt a little jumpy and was finding it hard to think straight. Maybe Marceline was right – maybe she did need to get more sleep.

" _Right_ ," Marceline's face sunk into a frown, "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. You know that. I'd never do anything without your permission."

"I know." Bonnibel's response was hollow. "It's partly the vulnerability thing again. Remember what I told you the night before my aunt's wedding?"

It seemed to click in Marceline's head, "Yeah. Yeah, totally. I'm sorry."

Bonnie could see the following question on the tip of Marceline's tongue, tempted to fall out of her mouth. She knew that Marceline would never ask her what the other half was. Why? Bonnie had no idea. Out of fear, anxiety, or mere disinterest, Bonnie didn't know.

"The other part of it was…" Bonnie drummed her fingers on the table, not wanting to word it in a way that would send the wrong message across to her girlfriend, "Well, I -"

"Hey, guys," Fionna collapsed into the chair next to Bonnibel, "Hope I didn't miss much. Lady mentioned over text that you'd been in a couple of stores before I could get here. I had a few things to take care of."

"Oh, yeah?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Like my brother?"

And judging by the way Fionna froze in shock and her blue eyes lit up in absolute terror, Marceline had been correct.

"What –" Fionna stopped herself, sucking in a deep breath, "Did he tell you? What do you know about that?"

"No, he didn't." Marceline replied, "We saw you two sucking face on Valentine's Day."

Bonnibel didn't particularly like the abrasive way that Marceline was handling this, but apparently she hadn't had any information from Marshall. And it was a subject change, so Bonnie was grateful for Marceline's shift in attention.

"You both saw?" Fionna's eyes widened to the point where they looked like they were about to pop out of her skull, "Did you tell anyone? You _can't_ tell anybody else, especially not Gumball. He'll be crushed and I don't -"

"Fionna," Bonnie grabbed her attention this time, her voice soft and comforting. She didn't think that freaking her out was the best way to go about this, "We were with everyone else when we saw and Marceline was trying to get her brother's side of the story before we all talked to you about it. Are you…in a relationship with Marshall?"

Fionna stared at her, the question not registering in her mind, "You were with _everyone_? Does Gumball…?"

"Yeah," Marceline seemed a lot calmer than she had before, "And he's pissed."

"God, he's going to hate me." Fionna put her head in her hands, "In my defense, I never actually thought he'd say anything. And I really started to like Marshall even though I acted like I didn't and he asked me out on a date and I just…I wanted to go but I didn't know what to do."

"I'm not going to blame you for liking my brother," Marceline said, "Gumball isn't exactly my BFF, and I do think that he has a right to be mad, but if you liked Marshall too – _god_ knows why you would – then it's not your fault for saying yes when he asked you out."

"Yeah," Bonnie reinforced, glancing over at Marceline. "You can't help who you like, and it's not like Marshall likes guys anyway. And although Gumball is really mad right now, I'm sure if you just talk to him about it, he'll understand. He doesn't seem unreasonable."

Marceline nodded. "Yeah, what she said. How long has this been going on?"

Fionna looked up at her, "Since August. I said no to him a few times at first, but when he asked the third time I just…went for it."

Bonnie smiled, "I'm sure that everyone will be alright with it if you explain."

"I'm not so sure," Fionna said, "I think it might be a little weird. One time Cake dated one of LSP's exes and it…didn't go down too well."

"But that's the _bitch queen_ over there," Marceline nodded over to LSP, "Gumball will be different. He might be a little mad at first but he'll get over it. And if you make my brother happy then you're fine with me. Just don't tell him I said that."

Bonnibel beamed, nudging Marceline from across the table. "That's sweet. I knew I loved you for a reason."

Marceline just rolled her eyes.


	75. seventy-five.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An outsider's perspective.

**Monday 16th** **March 2015**

The alarm clock's obnoxious beeping blared through the room, waking up its occupant with ease. A hand stuck out from under the blankets, hitting the alarm clock until the beeping cut out and a silence fell across the room.

Finn kicked his blankets off, sitting up and running his fingers through his tangled bedhead. He stayed silent for a moment, listening out for any signs of life in the house. Nothing. His Dad was either still asleep or hadn't come back home yet. Typically.

He picked up his phone from his nightstand, checking the time before anything else. 8AM. He had twenty minutes before Jake showed up to drive him to school. He was so glad he didn't have to get the school bus. Waking up twenty minutes earlier to get it at eight? No thanks.

Finn went about his usual morning routine – putting his prosthetic arm on, getting dressed, eating his breakfast, brushing his teeth and hair and pulling his signature bear beanie over his head. He checked his phone once again for the time, frowning when he saw a notification in the corner. He had a text from Jake.

_**Jake (8:12AM): car isn't starting, bro, can't give you a ride. sorry dude!** _

Finn had to read the message over twice before he understood what it meant. Jake wasn't picking him up. He had no way to get to school – even if he walked, he'd end up late. He texted back a few times but Jake didn't respond, and as time ticked by, he became a lot more frantic.

He had no idea what to do. He'd never been late to a class in his life, and he would probably end up missing most of first period if he tried to walk.

He thought through his friends one by one. Jake and Lady were ruled out for obvious reasons – Lady because she didn't have a car – and Fionna, Phoebe and Gumball didn't have their licenses. Fionna usually got a ride with Cake and LSP, but Finn knew that they set off earlier on Mondays to stop by Starbucks on their way to school, so they were knocked off the list too. Marceline was a possibility, but he wasn't sure if she'd be okay with him asking her for a ride. That left Bonnibel. And she couldn't drive.

He called her anyway.

"Hey, Bonnibel?" Finn said down the line, a lot less bright than usual, "How do you get to school on a morning?"

He heard her laugh brightly, imagining her cheery smile in the back of his mind. _"Oh, Marceline drives me. She's still trying to tame her hair right now, though_. _Why?"_

He frowned. "She's brushing her hair at your house? Why didn't she just do that before she picked you up?"

Again, Bonnie laughed, _"I slept over at her house last night_ , _Finn. We -"_

In the background, he heard Marceline's sarcastic drawl say something including the phrase 'lesbian sex' and Finn was fairly certain that he didn't want to know what the rest of that sentence was.

Apparently, Bonnie didn't necessarily approve of it, either _._ " _She's just messing around, Finn._ _Marceline, that's vulgar. It's far too early for you to be distasteful. Don't stick your tongue out at me_ -" Bonnie paused, letting out an exasperated sigh, " _Anyways, Finn, was there a reason you called_?"

"Actually, yes," He said before Marceline could make any more background commentary, "Jake texted me and told me that he can't give me a ride to school this morning and I can't walk or I'll be late. Would it be okay if you and Marceline drove me?"

He heard a little unintelligible mumbling from Bonnie, before a small, indignant _hey_ came through the phone and suddenly Marceline's voice was in his ear. " _Yo, Finn. What's this about wanting a ride?"_

He repeated himself to her, equally as easily as he'd told Bonnie. "Jake can't give me a ride and I can't walk or I'll be late. I really don't want to be, though, so -"

" _God, sounds like you_ ," Finn assumed that was directed at Bonnibel, _"Sure. We'll pick you up. See you in like…ten minutes. Maybe fifteen, depending on when Bonnie finishes doing her makeup_."

He heard Bonnibel quip back at her in defence – something about how Marceline took twice as long as her to get ready – and he smiled a little to himself. It was barely eight in the morning and they were already bickering. Naturally.

"Alright, then. I'm ready so just honk the horn when you're outside." Finn replied, grabbing his keys from the side, "See you in a bit."

" _Bonnie, if you get fucking mascara on my face I'll end you_ ," Marceline's tone – already joking – lightened as she addressed Finn again, " _Later, dude."_

Bonnibel's own goodbye was cut off halfway through, presumably an effect of Marceline ending the call. Either way, he smiled as he waited for the two girls to show up. He jumped up when he heard the car horn, slinging his backpack over one shoulder as he made his way out of the door. He locked it behind him, then jogged down the driveway to Marceline's car.

He climbed in the back seat, and Bonnibel spun around from her position in the passenger's side to greet him. "Hey, Finn. How are you?"

"I'm okay," He smiled back at her and at Marceline, who flashed him a grin in the rear view mirror, "How about you? Still super sleepy, or…?"

"No," Bonnibel looked over at Marceline, "Marcy made sure I got a good night's sleep. She threw my notebook out of the window."

Finn was sure that there was something underneath Bonnie's smile, but he tried not to read into it too much. Getting as little sleep as she had lately was bound to mess you up for a while. One night of decent sleep wouldn't fix that straight away, right?

"Oh…that's good," He eventually replied, "Marceline? What about you?"

She glanced at him in the rear view mirror. She was sending him a casual grin that didn't quite make it up her eyes, "I'm good. Just wanting to get through the rest of the day, you know?"

He had to admit that had sounded a little cryptic, but he shrugged it off. It was probably nothing. Girl stuff, or something along those lines. Something that Finn wouldn't understand.

"Yeah, I know. I have biology first," He said, "That's probably the worst thing to have on a Monday morning."

"Try having double math followed by double physics," Finn had to admit that Marceline had him beat, there, "It goes _impossibly_ slowly."

Bonnibel frowned, "It doesn't. I love Mondays because I have the whole thing with you, aside from last period."

"Yeah, because we do a _whole_ lot of talking to each other."

Even Finn realised that Marceline's usual sarcasm was a little off. There was something underneath it. Bitterness, anger, resentment. And honestly, it was kind of frightening. He was starting to think that this wasn't just some early morning stress, and that something bigger was going on that he had no idea about.

"Are you sure you're okay?" It was directed at both of them, and he was even more confused when they exchanged a look. Bonnie's gaze was almost stern, like a teacher scolding a student. Marceline just looked irritated.

He frowned at them. They'd been fine on the phone, right? What could have happened in the span of ten minutes to make Marceline so abrasive and Bonnie so different?

"We're fine, Finn," Bonnibel finally answered for both of them, "Marceline's just grumpy like she usually is on mornings. No big deal."

"Yeah," Marceline concurred, "No big deal."

He shuffled in his seat, nodding uncomfortably. "Alright. Just making sure."

Bonnibel's silence for the rest of the ride was unsettling. It wasn't odd for Marceline to be quiet - she never usually contributed to the conversation that much at lunchtimes and breaks. But Bonnibel? Weird. Bonnie was usually the one who started up a conversation to make someone feel more comfortable.

So when Marceline asked him how is classes were going and made general small talk, Finn was insanely creeped out. Something was going on with them.

He felt guilty when he was relieved as they pulled into the school parking lot. Marceline parked, pulling her phone out of her tight jeans pocket and checking something on it to distract herself.

Bonnibel just cleared her throat. "Well, I'm going to go straight to math. I have to finish this piece of English homework I was neglecting last night. It's not in for another week, but I figured it'd be best for me to get it out of the way. Gives me more time for personal revision."

Finn wasn't sure if he was seeing things, but Marceline seemed to deflate at that.

Either way, he smiled brightly at them both, "Well, thanks for the ride. I'm going to look around and see if Jake's here yet."

"I'll walk with you partway," Bonnie offered. She leaned over and pushed a kiss to Marceline's lips – the only normal thing that had happened so far. "I'll see you in math. Love you."

"Love you too," Marceline sent Bonnie an awkward smile, and then turned back to her phone as they got out of the car. "Later, Finn."

"Bye, Marceline." He quickly replied as he closed the car door.

He walked towards the school building beside Bonnie, turning to her when he was certain that Marceline was out of earshot. "Are you guys –"

"We're fine, Finn," Bonnie cut him off, a little too quickly for his liking, "Like I said, Marceline was just being a grump."

The way she said it wasn't with her usual joking tone, like she didn't really think that about her girlfriend. No, she stated it like it was fact, a sourness to her character that sent chills down his spine. They weren't okay at _all_. She was lying through her teeth.

"Oh, well…hopefully she'll come around when she wakes up properly." He said, trying to sound optimistic.

"Yeah. Hopefully." Bonnie didn't sound like she bought that at all. She sent him another odd smile as she made her way over to the math building. "I'll see you at break, Finn. Bye."

"Bye," Finn smiled after her, his face dropping into a frown the moment she turned her back on him.

He debated asking Marceline if there was a problem, but he didn't know if prying into his friends' relationship would be a good idea or a bad one. He was just confused, because usually they were so happy together; Marceline always cheered Bonnie up when she was upset about a chemistry experiment being cancelled or something, and Marceline had mellowed a lot since Bonnie befriended her. Finn found it hard to believe that he used to be frightened of her – now he kind of admired her. She gave him girl advice, gave him prank advice and had virtually saved his life once. She was like his bro.

And he worried that if she and Bonnibel broke up, she'd stop talking to him.

Eventually, Finn settled on not prying. They would be fine, he knew it. Bonnie and Marceline could get through everything together.

(At least, he hoped.)

* * *

Finn breathed a loud, obvious sigh of relief when the lunch bell rang. He couldn't wait to get his food. History? Definitely not his favourite subject in the world.

He turned to his left to see Phoebe staring at him, smirking. He wanted to cringe when he felt his cheeks heat up – he probably looked like the distant relative of Phoebe's red backpack.

"Didn't enjoy that lesson, then?" She asked him as she tucked her notepad back into her bag.

He shook his head, "Nah, it was boring. Marceline was right when she told me that the junior's history syllabus sucked. No wonder she dropped it."

"She mentioned something about that in math this morning." Phoebe replied, "Then Bonnibel told her to stop being such a 'fun-sucker' and then they ended up bickering for twenty minutes about something completely different. A TV show, I think."

Finn thought for a moment. Asking Phoebe if they seemed okay would be alright, wouldn't it? "Did they seem… _off_ , at all?"

Her face sunk into a frown as she ducked under his arm to exit the classroom. "No, not really," she paused in thought a little bit longer, "Well…at first they both seemed a little quiet but then Bonnibel whispered something to Marceline and then Marceline kissed her and then they were fine. Why?"

"They were both really tense when I got a ride from them this morning. I was kind of worried about them," He admitted, "But I'm relieved that they're okay."

"Do you think they had a fight or something?" She asked, holding the doors to outside open for him.

He shrugged, "I don't know. They wouldn't tell me anything, but that makes the most sense."

Phoebe pulled out her phone as they walked across the grass. "I'll text Lady and see if she knows anything."

Finn shook his head, "She won't. I think it's just something that happened before they left Marceline's house this morning. But if they're okay now, I guess I can stop sleuthing."

She laughed as she sat down, "Imagining you as a detective is hilarious. You're acting like you're Sherlock Holmes or something."

He smiled, mock saluting her, "Detective Finn Mertens at your service."

"What're you detecting, Finn?" Bonnibel collapsed onto the grass next to him, Marceline by her side. She seemed to have reasonably perked up, so that was reassuring. "Has there been a murder you need to solve? A theft? A…heist of the school's pen supplies?"

Marceline laughed, "Why would anyone steal the school's _entire_ supply of pens?"

Bonnibel just shrugged, weaving her fingers with Marceline's. The small gesture made Finn feel a lot better about that morning. "Well, if I ran out of pens, I might call you up for an impromptu raid of the supply closets."

"Sounds like a cute date idea," Marceline slung an arm around Bonnie. "I'm on board."

Finn just smiled, "Nah, none of those things. The investigation has been concluded."

"Dang," Marceline squeezed Bonnie, "guess you can't get involved, then. You should've enlisted Bonnie for help – she could run any fingerprints through a creepy science thing and find the culprit in like ten seconds."

"Yeah, I'd be great," Bonnibel added, "I'll be your forensic scientist. Marceline can take the culprit down by smacking them with a guitar or something."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't do that to someone. Don't you know how expensive and pretty guitars are?"

"So…you wouldn't do it in case you hurt a _guitar_?" Phoebe frowned, but Finn could see the underlying amusement. "Typical."

Marceline just shrugged, "I don't know what you're expecting, dude. I'm not wasting a pretty guitar on some convict. Hell no."

"You still need to give me a bass lesson," Finn pointed out, "You said you would in _July_."

Marceline barked out an awkward laugh, "Yeah, I'm forgetful. You should've reminded me earlier."

Finn wasn't sure if what he was about to say was a good idea. Either way, he was going for it. "Well, are you free tonight? I bought a bass guitar about a month ago – your friend Keila at the music store helped me out."

"Yeah, Keila's great," Marceline smiled, looking over at Bonnie, "Am I free tonight?"

Bonnibel frowned, "Why would I know if you're free? Unless you have plans with Keila, I'd guess that you were."

"You'd know because sometimes after school you just kind of announce that we're doing something," Marceline pointed out. Bonnie had to admit that she had a point. "So that's why I was double checking."

"Well, I need to study tonight, so it'd be good for you to do something else. Don't want to be distr-" Bonnibel stopped herself mid-sentence, but even Finn knew what she'd been about to say, "I mean, I don't think you'd be very interested in listening to me ramble about chemistry. It's probably best for you to do something musical."

Marceline's mood had clearly soured. "Yeah. I guess so."

Aware of the sudden tension between the two, Finn decided to change the subject. Sort of. "So can I come over to your place tonight for some help? I've already done a little bit myself."

"Sure thing." Marceline nodded, "What time are you planning on coming?"

"Six? I don't know if you'll be having dinner then or not," Finn replied, realising that it was probably courteous to let her pick the time, "You pick. I don't mind."

"Doesn't take me that long to have dinner," Marceline casually shrugged. Bonnie sent her a strange look that Finn had trouble deciphering, "Sure. Six it is."

"Awesome," He flashed her a grin, watching as Bonnibel casually pressed half of her sandwich into Marceline's palm. Unable to help himself, he nodded to it, "Why is she sharing her lunch with you?"

Bonnibel replied for her. He didn't notice how Marceline's jaw locked and she began playing with Bonnie's fingers in an effort to distract herself. "Marceline forgot hers this morning. We didn't realise until we'd just arrived at your house and I promised that I'd share."

"Aren't you a considerate girlfriend?" Lady asked as she sat down on Marceline's left, "I wouldn't sacrifice my lunch for Jake. He can buy his own from the cafeteria."

Finn didn't pick up on how Lady looked over Marceline in suspicion, as though she was hiding something. "Oh, alright then. I was just wondering."

"You know what?" Marceline put the half-sandwich back into Bonnibel's lunchbox. She stood up, brushing off her legs, "I just realised I had…a thing. In music. Yeah. I have to go, right now."

She walked away from them at a brisk pace – not too fast, not too slow. Someone could easily catch up with her if they wanted to see what was wrong.

Naturally, Finn's gaze snapped to Bonnie, expecting her to jump up and chase Marceline down. Instead, the pink haired girl just looked down at her lunchbox and sighed.

He didn't know how to interpret that at all.


	76. seventy-six.

**Saturday 21st March 2015**

"You know," Bonnie looked around the coffee shop uncertainly, "I really should be at home. I have a lot of -"

Marceline cut her off, her scoff accompanied by an eye roll. "If you say that you have a lot of studying to do, I'll flip this table."

"You and I both know that you're far too weak to even _lift_ the table, let alone _flip_ it." Bonnibel pointed out, allowing herself a small smile at Marceline's indignant scowl and harrumph. "And I just feel like I should be doing something academic. I don't feel like I should have free time."

Marceline let out a sigh, "We haven't been on an actual date in forever. Can we just…not talk about that? I want to have fun with you and I don't want you to be sulking the whole time because you miss your textbooks."

"I'm not saying this because I miss my textbooks," Bonnie said, "I just feel like I need to be productive every single second. I don't know. I'm sorry."

Marceline sent her a sympathetic smile. It was a little forced – she was still quite bitter about the amount of times she'd been ditched for homework in the past two months – but she was trying. "It's alright. When you finish your coffee, we can go to the used bookstore and chill. Sound good?"

Bonnibel smiled. "That sounds excellent. Can we sit on the couch in the back like we did the last time we were there?"

"That was before we were dating, wasn't it?" Marceline's eyes rolled skyward in thought, "Yeah, sure. Maybe you can find a non-fiction, science book. That way you'll feel better about wasting your precious study time on me."

"I don't feel like I'm _wasting_ it, you idiot," Bonnibel grabbed Marceline's hand from across the table, "I'm just a worrier. I love being with you. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here."

Marceline sent her a small smile, "I was kidding. I know that you're actually sane right now since you got to sleep."

Bonnie tried not to take that comment the wrong way. "I can't believe you didn't wake me up until _twelve_. I went to sleep at _ten_ , I didn't need fourteen hours."

Marceline scoffed, "Yes you did. You were so dazed and sleep deprived that you stood and inhaled the shirt I let you borrow for at least two minutes and then looked completely unembarrassed when you put it on. Normal, well rested Bonnie would've blushed if I'd caught her doing it for a _second_."

Almost as if that was her cue, Bonnie's cheeks burned and she knew that she looked fairly similar to the red cat on Marceline's sweater. "Shut up. It smells good, alright?"

Marceline laughed, and testing Bonnie's theory, she lifted the collar of the sweater she was wearing up to her nose and sniffed. "My clothes don't smell of anything."

"Not to you," Bonnibel replied, launching into a fairly scientific explanation, "See, our olfactory sensory system are essentially designed to detect new smells. So, once we've been exposed to a certain scent for an extended period of time – like how you've had the same natural scent for eighteen years – we naturally become…sort of desensitised to it. Like, it's kind of filtered from our perception."

Marceline blinked at her, taking a sip from her caramel latte, "Wow. Hadn't expected you to actually know the answer to that. But I guess, when you date a scientist…"

Bonnibel sent her a teasing smirk, "Was that you inadvertently calling me intelligent?"

"It might've been," Marceline reached over the table, her hand hovering above the giant cookie that Bonnibel had bought for herself. She was about halfway through it, and she knew she wouldn't find it hard to eat the whole thing. It was chocolate chip, so, _duh_ , "Can I…?"

Bonnibel blinked, sitting back in surprise, "You want some cookie?"

"Yeah. Can I have some?" Marceline's hand moved to grasp her coffee, taking a sip, "If that's alright with you. I can pay you like, the dime's worth of interest I may owe you."

Bonnibel laughed, her mood significantly improved just by Marceline asking for a bit of her cookie. Did that mean that Marceline was improving? Was this the beginning of her recovery? "You don't need to _pay_ me, Marce. Help yourself!"

Marceline sent her a frown, but leaned forward and broke herself off a little bit of cookie. She then broke that piece in half and ate it. She dipped the second half in her coffee, quickly eating that too. "It's better if you dip it into your coffee. Try it."

Bonnibel glanced down at her vanilla latte – she'd decided to try something new – dipping a piece of cookie into it and eating it. "Yeah, you're right."

"Told you," Marceline sent her a smirk, "I have super good taste when it comes down to stuff like this. One time in middle school I discovered that you could drink Coke with a Twizzler. That was probably the best day ever in middle school Marcy's book."

"Middle school Marcy sounds like a sweetheart." Bonnibel smiled. The thought of Marceline getting excited over a new way to eat a Twizzler made her chest fill with warmth.

"She was a dork," Marceline said, rolling her eyes, "and don't go telling me that I'm still a dork now. I'm perfectly aware of how much of a closet nerd I am, alright?"

"Dorks are awesome," Bonnie easily responded, "Probably because I'm a dork and we can bond over our mutual dorkiness. I think we'd have gotten along spectacularly in middle school, even if you were so far in the closet that you were homophobic."

Marceline barked out a laugh, "I'd probably have stayed away from you in fear of 'catching' the _dreaded gay_. And then apologise profusely when I had my realisation that I'm not exactly straight myself."

Bonnibel sent her girlfriend a warm smile, "You know, I love it when people – usually my Mom's work friends after they've had a few drinks – ask me if I have a boyfriend, because I love really casually saying, 'no, I have a girlfriend, she's great', and laughing at the moment of shock. Then they usually recover and say something along the lines of 'good for you' or 'that's sweet'."

Marceline laughed, "It's hilarious, doing that to people. Sometimes I'm so tempted to tell my Dad just to laugh at the shock, but then it probably wouldn't be worth it since he's homophobic as fuck."

"Hey, a couple of my family members were a little weird about things when I came out," Bonnie nudged Marceline's leg with her foot under the table, "Mostly on my Dad's side, since they were raised religiously."

"Oh, wow," Marceline didn't look like she'd expected that, "You never told me about that."

"Yeah," Bonnibel drained the rest of her coffee from her mug, "It hurts to think about, you know? My only uncle on my Dad's side and his wife and kids were the only ones that were put off by it. It's really annoying when we have to see them, though. There's usually some passive-aggressive comment aimed towards my parents, asking them if they've 'fixed' me yet."

Marceline scoffed, "That's fucking stupid. But hey, religious people can be kind of closed minded at times. Why was your Dad so cool with it, if he was raised religiously too?"

"I asked him that a few weeks after I came out to him, and he told me that Mom had explained things to him prior to me telling him." Bonnie explained, "Basically, he said that he had been a little bit unsupportive when she initially told him I'm gay, and then Mom kind of…helped him accept it before prompting me to come out to him myself. Apparently he wanted to hear it from me.

"When I told him, I knew that in the back of my mind, he may have had a problem with it. That was probably what made telling him so scary. With my Mom, it was just a kind of… _blurted out_ thing, so this was my first real coming out situation where going in, I knew that I was going to be telling someone. And when I told him and he was not only accepting but wanted to actively get involved with my Mom's endless 'look, I found you a girlfriend' thing, I knew something was up.

"So I asked him. And he basically told me that Mom had explained things and convinced him that what was best for me was to just be accepting. Apparently, she'd told him that my happiness was more important than his feeling uncomfortable about who I'm attracted to, and if he really wanted to be the best father he could be, he'd accept me for who I am. Gay or not gay."

"Did your…um," Marceline stopped herself, unsure of whether she should proceed. Bonnibel just nodded encouragingly. "Did your brother ever find out?"

Bonnibel's smile faded and she glanced down at her lap, kneading her thighs through her dress in nervous habit. "I…sort of. In a way."

Marceline tilted her head to the side in confusion, "What do you mean? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I know that it's a sore subject for you."

"No, it's alright. I should be able to talk about him." Bonnibel sent her girlfriend a weak smile. "Neddy was…I could talk to him about things that I was thinking or feeling. Through middle school, before he died, even though he didn't understand I'd tell him all sorts. I'd talk to him about things I didn't think I could say to my parents and it was comforting to know that I had someone that listened. Like I told you before, it's not like he could talk back. He could say words like 'Mom' or 'Dad' and he could say my name. Simple things, you know?

"I'd just picked him up from his school, and we were walking home. It was autumn and we were playing in the piles of crunchy leaves. Little things like that made him happy. We were getting close to home and I was talking about how I'd been questioning myself and I just looked at him and said 'I think I might be gay'.

"Obviously he couldn't comprehend sexuality or what I was going through, but he understood that I was upset and confused and he gave me a great big hug and I felt like I'd just been accepted for the first time. He was so lovely and I'm sure he would've adored you if he was…still around.

"I told my Mom about that, actually. It was when we'd come home after that day she took me out after school and told me she was fine with my sexuality. We both cried a lot." Bonnibel wiped at her eyes, "God, I miss him."

Marceline reached across the table, squeezing Bonnie's hand. "I'm sorry I brought it up. He seems like he was a really great kid."

"Yeah, he was." Bonnibel murmured. She cleared her throat, trying to change the subject. "But yes, my family were all quite supportive of me. Mom's side especially, and Dad after a little bit of educating."

Marceline hummed in thought, "Well, hopefully he can pass that education onto _my_ Dad. _Or_ he can introduce my Dad to your Mom who seems like she could give a massive gay rights speech and convince him that me dating you is perfectly fine."

"I just hope that your Dad won't get my Dad back into the way of thinking that being gay is wrong," Bonnie murmured to herself. She ate the last bit of her cookie – she was kind of a nervous eater. "It's weird that they're friends. I'm pretty sure that my Dad wants to invite _Hunson_ – can you believe they're on a first name basis? – to a family night we're having tomorrow. It's kind of scary. I don't want to talk to your scary Dad."

"Yeah, same here." Marceline replied, "But I kind of have to talk to him. I think he mentioned something like that. Since Peter told him that he has a daughter, I think he's planning on taking Marshall with him, since he thinks my brother is single and he thinks that I'm straight."

Bonnibel cringed a little. "Can you please intervene? I don't know, tell him you want to make a new friend or something and I'll pretend I don't know you until we can escape to my room. If I'm stuck with one twin for the night, I'd rather it'd be you."

" _Stuck_ with? Wow, thanks, Bon," Marceline sent her a look of feigned offence, "I'm really hurt. You're so mean."

"I meant that in a good way, you idiot," Bonnibel rolled her eyes as she grabbed Marceline's coffee and took a small sip of it. Surprisingly, her girlfriend didn't object. Just smiled, fuzzy around the edges. "It means that you're my favourite twin."

Marceline smiled thinly. "As I should be."

Bonnie nudged Marceline's calf with her foot. "Stop being so melodramatic. Think of it as me needing my amazing girlfriend to rescue me from the terrifying clutches of the…demon lord and his son."

"Did you just call my Dad a demon lord?" Marceline raised an eyebrow and Bonnie opened her mouth to make amends, but was cut off by her girlfriend's laughter. "That's amazing. I knew I loved you for a reason."

Bonnibel grinned, "I love you too. _Dork_."

Marceline smirked. "Alright, _princess_. See you at the 'family gathering', then."

* * *

** Sunday 22nd March 2015 **

"Bonnibel!"

Bonnibel glanced towards her bedroom door, putting the cap on her pen. She looked back down to her revision and sighed – she hated leaving things halfway through a sub-topic, but she'd have to if she didn't want her Mom to ground her for being 'antisocial' when they had guests over.

It wouldn't be all bad. Marceline had texted her the other day to let her know that she'd convinced her Dad to let her come along – on the terms that she didn't _embarrass_ him – and Marshall had told Hunson about Fionna and gotten out of coming. Bonnie was happy with this turn of events.

"Yes?" She called downstairs – just to make sure that it was definitely Marceline's arrival that she was being called for. If not, she could keep on studying. "What is it?"

(Either way, she'd be staying up all night to finish things. She couldn't afford this much time off.)

Her bedroom door was pushed open, her Mom's head poking around the corner, "Your Dad's boss is here. Apparently he's Marceline's father. Did you know this?"

"Yes, I did," Bonnie confirmed, standing up. She tucked her chair underneath her desk, looking around her room to make sure it was tidy enough to house guests in, "She had to get a ride home from school with him and Dad was there. Needless to say, she was a little bit stunned. I'm surprised Dad didn't tell you."

"And is there any reason why she's pretending not to know us?" Lynn questioned as Bonnibel slipped past her to go downstairs.

"That's because her Dad is massively homophobic and I don't want her to get outed and disowned. They already have a strained relationship as it is." Bonnie was unsure if that last part was a little bit too much information. Either way, it made sense for her to tell her Mom so she knew to play along. At least until Marceline's Dad left.

Her Mom frowned, "I didn't think she lived with him, _and_ your Dad said that he'd be bringing his son."

"Yeah, Marshall. He's Marceline's twin brother," Bonnibel explained. Instead of telling her the whole story about how she'd asked Marceline to come along as well, she just shorthanded it. "Marshall is busy with his girlfriend, and Marceline so graciously offered to take his place. And no, she doesn't live with him, but Marshall does. He moved back in with him back in October, I think."

Bonnie knew that her Mom was probably wondering why Marceline hadn't gone back to live with her Dad too, but she didn't think that her girlfriend would want to explain something like that to her. Especially with her Dad in the house. Nope. Definitely not a good idea.

So, Bonnie just kept quiet as she walked downstairs and into the front room, her face lighting up at the sight of her girlfriend on the couch.

 _Remember, Bonnie, you need to pretend that you don't know her_. Bonnibel stifled her smile, but the act was made much harder when Marceline glanced up from her phone and sent her a small grin.

Hunson looked up from his conversation with Peter, frowning at the sight of her. "Marceline. Haven't I met her before?"

Marceline looked like a deer caught in headlights. Bonnie was fairly certain she looked exactly the same. That was right – Bonnie had run into Hunson once when going over to comfort Marceline after an argument. How could she have forgotten his intimidating stare? It was the same one looking at her right now, making her throat close over.

Eventually, Bonnibel managed to ignore the lump in her throat and speak. "Oh, yes, I remember that. It's a pleasure to meet you again, Mr Abadeer. I was Marceline's partner on a History project early last year, but we haven't really talked since. It should be fun to catch up tonight, right, Marceline?"

Marceline looked up at her, in awe of Bonnie's quickly fabricated story. "Yeah. Catching up sounds great."

Thankfully, Hunson spared them one last glance before smoothing down his tie. "Right. Well, that's alright, then."

Bonnibel sent him an awkward, half forced smile before crossing the room and sitting on the couch next to Marceline. She felt her phone buzz against her thigh in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see a text from her girlfriend flashing on the screen.

_**Marceline (6:31PM): act like your story is legit, he doesn't trust us and is probably listening in** _

_**Marceline (6:31PM): PS: I love you :) xxx** _

Bonnibel smiled down at her phone, sending Marceline a knowing look. "So, Marceline. How have you been this last year or so? Are you enjoying senior year so far?"

"Yeah, it's okay." Marceline drummed her fingers against the arm of the couch. "Can't wait to graduate, though. I've got some great plans for next year. It's going to be a blast."

"Oh, really?" Bonnibel smiled at her, subtly squeezing her hand. "Me too. I'm moving in with a special someone once I graduate. We're going to colleges that are close to one another and it just makes sense for us to share an apartment."

"Special someone, huh?" Marceline sent her a teasing smirk, "A romantic someone?"

Bonnibel looked down at her lap, attempting to stifle her grin and her bright red cheeks. "Yes. I love them a lot."

"Really? Tell me about them," One of Marceline's eyebrows quirked upwards, hiding behind her hairline, "They sound very interesting."

The sarcastic look Bonnibel sent her way roughly translated into ' _really_ , Marceline?', "Oh, they're amazing. They're smart, funny, creative, and talented _and_ drop dead gorgeous. They're kind of a self-absorbed jerkface, though."

Marceline let out an indignant scoff. "Rude. I bet they're awesome. They sound pretty cool to me. I'm sure we'd get along just fine."

Bonnie lowered her voice, "Maybe that's because you're both self-absorbed jerks."

"You're impossible, nerd," Marceline responded, equally as quiet. "Anyways, aren't you going to be a good hostess and invite your attractive guest up to your room?"

"This isn't a smutty fanfic or a porno, Marce," Bonnie whispered back. The permanent smile on her face kind of mitigated her comeback's effect, "But if you're really desperate, I guess I could make some kind of excuse for us to leave until dinner."

"Perfect," Marceline leaned back against the couch. "Work your magic, then."

Bonnibel cleared her throat, raising her voice and addressing the rest of the room. "Marceline and I are going to go upstairs for a while. She's expressed some concerns about her work in physics class, so I'm going to help her out while we catch up a little more."

Bonnie stood up, Marceline closely following suit. Her girlfriend looked over to Hunson. "That okay with you, Dad? Or does going upstairs with my friend class as _embarrassing_ you?"

The look Hunson sent Marceline made Bonnie fear for her girlfriend's life. He glared at her, his voice coming out steely and rigid. "That's _enough_ , Marceline. If you're not going to contribute anything useful to a conversation, just don't bother talking. Although, if that was the case, you shouldn't talk at all."

Bonnibel saw her parents exchange a stunned glance, perfectly personifying exactly how she felt at that derogatory comment. Her heart felt like it'd snapped in two when Marceline barely batted an eyelash at it.

Bonnibel grasped her girlfriend's wrist and tugged her towards the door before Hunson could say anything else. Or before her parents mentioned anything. God forbid.

Once they were safely out of the room and upstairs, Bonnibel closed her bedroom door and spun around to Marceline. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Marceline flopped down on Bonnibel's neatly made bed, "but I'd like to make out to forget about how much of an asshole my Dad is."

Bonnibel flashed her a smile, sitting down next to her, "Alright. Sure you don't want to go over any physics work? I was actually covering a few of the topics that are going to be on the final today -"

"Yeah, nerd. I'm sure I don't want to do _physics_." Marceline rolled her eyes. "God, if you wanted to do anything, you could've picked a subject I actually like. Like music or art. Maybe even English, at a push."

"Well, you know I'm completely useless at things like music and art." Bonnibel pointed out, "English, I'm good at. What did you want to go over?"

Marceline barked out a laugh. "God, _dork_. I was kidding. Just kiss me."

" _That_ I can do."

Marceline's hand rested on the small of Bonnie's back, pulling her closer so that they were chest to chest. Bonnie could feel Marceline's quickening heartbeat through her shirt as she sucked on her lower lip, her fingers tracing her girlfriend's sharp jawline before disappearing in raven hair and locking at the nape of her neck.

Marceline's fingers skittered across the exposed skin of Bonnie's waistline where her shirt had ridden up, stopping at the base of her spine and fiddling with the hem of the pink top she was wearing. Bonnie's hands traced down her girlfriend's spine, setting her nerves alight as they came to rest on her waist.

Marceline tasted like one of her caramel lattes and an underlying taste of vanilla which made Bonnie all the more desperate to keep kissing her, to stay close enough to keep drinking in the aroma of her strawberry perfume and Marceline's natural scent that wasn't quite masked, the scent that made Bonnie comforted and relaxed and feel like she was home.

(She hoped her scent did the same for Marceline.)

Marceline tugged upwards on the hem of Bonnie's shirt, shrugging her own plaid shirt off in the process. Bonnie's fingers played with the border of the grey 'no smoking' shirt that Marceline was wearing, pulling herself slightly apart from her girlfriend so their noses were touching. "I'm not…um,"

Marceline let go of Bonnie's shirt, letting it fall back over her ribs. "That's alright. I wouldn't do anything without your permission, Bon. You know that."

Bonnibel smiled, tilting her head slightly to the side and pecking Marceline on the cheek. "I know. Thank you."

Marceline curled her fingers around Bonnie's, "Do you want to watch the rest of Carmilla on your laptop?"

"You know," Bonnibel beamed, brushing past her girlfriend to grab her laptop which was residing on her desk underneath lots of papers. In fact, her workspace had slowly become more and more cluttered as of late, that she'd had to move Science's cage downstairs, "I think that's the best idea you've had all night."


	77. seventy-seven.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie doesn't have a very good night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings - anxiety/panic attacks (mention), eating disorder (mention)

** Saturday 28th March 2015 **

Bonnie's phone buzzed against her desk again, but the pink haired girl only spared the text message one glance. She knew it was from Marceline, but she really didn't want to deal with whatever she thought was so important. Bonnibel was busy and not every minute of her time was dedicated to Marceline, just because they were in a relationship. She needed time to herself.

She hadn't stopped studying since she'd arrived home from school on Friday night. Her coffee mug was by her side, ready to be refilled when she next felt tired. Bonnie was determined to continue her studying until at _least_ midnight; she might even stay up all night again. She'd managed to get lots of studying done, and she _needed_ to get a good grade on her physics final to ensure her place on her chosen course at NYU. Her offer had been _if your grades stay as good as they are_. She had to take that seriously and get straight A's. She was aiming for at _least_ a hundred percent in all of her science based subjects. She'd settle for a ninety-nine in her others.

And if she did it – at the rate she was going, Bonnie didn't doubt that she'd pass with flying colours – she could move back home, with the amazing addition of Marceline with her. If everything went according to plan, she and Marceline would be living together and everything would be as Bonnie had always dreamed; getting into an amazing college, having a perfect girlfriend and being able to be with her all the time, back in her hometown.

That was the dream. The reality was that lately, Marceline had been getting on her nerves. Whenever Bonnie was trying to get her work done and actually take her future seriously, Marceline would try to distract her. Apparently, what Bonnie was doing was 'unhealthy', and she just didn't see it because she was giving up her sleep for it and wasn't thinking clearly.

Sometimes, admittedly after a good night's sleep with Marceline in her arms, Bonnie could understand what she meant. But the rest of the time, she knew she was doing what was right. It was for the best. If she failed anything, she wouldn't go to college and she couldn't move in with Marceline. She was doing this for the best; it was only temporary.

She felt bad for ignoring Marceline's texts. She loved her so much, but she couldn't lose focus on her revision. This was important if she wanted to live with Marceline next year. Even though they were going to different schools, they'd still be together. But if Bonnie was across the country at a different university, what's to say that they'd stay together? Marceline might meet somebody else and Bonnie couldn't bear the thought of Marceline being in love with someone that wasn't her.

Eventually, Bonnibel cracked and looked at her texts. It was just for a moment. It'd be okay.

_**Marceline (6:32PM): are you busy right now?** _

_**Marceline (6:33PM): it's really important and I need you** _

_**Marceline (6:33PM): it's about…you know what** _

_**Marceline (6:40PM): please answer me** _

_**Marceline (6:41PM): I think I might be having a panic attack** _

_**Marceline (6:42PM): call me** _

Bonnibel let out a sigh. Really? Now? She was busy. Marceline should respect that.

She blinked in surprise. Had she really just thought that? Marceline couldn't help it if she was having a panic attack. She was sick. Bonnie shouldn't be so _bitchy_ about it.

She was starting to think that maybe she shouldn't strain herself as much as she had been. If she was considering ignoring her mentally ill girlfriend, she definitely needed to take a step back and look at what she was doing to herself.

But she needed to study. College was more important. It'd always been the most important thing to her.

Bonnibel turned back to her notebook, picking her pen back up and twirling it between her fingers. Marceline could wait for half an hour while she finished up what she was doing. It was for the best.

Bonnie was in the middle of doing some activities on momentum when she heard a soft knock on her bedroom door. It was odd – her Mom never bothered with knocking and her Dad usually knocked and walked straight in. But the door stay closed.

She set her pen down, clearing her throat. "Come in."

Slowly, the door cracked open and Marceline slipped through, shutting it behind her. It was obvious that she'd been crying – her eyes were shining and she had obvious tear marks down her cheeks. Bonnibel stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to explain her presence.

Marceline awkwardly shrugged off her coat and sat down on Bonnibel's bed. She fiddled with her fingers, her voice coming out in a small murmur. "My Dad found out."

Even in her sleep deprived state, Bonnie knew that was a bad thing. But there were a number of things he could've found out about. It didn't have to do with their relationship. "Found out about what?"

Marceline finally looked up at her, "Uh…well, my – um…that I'm – the eating thing."

"Oh," Bonnibel spun around on her chair, turning back to her work, "I don't see why it was necessary to come here and tell me that."

 _Stop talking_ , the tiny part of Bonnie's brain that could still think coherently and wasn't clouded over from sleep deprivation, _don't say those things to her. You love her. Start acting like it._

"I – _what_?" Marceline stumbled over her words, "Well, I just…I thought that -"

"What?" Bonnie turned around again, "You thought that I'd just drop everything and comfort you? I'm _busy_. Sorry I'm not at your beck and call."

Marceline stared at her in shock. "I don't – did I do something wrong?"

Bonnibel felt her expression soften and she crossed the room, sitting next to Marceline on the bed. She placed a hand on Marceline's upper arm and gave it a soft squeeze. "Of course not, Marcy. Unless you count distracting me from my studies as 'something wrong'."

Marceline frowned. Bonnie's smile wasn't as comforting as it usually was. It was too sickly sweet, too unnerving. She tried to convince herself that there was something going on with Bonnie. Her girlfriend wouldn't say this kind of thing to her if she was thinking straight.

"Um…" Marceline threaded her fingers through Bonnibel's, "When was the last time you had some sleep, Bonnie?"

"That doesn't matter," Bonnibel pulled her hand away, "I'm studying. You can stay if you sit there and don't try to bother me."

"You didn't sleep last night, did you?" Marceline said as Bonnie stalked back over to her desk. "You need to stop forcing yourself to stay awake. It's -"

" _Unhealthy_?" Bonnie whirled around, turning on Marceline with a glare. Marceline tried to ignore the little stab of pain in her chest at the way her girlfriend was looking at her. "Yeah, spare me the lecture. You can't preach to me about what's unhealthy, Marceline. That'd make you a hypocrite."

"Stop fucking comparing your obsessive studying to my _eating disorder_." Marceline stood up, jabbing a finger into Bonnie's sternum. "I'm _sick_. You're not. If you keep going like this you might end up ill and _then_ we'll fucking talk about it. But just _stop_ taking it out on me."

"I'm not taking anything out on you!" Bonnibel almost screeched at her, "I just want you to let me study! I have to do this if I want to live with you next year and go to college in New York. It's important to me. College has been the one thing I've wanted more than _anything_ since I knew what it even was. I'm not having that taken away from me."

" _Yeah_ , and if you keep going as you are, you'll burn yourself out and end up in hospital." Marceline reiterated. "Let's not forget about the fact that you've _already been accepted_. You don't need to do all of this," she gestured over to Bonnie's desk that was completely covered with various papers.

"Yes I _do_." Bonnibel shoved past Marceline to grab the college acceptance letter that had been rested on her bedside table. She held it out, underlining the sentence with her finger as she read it out. "'If your grades stay as good as they are. Or if they get even better.' I need to do this, Marceline. You just don't understand. College means so much to me and I have to get in."

"You're right, I don't understand," Marceline exclaimed in exasperation, "Your grades are perfect. There's _no_ need for you to do this. You're going to end up seriously ill and I don't want that to happen to you. I love you so much, Bonnie. It hurts to see you doing this to yourself."

Bonnibel let out a bitter laugh, "If you can't handle me like this, then you don't deserve me at my best. This is who I am. I work hard, I get good grades, and I'm going to go to college next year. I don't care what you think about it. I didn't act like this about _your_ flaws."

God, that did it. Marceline snapped. _Flaws_? Bonnie _had_ to be kidding.

"They're not _flaws_." Marceline shouted at her, barely feeling anything when Bonnibel flinched back, "They're _illnesses._ It's completely different to this, and I just – you know what? I don't care anymore. I'm sick of trying to explain this to you. If you don't get your fucking act together, I'm telling your parents what's going on with you."

"Don't bother them," Bonnibel snapped at her, "They're busy with work. Unlike you, I don't enjoy distracting the people I care about."

"Just _stop_." Marceline replied, equally as harsh as Bonnibel. She grabbed her roughly by the arm, tugging her over to the bed, "You need to sleep. This argument is because you're not thinking straight because you've not been sleeping properly for two months."

"I can't go to sleep, Marceline," Bonnibel had lowered her voice now, but it wasn't as calm as she'd liked it to be. She focused herself on sounding firm. Maybe that would convince Marceline to leave and let her get back to her studying. "I'm in the middle of very important revision. I'm currently going over -"

"I don't care what you're currently going over," Marceline interrupted her. She sat Bonnie down on the bed, a little less roughly than she'd pulled her across. "You're studying all the time, lately. For the past two months, that's all you're doing. I'll ask if you want to hang out and suddenly it's all 'sorry, Marcy, got to study'. It's like you don't want to spend time with me anymore and it hurts."

"No, of course it's not that," Bonnibel insisted. Marceline found that hard to believe. "I'm doing this for us. I don't want to move a million miles away from you and have you fall in love with someone else because I'm not there."

Marceline interpreted that differently, "So you're saying you don't trust me?"

Bonnibel blinked at her, "What? No, of course I trust you, I just…I want to go to college and live with my girlfriend in an apartment. I've wanted that since I was little. That's why I need to work hard. I need to do this."

Bonnibel stood up, crossing the room again. She made a beeline for her desk.

Marceline jumped up, grabbing her by the wrist. "Stop it. If you're not going to try and sleep, we could do something. Something that has nothing to do with academics and schoolwork. We could watch a movie? Play video games? You can kick my ass at Mario Kart if you'd like."

"I can't." Bonnibel said for what felt like the thirtieth time in the past hour. "I need to do this."

She yanked her wrist free from Marceline's grip, sitting down at her desk. She pulled the worksheet she'd been completing towards her, picking up her pen and testing it on the corner of the paper.

"Bonnibel," Marceline snapped at her. Bonnie knew that it was serious if she called her _Bonnibel_ and not one of her stupid nicknames, "Come on. Take a little break. Over thirty hours of studying isn't good for you. We'll snuggle and watch a movie, one of your shitty romantic comedies. You know how much you love shitty romantic comedies."

"I _can't_." Bonnibel barked. She _had_ to do this, and she was even more irritated that Marceline still hadn't left her to study. "You _still_ don't get it, Marceline. I need to do all of this, and it's so annoying that you keep – you're turning into – _ugh_."

"You're driving yourself insane." Marceline tried to stay calm and make Bonnie see reason. "Please try to relax, Bonnie. Just try calming down and thinking about this rationally."

"I can't _just calm down_." Bonnie snapped. "This is my future, Marceline. I _am_ thinking about this rationally. I _have_ to do this, and you're just turning into a distraction. I can't blow off my studies to hang out with you, and you just don't seem to get that. It's my responsibility to my parents who want me to work hard. To _myself_."

"Bonnie, you realise that you've probably spent more time in here, studying, than you have seeing any of your friends, or me." Marceline pointed out to her. Bonnie didn't need that pointing out. She knew that she'd spent a lot of time indoors, and that was the whole _point_. Her time had to be dedicated to doing well in school. "You should make time for everything. I'm your girlfriend and I want some time, too."

"Then maybe you shouldn't be my girlfriend anymore."

Bonnibel held her stare as Marceline froze, her eyes widening. Her voice came out in a broken murmur. " _What_?"

"You heard me." Bonnibel tried to remain firm. She couldn't cry. She wouldn't allow herself to. This was one of the things she needed to do. This was a sacrifice she had to make for now. Marceline would understand later. Everything would be fine after exams. This would only be temporary.

Bonnibel turned back towards her notebook, a small crack breaking into her carefully crafted cold shell she'd tried to confine herself in at the hurt in Marceline's voice. "You're breaking up with me?"

"Yes, I am." Bonnie confirmed. She wanted to turn around and face Marceline, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew she'd crack if she did, and she had to do this. It was the only way she'd be able to do what she needed to do. "I have to focus on getting into college. I can't have any distractions."

"I won't distract you." Marceline's voice was fractured as she continued, "I'll stay out of your way until exams are over. I won't bother you, I swear. Just _please_ don't do this. You can't do this to me."

"I'm sorry." Bonnie apologised, trying to sound as firm as possible. She knew that Marceline picked up on the crack in her voice. She wasn't an idiot. "I have to. You're just…turning into a problem. I can't deal with the stress of having to do my work and getting interrupted just because you had another panic attack or cried because you couldn't eat a sandwich."

"But…Bonnie, you can't just – I need you." Marceline sounded so broken and small and Bonnie just wanted to turn around and make everything better, but she couldn't have such a huge distraction in her life. She'd never get to NYU and it'd hurt a lot more if Marceline was the one to end things. It was better this way. "You said you'd never hurt me."

"I'm so _sorry."_ Bonnie repeated, still not looking around to look Marceline in the eye. "Just leave, Marceline. Please."

Marceline stalked over to Bonnie's bedroom door and turned back to look at the pink haired girl, who kept her gaze trained on the worksheets. Her glare was filled with anger and hurt and despair and she wanted nothing more than to be engulfed by the floor right where she was stood. "Fuck you, Bonnibel."

With that, she stormed out and slammed Bonnie's bedroom door, leaving the pink haired girl to sit there and feel absolutely horrible about what she'd just done.

* * *

Marceline staggered around her bedroom – everything was blurry and she nearly tripped over empty beer bottles in an attempt to get to her phone. She grabbed it and scrolled through her contacts, pressing on a certain one.

She waited as it rang, nearly tripping over her own feet.

" _Hello_?"

"Ash?" Marceline slurred, "Are you busy?"


	78. seventy-eight.

** Monday 30th March 2015 **

Marceline's eyes jolted open at the sound of the alarm on her phone. Almost immediately, she screwed them shut, cringing at the bright light in front of her. She sat up, rubbing at her eyes and picking her phone up, cutting off the annoying beeping of the alarm. 9AM. She'd slept through her first two alarms and was now looking at the one that read _wow, you're already late for school you fucking idiot_.

Marceline tried to ignore the pounding in her head as she looked around. For some reason, she was in the lounge. Why? She had no idea. She didn't know why she'd set her alarm for Sunday, either.

She picked up her phone again, looking at the date and ignoring the seventeen text messages she had. _Monday, March 30_ _th_ _._ She'd slept through Sunday in its entirety. _Fuck_.

A slip of paper had been left on the coffee table, and as short-sighted as she was, Marceline could see her name scrawled across the top in Simon's messy handwriting. She grabbed it, frowning as she read it over.

_Marcy,_

_Judging by the tremendous amount of wine bottles on your bedroom floor, I'm going to guess that you drank a little bit too much last night. (Saturday, in case you don't remember anything when you wake up.) I don't know how you managed to get hold of that much wine. I found you passed out in at the bottom of the stairs, by the front door, one shoe on and one shoe off. I don't know if you were intending on going anywhere – you know that drinking and driving is a bad thing and I don't want to get a phone call saying you've been arrested for underage drinking. Your phone was unlocked and apparently you'd called Ash; I don't know what you wanted from him, but you know better than to talk to him. He isn't a nice guy and you know that. He left you messages to ask where you were and I deleted them. You know better than to talk to him._

_I cleaned up your room for you and left you some ibuprofen for your hangover headache next to this letter. Don't let this happen again. I don't want you to end up drinking yourself to death._

_Love, Simon._

_PS: Bonnibel came over to check on you on Sunday. She said she'd tried texting you but got no response. She'd told me to let you know that she needs to speak with you and that you should text her as soon as you're awake. She's a lovely young girl, Marceline. Don't make her worry about you._

Marceline blinked down at the letter, taking the ibuprofen that Simon had left her for her headache. She felt a sharp pain in her chest, kind of like someone pushing into it with the blade of a knife. _Bonnibel_. They'd broken up. Bonnibel thought she was a _problem_.

 _No, Simon_ , Marceline thought, _I'm not going to text her. I doubt she's worrying about a problem like me, anyways._

Marceline grinded her teeth together, balling her hands into fists. A _problem_ , huh? Well, she could show Bonnie what life was like without problems. She punched the arm of the sofa in frustration, shouting a loud, "Fuck," at nobody in particular when she no doubt bruised her knuckles.

Before Marceline had the chance to get up and break into the liquor cabinet again, her phone pinged on the coffee table. She picked it up again, frowning down at the screen.

It was a message from _Bonnie_.

She had the fucking _nerve_ to text her after everything she said? Marceline couldn't believe it. In fact, she couldn't believe that she'd ever been so stupid. She should've never let Bonnie in. Of course she'd end up hurt. Marceline always did.

Well, that was it. Bonnie broke her promise and she was going to have to deal with the consequences. Marceline wasn't going to let her back in. Like she'd be so stupid.

Marceline unlocked her phone, scrolling through her unread messages. Nineteen of them. All from Bonnie.

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 7:56PM): Marceline, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean what I said at all. I love you so much, and I really hope that you're still my girlfriend.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 8:01PM): Please respond to my texts or call me. I really need to speak with you right now, it's urgent.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 8:02PM): God, please still be my girlfriend. I'm so in love with you and the thought of losing you kills me. I was an absolute idiot.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 8:32PM): Either you're ignoring me or you've gone to sleep or you're somewhere kissing someone else. Which I totally deserve.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 9:07PM): I was stupid and thoughtless and I hurt you when I promised I never would.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 9:17PM): I can't stop crying and hugging your shirt. That's so sad, isn't it? I'm not the one that deserves to cry over this. I'm so mad at myself. I love you so much and I really didn't show it at all, did I? I should've been supportive and there for you when you needed me.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 9:42PM): You're sick and I just told you to get over it. You can't help being sick, you can't help having panic attacks. It's not something that you can control. God. I'm the worst person in the world. How could I ever think that NYU could be more important than being a decent human being and being there for you? I could've just put my pen down and talked to you for a while and let you get some sleep. Then I could've continued studying. When you were asleep and safe and sound with me.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 10:02PM): I never deserved you, did I? Had I always been this horrible to you? Just shrugging you off when you needed me? Thinking that studying was the priority?** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 10:13PM): You should've been the priority. I should've been there.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 10:52PM): I'm not going to force you to get back together with me. I love you and I know that you love me too, and we have lots of fun together. But I've been looking back on my actions as of late and I know that I've done a lot of shitty things and you not wanting to be with me anymore is perfectly understandable and justifiable.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 11:08PM): If you do give me another chance – although judging by how many of my messages have been ignored, I doubt you will – things will be different. I'll stop being so horrible. I'll get enough sleep on a night. I'll look after you. I'll text you just to make sure you're alright. Just to talk about things, you know? Whether it be serious stuff or…kittens. And I'll stop studying as much as I have been. I promise. I'll go back to what it was like before I started thinking about college.** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 11:23PM): I'm going to get some sleep, Marcy. I love you. Hopefully you'll have replied in the morning. I'll talk to you then. Maybe future us have already gotten past this and are happily kissing. Maybe. Xx** _

_**Bonnie (Sunday, 10:36AM): You still haven't responded or even looked at my messages. Maybe you just deleted this conversation so you didn't have to. I don't know. I deserve it if you have. I suck.** _

_**Bonnie (Sunday, 1:34PM): It wasn't supposed to end like this. It wasn't supposed to end at all. We were supposed to last forever. We were going to move to New York and get an apartment to spend our college years in. I would finish college and go to med school – by that point your band would've taken off and you would be touring the world, playing music to thousands every night. I would finish med school and become a doctor. We'd get married in autumn, with both of our families there. A little later on, with both of our incomes we'd buy a house. We'd adopt a dog or a cat – maybe even both. And along the line we might raise a kid, too. And eventually we'd end up in the old folks' home, sitting in matching rocking chairs and laughing about the time you told me you didn't like me on my first day at a new school in junior year.** _

_**Bonnie (Sunday, 1:35PM): That probably sounds weird, doesn't it? We're high schoolers. I shouldn't have thought so far ahead. I just really thought that you were it. That we'd stay together until we're crazy old cat ladies. I'm delusional.** _

_**Bonnie (Sunday, 5:42PM): I told my Mom about what happened. She seems to think we'll work it out. Judging by your radio silence, we're not going to.** _

_**Bonnie (Sunday, 8:26PM): I did this. It's my fault that we're broken up. That you're not mine anymore. I ruined everything.** _

_**Bonnie (Sunday, 9:53PM): I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school. Meet me outside the library before first period? I really want to work things out, and if you're not willing to talk over text, maybe in person is better. If you want to hit me, that way you can. That was my attempt at a joke. I'm sorry.** _

_**Bonnie (9:01AM): Since you didn't meet me and you're not here in math, I'm guessing that you're not in school. Is it alright if I come over tonight to talk?** _

She didn't reply to any of the messages but read them all at least twice, out of pure masochism. Maybe the ' _read_ ' notice underneath Bonnibel's messages would perfectly convey that Marceline wasn't going to let her back in.

No. Marceline was done with Bonnibel Butler.

* * *

Bonnibel bounced her leg up and down in nervousness, waiting to feel her phone buzzing against her leg. Marceline had to have seen her messages by now, right? And it wasn't like she wouldn't reply. Bonnie knew her – Marceline was one of those people that couldn't leave a text message unanswered. Even if Bonnie just typed out a 'yeah' or something small in response, Marceline would reply with a smiley face or something similar.

So she had to reply to Bonnie's long paragraphs. Right? Marceline was in love with her. That doesn't just go away after one argument, does it?

But then Bonnie thought through all of the horrible things she'd said to Marceline, torturing herself with them. _You're turning into a problem. I can't deal with your panic attacks. Just leave. Maybe you shouldn't be my girlfriend anymore. You don't deserve me. Just sit there and don't bother me._

Bonnibel tried to ignore the dull, heavy feeling in her chest as she jotted down notes from the board. Simon was talking about important stuff. She needed to focus.

She managed to write down the word 'velocity' before she burst into tears, dropping her pen in favour of a pack of tissues. She wiped at her eyes, raising a hand to gather Simon's attention.

He sent her a warm smile which left Bonnie a little stunned. Shouldn't he be angry at her for hurting Marceline? Unless Marceline hadn't told him anything. But why wouldn't she?

"Bonnibel?" Simon prompted her, "Did you have a question about the work?"

She gestured towards the door, her words coming out weak, "May I be excused for a moment?"

He nodded, and the ten seconds it took for her to leave her seat and leave the room were probably the most uncomfortable of her life. Her classmates stared at her as she tried to stifle her crying, occasionally letting out a small, choked back sob.

Once she was safely out of the classroom, she collapsed against the wall and broke down. It was like there was a giant hole in her chest – like somebody had come into her room in the middle of the night and cut away a part of her. And that part belonged to Marceline. It'd always belong to Marceline.

She pulled out her phone again. Even though the chance that Marceline was still her girlfriend was microscopic, she'd still try.

_**Bonnie (9:22AM): I feel so unbelievably guilty, Marceline. You just wanted to spend time with me and I was so unreasonable. I made you feel like your feelings and illnesses were invalid.** _

Her message probably would've been longer if something else hadn't caught her eye. The other nineteen messages she'd sent to Marceline no longer said _delivered_ underneath them. No. There was a new message.

_Read, 9:03AM._

So it was official. Marceline was ignoring her.

She didn't have much time to think about how much that hurt. Bonnie flinched back when she felt an arm fall around her shoulders, and for a moment a spark of hope lit up in her mind. "Marceline?"

It wasn't long before the spark fused out. "No. It's Lady. Are you alright?"

Bonnibel looked up, Lady's image distorted like a reflection in a funhouse mirror. Her friend was blurred, like someone had drawn her portrait in oil pastel and smudged it. "No, I'm not."

Lady gave her a soft squeeze and sent her a warm, welcoming smile. Bonnie could talk to her. Lady was her best friend, after Marceline.

 _Don't think about Marceline_ , Bonnie reminded herself, trying to block out the stab of pain in her chest. Thinking about Marceline was like pouring salt into an open wound.

"What happened?" Lady slid her fingers between Bonnie's. Bonnie noticed that they weren't as comforting as Marceline's. "Have you talked to Marceline about it?"

Bonnibel shook her head, wiping at her eyes with one of her tissues. "No. She's – we broke up, Lady."

Lady's eyes widened to the point where Bonnibel was worried they'd pop out of her skull. She definitely hadn't been expecting that. "What? But – no, you can't have. I mean, I had noticed that you two had been a little strained around one another sometimes as of late, but I didn't think…I'll kill her if she did it harshly -"

"It was _me_ , Lady," Bonnibel said, shaking her head, "Don't hurt Marceline. I love her and I've hurt her enough."

Lady's jaw opened and closed as she tried to think of a way to respond. " _You_ broke up with her? Why? What happened?"

"I hadn't slept and I wasn't thinking clearly and she came over because she had a panic attack since her Dad found out about her eating d -" Bonnibel stopped herself. Even though she was in hysterics, she knew not to let that slip. Even though Lady had probably already picked up on it. Yet another one of Bonnie's horrible mistakes. "I just…I snapped at her and we got into a huge fight and then I just broke up with her without thinking and I really want her back because I love her so much and I need her and I know that she needs me."

"Have you tried -"

Bonnie didn't let her finish her sentence, "Taking to her? I've texted her and tried calling but she's just ignoring me. It hurts more than her just telling me to eff off. It's like I never existed."

"Alright," Lady sucked in a deep breath, apparently unsure of how to process all of this information, "If she's not responding to you reaching out to her, try to give her some time to come around. Once she's cooled off, you two can talk more rationally."

"I _can't_ give her time, Lady!" Bonnibel exclaimed. She choked back a loud sob, wiping feverishly at her eyes. "What if she gets bad again? What if her anxiety stops her from functioning? What if she doesn't eat and dies on me? And she'll be alone at school since you guys will probably all want to stay with me and Marshall isn't exactly Marceline's best friend."

Lady shushed her, squeezing her hand. "Breathe, alright? I'll make sure she's taken care of while you're giving her space. I'll make sure that she has someone to spend time with at school. I'll make sure that she gets lunch. It's alright. I'll look after her for you. She's my friend – I don't want those things happening almost as much as you."

Bonnibel wiped at her eyes with the back of her hands. She'd ran out of tissues. "Thank you, Lady."

"And in case you didn't notice, things are pretty tense in our friend group right now. I'm sure people will be thankful for a little time away from that. Ever since Gumball found out about Fionna and Marshall and Fionna actually admitted it, it's been kind of awkward. I bet Finn will volunteer for Marceline-duty straight away." Lady reassured her. "Marceline will be fine. Don't worry about that."

Bonnibel bobbed her head, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She texted Marceline again – just to assure her that she wasn't ignoring her and just giving her space and time to cool off.

Then she turned back to Lady, letting out a deep sigh. "Time and space, huh? I don't think I'll last two seconds."

Lady let out a bright laugh, giving Bonnibel a hug. "You will. Use this for yourself, too. Think things over and try not to be so hysterical, alright? You don't want to fizzle out that big brain of yours."

Bonnibel wiped at her eyes. "Yeah. Alright. Thanks, Lady. For everything."

"No worries," Lady smiled, "Now come on. A nerd like you doesn't want to be missing her science class."

And as they walked back into the classroom, Bonnie checked her phone again, just to see her last message switch from _delivered_ to _read_.


	79. seventy-nine.

**Tuesday 7th April 2015**

Bonnibel sighed as she sank down in her usual spot in the library. Her friends were all in classes and usually she spent this time with Marceline, but since their fight – Bonnie _refused_ to call it a break up – there'd been no sightings of the other girl at all in school. Marceline still hadn't made any attempts to communicate with her, and honestly, it hurt. And although she'd decided to go with Lady's idea of giving Marceline a little space to calm down, the natural worrier in her had made her send Marceline a few messages.

_**Bonnie (Thursday, 10:36AM): I hope you're doing alright, Marcy. Nobody's seen you in school so I guess you're taking some time off to clear your head. That's good. I don't want your head to be cluttered. We both know how bad that'd be. :)** _

_**Bonnie (Saturday, 5:32PM): I just had my dinner and it reminded me to check up on you. Hopefully you're getting three meals a day. You've got to get your nutrients and stuff! Speak to you soon?** _

_**Bonnie (Sunday, 9:23PM): Will you be at school tomorrow? I'd love to see you in math again. I miss you.** _

_**Bonnie (Monday, 3:22PM): I'm guessing you're still not coming in. Another week off ought to do you some good, huh? Stay well rested and please don't skip a meal. I love you so much, Marcy. Xxx :)** _

_**Bonnie (10:22PM): My Tuesday morning study periods aren't the same without our little coffee runs. Swing by the library if you're here?** _

Every time, she'd send the texts with a tiny little flicker of hope that Marceline would respond. And every time, it'd switch from _delivered_ to read, and she'd want to cry yet again.

Naturally, when she sent that last text and heard a phone vibrate on the other side of the bookshelf she was next to, she freaked out a little bit. Her heart jumped to her throat when she heard a "Fuck," followed by shuffling sounds – the sounds of someone quickly packing up her things.

Bonnibel jumped up from her seat and darted around the bookshelf, freezing in place when she saw her. Marceline's back was to her, her arms frantically moving across the table in front of her in the act of ramming all of her things back into her backpack. Bonnie knew that she'd see her when she turned around.

Working her mouth, Bonnie tried to think of a decent way to announce her presence. Rather than blurting out something stupid, she told herself to stay calm and let out a strained "Hello."

It was Marceline's turn to freeze. She spun on her heels, not sparing Bonnie any mercy and sending her a venomous glare. "What the _fuck_ do you want?"

Bonnie blinked at her, clearing her throat and taking a few steps backwards. "I just…you must've gotten my messages. They say _read_. I just…I'm sorry, and I know I said I'd give you space but I'd like to talk things over. If that's alright with you, of course."

Bonnibel had no idea how she managed to get that out. Honestly, she'd expected it to sound incoherent and messy and probably spluttered out through waves of tears.

Marceline's infuriated expression didn't change. In fact, Bonnie could've sworn that it distorted and grew angrier. "If I wanted to fucking talk to you, I would've replied. But I don't."

Marceline's image was twisted in front of her, blurred and smudged. Bonnibel wiped at her eyes. She had to stay calm. "But…what? I – are we really broken up?"

"Why don't you ask yourself that?" Marceline snapped at her, "You were the one that told me to get out. That I'm just your problem."

"I didn't _mean_ that," Bonnibel stepped forwards, tentatively putting a hand on Marceline's shoulder and trying to ignore the lump in her throat, "I was stressed and tired and wasn't thinking clearly and I know that I messed up. I really love you and I don't…I want you to be my girlfriend."

"Yeah, fuck you," Marceline shoved past her, spinning on her heels. She sent Bonnie one last terrifying glare. "Don't fucking talk to me again. We're done."

Bonnibel's throat closed over, a horrible feeling in her chest like someone had just reached up inside her and twisted all of her internal organs around until they were an unsalvageable mess. Her head went fuzzy, like someone had just dunked her underwater, and she let go of every single one of her inhibitions because nothing mattered when she was watching Marceline walk away from her.

"Marceline!" Bonnie grabbed onto her wrist, attempting to wipe her eyes with her free hand. It didn't work very well. No matter what, a few seconds later a new wave of tears would come along and block her eyesight. "Please don't go. _Don't_ leave me. I need you."

Marceline yanked her arm free from Bonnibel's grasp. "Yeah, sucks to be told to get lost when you need someone, doesn't it? _Stay away_ _from me._ "

Bonnibel felt Marceline ram against her as she stalked off in a deliberate attempt at hurting her. Really, it was unnecessary. Bonnibel was already hurting enough. She felt like someone had just torn off one of her limbs or she'd just been told she could never do science again.

She'd lost Marceline. She'd lost the one person who could cheer her up no matter what. She'd lost the one person that was so patient with her, willing to take things slow and make sure that she was comfortable. Marceline had always been so gentle and sweet and _perfect_ and Bonnie had lost her.

And it was all her fault.

* * *

Lady found her, sat in the farthest corner of the library, sobbing into her knees and fiddling with one of the many guitar picks Marceline had forgotten to take home.

"Bonnibel?" Lady sank down to the floor next to her, trying to get her to look up. "Hey. Come on, don't cry."

Bonnie just shook her head in response, trying to burrow further into herself, as though if she kept trying she might fold in on herself and phase out of existence. Anything would be better than the feeling of loss in her stomach. It was almost like a bereavement – like the Marceline that'd loved her had died and been replaced by someone that didn't.

"She _hates_ me, Lady," Bonnibel finally managed to push out amidst sobs, "Marceline hates me."

"No," Lady pulled Bonnibel closer to her, giving her a gentle squeeze, "no. Marceline does _not_ hate you. She never could. She's just angry. What'd I say about space, hey?"

Bonnibel felt someone sit down on her right, an arm linking through hers. She'd expected to hear someone like Fionna or Cake – maybe even Finn or Jake – but no, she was utterly surprised when she heard a different voice.

"Listen here, Bubblegum," LSP said, shocking Bonnie enough to make her look up to see if she was actually there, "I can tell you as a _fact_ that Abadeer doesn't hate you. Trust me, I know what it's like to be hated by her, and we both know that I'm not a fan of her myself."

Bonnie sniffled, looking over to Lady for reassurance. "You guys really think that?"

"Yeah," Lady sent her a comforting smile, "She's just angry. She'll cool down in a couple of weeks and then you guys can talk. All you need to do is give her _space_ , like I said."

LSP nodded, smiling at Fionna and Cake when they sat down in front of her. "Trust me, I've been through millions of breakups – just last week Brad and I went on another break again and I was so mad that I told everyone that he -" she stopped at Lady's stern look, "My point is, Abadeer will get over it and want you back. Even though she's a raging bitch, it's not that hard to see that she cares about you."

Fionna nodded, "Yeah. She hung out with us for _months_ even though she didn't like us, just because she knew it'd make you happy. She bought you a freaking two hundred dollar _microscope_ for Christmas just to make it perfect for _you_."

"Yeah, and then I told her that she was a problem and a distraction and I just -" Bonnibel failed to hold back her sobs, hiding in Lady's shoulder, "I didn't deserve her."

" _Don't_ say that." Lady made her sit up, "You don't even realise what you did for her, did you?"

Bonnibel blinked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She knew her makeup would be a total mess, but she'd stopped caring. "I didn't do anything. I was horrible to her and she was so amazing and I really – I should've been better."

Lady let out an exasperated sigh, pulling five dollars from her pocket and passing it over to LSP. "Can you guys go and get her some chocolate from the vending machine? I'm going to do my best to cheer her up, but I don't think that I'll be able to do it without the help of Hershey's."

LSP nodded, standing up; Cake and Fionna followed her lead, heading towards the doors of the library. Hollowly, Bonnibel called after them. "Please make sure that Marceline is alright."

Fionna was the one who turned back, "Finn's talking to her. She'll be fine."

Bonnie finally allowed herself a smile. It was weak and wobbly and would probably dissipate in two seconds, but it was there nonetheless. Her friends were looking after Marceline, just like Lady had promised.

"Wow. She smiles." Lady commented, squeezing Bonnie's hand, "That's more like it."

It faded not a second after Lady opened her mouth, the heavy feeling of guilt in Bonnie's stomach too much of a distraction.

Bonnibel quickly shook her head. "I shouldn't smile. I shouldn't be happy. Not after how awful I was to her."

"For the last time," Bonnie doubted that the moment the words came tumbling from Lady's mouth, "You weren't awful to her. You haven't even noticed how much you've done for Marceline."

Bonnie snorted in disbelief, wiping at her eyes. She wasn't listening to that for a second, but that didn't matter to Lady.

"Seriously," Her friend reaffirmed, "Two years ago, I thought that Marceline Abadeer was nothing but a lazy drug addict who'd probably end up dead or in jail two months after graduation. You changed so many people's opinions of her. Finn and Jake used to be terrified of her, and now whenever they talk about her they call her their 'bro'. Gumball used to say that one of the reasons he didn't act on his crush on Marshall was because he'd have to be associated with her, and now I'm pretty sure he prefers her to her brother. Fionna said – and I quote – that Marceline was 'super awesome', and Cake didn't hate her all that much, even if she acted like it. And even though she'd never admit it, I could tell LSP was warming up to her – whenever we'd say Marceline was coming along to something, she wouldn't scowl, and her actual insults turned into just teasing.

"Before you came along, I'd _never_ seen her smile. Not even when we were kids. She was always so quiet and lonely and when we were younger I felt really bad for her, but admittedly my opinion changed when we hit high school and she fell in with the wrong crowds and I heard rumours about the latest person she'd beaten up or what she did when she was 'on drugs'. Obviously, I know all of those things aren't true now, but it was enough back then to make me completely change my opinion of her. Then when you showed up and started talking to her, I'm going to admit that I was a little bit worried for your safety. Then you said you were friends and the next thing I know you're telling me you have feelings for her and so that's when I started doubting all of the things I heard.

"So, I gave her a chance. And I started noticing little things that she did around you. The way she'd be so interested in everything you had to say, the way she let you hug her and hold her hand but if anyone else so much brushed past her she'd freak out. And the way she'd look at you like you were the only person in the room.

"When you two got closer, I started noticing other things. For most of my education, I think I heard her speak in class five times. Five times in _twelve_ years. And then when she was with you, she opened up. You two had actual conversations, she'd tell you little anecdotes to make you laugh and the thing that struck me the most – she'd smile every other minute with you. I hadn't seen this girl smile in _twelve_ years, and suddenly she was doing it every other word you spoke. She lit up around you and became a totally different person, and that's when I realised that maybe that's who she was all along, and there was something stopping her from showing it.

"As she got closer to me and the rest of the group, I realised that the person that those rumours were talking about didn't exist. She was so relaxed with you, she stopped worry about what we thought and just…she was herself, and that was all down to you.

"When I first started noticing the eating problems, I was surprised by how worried I was. It was so weird – a year ago I thought she was nothing more than a lazy drug addict, and now I was worrying about her like she was a close friend? It was surreal. When I asked her about it and she shut down, that's when I knew. I didn't want to ask her about it any further, though, so I resolved on figuring out if you knew, and I noticed how much you helped her, how patient you were, how you'd comfort her if she was uncomfortable with something. Even in these past few months, on a normal day when you weren't fizzled out from sleep deprivation, you looked after her, telling her it was alright, that she was going to be okay. It was the little things that did it.

"So you may not think that you've helped her, but if you compare the person she was in January 2014 to the person she is now, you'll see that there's a big difference. And that's all because of you." Lady jabbed a finger into Bonnie's shoulder for emphasis. "And whether you're girlfriends or just friends, I know you two will make up. You have to."

Bonnibel wiped her eyes, her smile much more genuine than the first. "You really think that?"

"No," Lady slung an arm around Bonnie's shoulders, "I _know_ that."

* * *

Finn found her sat on a picnic bench outside.

He was nervous approaching her, unsure of if she'd even want his company. Marceline was easy to talk to when she was dating Bonnie, but he was worried that she'd drop all contact with anyone associated with Bonnibel. He didn't want that to happen. He liked Marceline – she gave him good advice, told funny jokes and was one of his bros. The thought of losing that upset him.

He sucked in a deep breath, puffing out his chest and finding the courage to talk. "Hey. I haven't seen you around school for a while."

She froze, and he saw her eyebrows dip into a frown. "Finn? Why are you talking to me?"

She spun around, and he just shrugged, taking her not _too_ hostile reaction to his presence as an invitation to it down. "I was bored and walking around and saw you. Figured you might want some company."

(He realised saying he was sent to comfort her was a bad idea.)

She looked him up and down, as though she was trying to find a hidden motive. "Well…stay then, I guess. I'm not doing anything interesting."

"You're reading," He pointed out, nodding down to the book in her hands, "What's it about?"

Marceline flipped it over to the front cover, frowning at it. _The Catcher in the Rye_. "Honestly? I'll let you know when an actual plot starts up. It's mostly just this annoying dude complaining about 'phonies' or whatever."

Finn smiled, "You should read the original Marvel comics. They're awesome."

"Yeah, I'll think about it," Marceline distractedly replied, dog-earing the page she was on. She drummed her fingers on the bench, sighing, "Do you – I'm guessing you know about…what happened."

"You and Bubblegum?" He decided to tread carefully, "Yeah. Lady told me last week. I didn't believe her at first but then Bonnibel finally came out of the one of the science rooms one break and I asked her and she told me. She cried a lot, and I felt really bad."

Marceline should've been happy that Bonnie was crying over her. She should've been happy that she meant as much as she did to her. But the only thing she could focus on wasn't the thing she should've been thinking about. "Science room? That's where she's been hanging out?"

 _Naturally_ , the only way Bonnibel would try to get over their breakup would be to bury herself in her studies. Marceline didn't know what she'd been expecting. She should've known that Bonnie wouldn't even attempt to change.

"Yeah, Lady's been looking after her in there." Finn explained, cutting through Marceline's train of thought. "I've been in there to hang out a few times, and Lady mostly tries to cheer her up by playing cat videos on her computer or finding TV shows she might be interested in and watching clips with her."

Marceline blinked in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that at all. "What? But…they're not studying?"

Finn frowned at her. "No. Bonnibel's actually late handing in a literature essay and apparently she didn't do so well on the last pop quiz we had in science. Even her IT work isn't as high quality as it usually is. I know that because the teacher told me that _my_ work wasn't as high quality as usual, and I copy off her."

Marceline frowned. Maybe Bonnie _was_ changing. Maybe the breakup had been the wake-up call Bonnibel had needed. But she wasn't going to let that change her mind. She was done. She wasn't letting Bonnie in again. No _fucking_ way.

"Right…" Marceline fiddled with one of her earbuds, "Well…whatever, I guess. She can do what she wants. I don't care anymore."

Lies. So many lies. Lies that would hopefully – with time – become truths. Right now, Marceline cared about Bonnie so much. Too much, considering how the pink haired girl had hurt her. And if she cut Bonnie out of her life completely, she'd stop caring. Eventually. It had to work.

Finn shot her a doubtful look. "You're just mad at her."

She spun around, stopping herself before an angry outburst. Finn cared enough to come over, and she didn't want to scare him off. As much as she hated to admit it, some of Bonnie's friends had grown on her, and she _had_ been worried that they might just ditch her once they found out about the breakup.

She sighed, shaking her head, "I'm done with her, Finn. I don't want to have to think about her ever again. Got it?"

"That's just because you're upset," Finn tried to persuade her. It wasn't working. "Once she gives you space to cool down you guys can talk and get back together."

"That isn't -" She cut herself off with another exasperated sigh, "I don't _want_ to talk. Or get back together. I don't want anything to do with her. She had her chance and fucked up. That's that. I'm done."

Finn's hopeful smile flickered and dimmed until it was eventually extinguished. "You really mean that."

It wasn't posed in a question. That's how she knew she'd finally gotten through to him. "I know. And _yes_ , I'm extremely mad at her and hurt, but even once I get over it, it won't change. I want _nothing_ to do with her."

"But…you love her, don't you?" Finn's voice had dropped to a whisper. He didn't like the thought of his friends being unhappy. Bonnie hadn't really smiled since they'd broken up, and Marceline was suddenly a lot less animated. Like someone had disconnected something in both of them. "I thought you two were in love."

"Yeah, Finn," Marceline put her book back into her bag, "so did I."


	80. eighty.

** Friday 17th April 2015 **

"I'm kind of surprised Jake wanted to go out for a meal for his birthday rather than throw a big party." Fionna stated as she helped Cake zip up her dress.

Bonnie – who was sat on Lady's bed reading her book – looked up and frowned. "I thought tonight wasn't a formal occasion?"

Cake turned around and shook her head. "No, Jake said it was casual. We're just going out for Italian food at this little restaurant in town."

"Then why are you all…" Bonnie gestured with her hand over Cake's attire.

"Oh, I'm trying on my prom dress." Cake announced.

At the mention of prom, Bonnie felt…heavy, almost. Like she was being dragged down by some sort of invisible anchor. "Oh, I see. Well, I hope you guys have fun."

"You _have_ to come." Fionna said, turning around and shooting Bonnie an encouraging, sympathetic smile. "It's not like Marceline will be there."

At the mention of Marceline's name, Bonnie winced. She hated thinking about her ex-girlfriend. It hurt too much. "Don't talk about her. I don't want to go because I won't be able to go with the girl I love. Please just…don't."

Fionna and Cake exchanged looks, and then both turned to Lady. "Are you going to tell her?"

Lady – who was busy straightening her hair – sat back and let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know how to."

Bonnie put her book down all together and sat up with a worried expression on her face. She _hated_ surprises, and judging by the serious looks on her friend's faces, this wouldn't be a good surprise. "Tell me _what_ , exactly."

"Well, you see…" Lady put her straighteners down and turned on her chair to face Bonnibel, "Jake invited Marceline."

Bonnie's face paled. It was hard enough sitting near Marceline in class and being completely blanked by her. Now she was going to be at Jake's birthday meal, too? "I'm going home."

Fionna blocked her path as Bonnie made her way to Lady's bedroom door. "Bubblegum, wait. Jake's your friend, he wants you there."

"I _can't_ be around her. I just _can't_." Bonnibel pushed past Fionna and headed to the door, pulling it open.

" _Bubblegum!_ " Lady stood up and followed her out of the room, grabbing her arm. "Come on, you already said you'd go. Besides, it's not like she'll talk to you or anything."

Bonnie spun around and glared at her friend. "It's not like she'll talk to me? That's the _point_! She's been blanking me ever since I made the stupid mistake of breaking up with her, and that's worse than her going back to being mean to me. It's like I never even existed to her and it _kills me_ , Lady."

Bonnie propelled herself into Lady's arms and sobbed into her friend's shoulder. Thinking about Marceline always did this to her.

Lady gently rubbed circles on Bonnie's back and murmured, "Hey, it'll be okay. Go there and show her that you don't need her."

"But I _do_ need her." Bonnie sniffled, "I love her, Lady."

"Act like you don't. That'll get her attention." Lady said. At Bonnie's instant look of scepticism, she continued. "Just _tell_ her that you made a mistake and that you love her. I'm sure she'll understand."

"I've tried that a million times." Bonnie stepped away from her friend and wiped her eyes. "She just stopped caring."

"I doubt that. I bet she misses you." Lady stated. "My guess is that she's coming tonight to see you. You never know, maybe you'll get back together."

 _False hope is better than no hope, I guess_ , Bonnie thought. "You really think so?"

"Yeah, I really do."

* * *

Bonnie's friends devoted most of their time for getting ready on making Bonnibel look as nice as possible. It was Lady's request – the blonde had decided that if Bonnie looked good, she'd feel more confident for when she faced Marceline.

It didn't work.

It did at first – when Bonnie entered the restaurant with Lady, Fionna and Cake, Marceline wasn't there. She'd felt happy with herself as she'd sat down at the table which Finn, Phoebe, Jake and Gumball were already at.

Every last piece of confidence Bonnie had shattered when Marceline walked in with her brother _and a date._

" _She's coming tonight to see you."_

" _Maybe you'll get back together."_

" _She misses you."_

 _Yeah, right_ , Bonnie thought. She fought back her tears, but her vision became blurred all the same. She knew she _couldn't_ cry – her makeup would run and Marceline would know she was crying over her. Not that she'd care – she'd moved on, apparently.

She felt someone tap her shoulder, and for a second Bonnie believed that Marceline had come over to talk to her – until she saw the other girl on the other end of the table, talking to her new _boyfriend_.

Instead, it was Lady. The blonde beckoned for her to follow and Bonnibel complied, trailing after Lady until they were outside. Before Lady could talk, Bonnie did.

"You didn't tell me she was bringing a _date!"_

"I didn't know!" Lady held her hands up in defence. "Jake only just told me as we sat down. I didn't even know she had a date coming with her. God, I'm so sorry."

Bonnie let her friend hug her, before she shook her head and ran a hand through her pink hair. "I need to do something. I could call someone to be my fake date?"

Lady let out a small chuckle. "I really don't think that's a good idea."

Bonnie sighed and bit on her lip in thought. "Who is sitting next to her?"

"Finn, I think." Lady responded. "Why?"

"I could get him to switch places with me and try to talk to her. Even if we end the night as friends, I'll be happy. I just need her _somewhere_ in my life." Bonnie explained, "I know he'll want to sit with Phoebe, but…I just…this is important to me."

"I'll switch seats with Phoebe so they can sit together." Lady offered.

Bonnie shook her head. "No, you don't have to do that. Jake's your boyfriend, you should be with him."

"I'll go talk to Finn, okay? Fionna is next to you as well, she might switch." Lady said, heading back towards the door. "I'll be two seconds."

Bonnie stood and waited until Lady got back, playing with a loose thread on her pink cardigan. She'd worn this specifically – she knew Marceline liked it when she wore this outfit.

She was taken off guard when Marceline's date came outside and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, lighting one up.

He made eye contact with Bonnie and held out the pack. "Want one?"

Bonnie turned her nose up in disgust. "No, thank you."

He just shrugged. "Alright then. You're with that big group inside, right?"

She _really_ didn't want to talk to him. "Yes. I'm Bonnibel."

"Tuff." He nodded.

" _Tuff_?" She repeated with a frown. "I'm going to assume that's a nickname."

"Yeah. My real name is Thomas but nobody calls me that." He explained. "Are you tight with Marceline?"

Bonnibel cringed at the mention of her name, before biting back, "She's my ex-girlfriend."

" _Whoa_ ," He seemed taken aback, "She never told me she had a lesbian phase."

 _Phase? A phase?_ Bonnie shot him an angry glare which she hoped was effective. "It wasn't a _phase_. She's bisexual, and we were very much in _love_ , thank you very _much_."

It hurt to say that. _Were_ in love. It would be present tense, if she hadn't ruined everything.

It was still present tense for her.

"Whatever, dude." He scoffed, like he didn't believe her.

Bonnie stalked back inside the restaurant and saw Lady coming round the corner. The pink haired girl shot her a half-hearted attempt at a smile. "Hey."

"Everything's sorted. Fionna is next to Marshall and you're in between her and Marceline." Lady explained, gently nudging Bonnie forwards.

The pink haired girl shakily made her way over to the table and sat down in her new seat next to Marceline. She bit back her tears when she caught the smell of Marceline's strawberry perfume – she missed it so much.

She saw a flash of a phone underneath the table, and – although she knew she shouldn't – cast her gaze downwards to see Marceline texting Keila.

_**Marceline (6:21PM): fuck Keila what do I do** _

_**Marceline (6:21PM): apparently a game of musical chairs has occurred and princess is right fucking next to me** _

_**Keila (6:22PM): Okay calm down dude** _

_**Keila (6:22PM): It's not like she's going to talk to you right I mean come on she wrecked things not you** _

_**Marceline (6:23PM): ugh don't remind me** _

_**Marceline (6:23PM): not going to lie I really want to punch her stupid face right now** _

Bonnie gulped a little and looked away, tears pricking at her eyes. Marceline was so mad at her that she wanted to _hurt_ her.

She couldn't help herself and looked back at the conversation.

_**Marceline (6:24PM): but I also want to kiss her stupid face ugh goddammit I hate her so much** _

_**Keila (6:25PM): How about you don't do either of those and ignore her like you've been doing** _

_**Marceline (6:25PM): yeah okay that might work** _

Bonne wouldn't stand for that. She brought her hand up and tapped Marceline on the shoulder.

She was ignored.

"Marceline." Bonnie whispered, lightly shaking the dark haired girl. " _Marceline_ , please just talk to me."

Marceline shot up and cleared her throat, announcing to the table, "I'm just going to the bathroom."

Bonnie followed Marceline but kept at a distance – when she entered the toilets, Marceline was leaning over the sink, lightly splashing water over her face to cool herself down.

"Marceline." Bonnie made herself known, and the dark haired girl stood upright but didn't turn around. She was desperate to make up. Even if they wouldn't get back together, she still wanted to be civil. She enjoyed Marceline's company so much and she didn't want to lose that.

In the mirror, Bonnie saw Marceline's gaze flick to her for what could only be a millisecond, before the other girl turned and headed to the door.

Bonnie blocked her path. "Marcy, please stop ignoring me. Please. I'm sorry, okay? I made a huge mistake and I should never have hurt you and I want you back so badly and I just… please listen to me? I love you and I really want to be at least civil with you. You weren't just my girlfriend. You were my best friend and I took that for granted."

Marceline slipped past her and Bonnie grabbed onto the dark haired girl's shoulders, pulling her back. " _Stop_ ignoring me! I'm trying to apologise, and I know you've got a new boyfriend now or whatever but I just… need you. Even if it's just as a friend."

"You _need_ me?" Marceline turned around with a look of pure, blazing anger in her eyes. "That's fucking rich. What happened to me being a _distraction_? A _problem_?"

"I was stressed out and I said some stupid things. I tried calling the _second_ I screwed up and you've just ignored me." Bonnie was raising her voice and she could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't care. "I _love_ you, Marceline. So much. I know that you're mad, but you've had time to cool down. I've given you space for the past two weeks. Please give me a chance to explain and apologise rationally."

"No, you don't love me. Leave me alone, _princess_. I don't want to talk to you. I'm not letting you back in." Marceline shoved Bonnie away from her and tried to slip away from the pink haired girl.

" _Don't_ call me that. You love me too, and I know it. You can't have just stopped." Bonnie's hand found Marceline's wrist. "Please, at least be my friend again. I'm begging you."

"Beg all you want. I'm _done_." Marceline shot her a terrifying glare. "Stay the fuck away from me or I won't stop myself from punching you."

With that, the dark haired girl stalked off, and Bonnie quickly followed and watched as Marceline told Tuff they were leaving. She looked over to Jake and, as calmly as she could muster, said, "Happy birthday, dude. I'm sorry, but I have to get out of here."

Jake looked a little disappointed, but nodded in understanding. "Okay. Bye, dude."

Bonnie chased after Marceline as she almost _ran_ to the exit of the restaurant with Tuff, catching up to her once they got outside.

Bonnie grabbed Marceline by the collar and kissed her, and felt a little spark of hope within her light up when she felt Marceline kiss her back.

Before she could register what was happening, Marceline shoved her away and growled, "What the _fuck_ was that?"

"You kissed me back, Marceline. I felt it." Bonnie said, wiping at her eyes to stop herself from crying. "I know you still love me and I'm sorry that I messed up. I hurt you and I know that and I need you back. Everything sucks without you."

Marceline looked over to Tuff and nodded. "Go on without me. I'll be two minutes."

He nodded in response and set off walking down the road. Marceline the turned to Bonnie, and the pink haired girl felt…afraid under Marceline's intense stare. "I love you."

Marceline shook her head, and Bonnie could tell that Marceline wasn't exactly impressed with the kiss. "I'm going to say this one more time, okay? _Stay away from me._ We're _done_ , Bonnibel."

"You love me." Bonnibel repeated, pleading Marceline with her eyes to confirm it. "Please just…I love you so much and I need you. Please."

"I don't love you." Marceline may as well have torn Bonnie's heart right out of her chest and stomped on it. "You're nothing to me."

With that, Marceline stalked off down the street in the direction Tuff had gone in, leaving Bonnie with a million broken pieces in her chest.


	81. eighty-one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning - eating disorder (mention)

** Friday 24th April 2015 **

Keila lifted the plastic bag she had tied around her wrist, dumping it on the kitchen counter. She tucked her fake ID into the back pocket of her jeans, opening up the bag. She pulled out the six pack of beer first, placing it in the centre of the counter. The bottle of gin came out next, going to the right hand side of her. The two bottles of vodka went to the left. Whiskey to the right.

"Come _on_ , Keila." Marceline's voice echoed from the living room, "I need to get drunk as soon as possible. Can't deal with fucking _Bonnie_ in my head, man."

Keila sighed, grabbing one of the vodka bottles by the neck. "You want vodka? Or beer? If you're good I might let you have a little whiskey."

"Vodka, please," Marceline replied, as Keila had expected. "Hurry _up_."

Keila rolled her eyes, picking up her whiskey and carrying both that and Marceline's drink in. She flopped down on the couch, passing her friend's bottle over to her. Marceline easily undid the cap and drank straight from it.

"Are you sure you're alright, Marce?" Keila put her whiskey down on the table. If Marceline was upset and planned on getting drunk, Keila should probably stay sober. "You seem kind of down."

"I'm _fine_ ," Marceline all but snapped, "I just miss her. But I don't, because she's a bitch and I don't fucking need her."

"Yeah, good for you," Keila grabbed Marceline's hand, squeezing it. "You don't need her. If she valued her studying more than she valued you, then I don't like her anymore. Nobody hurts my best friend and gets away with it."

"I'm not – why did I not _see_ it, Keila?" Marceline took another, admittedly rather large swig of her vodka. Keila didn't doubt she'd be drunk in half an hour – that thing was at least 50% pure alcohol. "Nobody is that great. Why the fuck did everyone let me put her on a pedestal? I should've never fallen for her. _God_. I thought she'd be there for me and she wasn't."

"Let it all out, dude," Keila looked Marceline over, trying to ignore the tears staining her friend's cheeks. She hated seeing her cry. Usually Marceline was so strong – the only time she ever really cried was during a panic attack. But crying when she wasn't having one? It was happened once every blue moon. "You know what? She fooled both of us. I thought she'd be great for you, you know? She acted so sweet and seemed to genuinely care about you and then it turns out she was just…I'm so sorry."

Marceline knocked the vodka back, draining at least a quarter of the bottle in one swig. "Fucking _Bonnie_. Fuck her. God. I was so – I cared about her so much, dude, and she might as well have told me that she hated me."

Keila leaned forwards, pulling Marceline towards her so the younger girl could rest her head on her shoulder. "Listen to me, alright? Bonnie fucked up. It's not your fault that everything crashed and burned, and you're not obligated to forgive her. If you want to hate her, you go ahead and hate her."

"I should've never trusted her. People are fucking assholes, man. I should've stuck to that philosophy. Why did I ever let her in? She made me think that maybe people aren't as fucked up as I thought, but then she just goes and fucks me up even more. She's just as bad as Ash." Marceline spat, downing more of her drink. Keila could tell that it was starting to affect her and it'd barely been five minutes.

Keila didn't think that what Bonnibel did was as bad as what Ash did. Ash was the person that made Marceline so untrusting in the first place. Ash had belittled her, taken advantage of the fact that she was depressed to get her to do things for him, thrown comments at her about her looks and her weight and other trivial little things that should be accepted in a relationship. He tried to force her into a domesticated, housewife role, tried to take away her independence. He'd forbidden her to speak to any of her friends and then wouldn't leave her alone when she finally found the courage to break up with him. Ash was abusive.

Bonnibel, on the other hand, was not. In fact, Marceline was the happiest she'd been in years thanks to Bonnibel. _Yes_ , Bonnie had fucked things up. There was no denying that. But one screw up didn't equate her to Ash. Keila had seen the texts Bonnie had sent Marceline since the breakup, all just sweet little check-up texts asking her if she'd had enough sleep and – weirdly – if she'd eaten enough. And most of them had the phrase 'I love you' tacked on the end. Bonnie cared about Marceline so much, and even Keila knew that she'd made a mistake. But Marceline was stubborn and probably wouldn't let her get away with the one big mistake she'd made, and Keila couldn't blame her for that. She'd been hurt in the past and had trouble letting people in in the first place. Forgiveness wasn't something that came easily to Marceline.

Keila knew that Marceline would try as hard as she could to hate Bonnibel. And when she realised she couldn't, she'd probably take her anger out on her pillow and then break into Simon's liquor cabinet.

"Bonnibel is nowhere near as bad as Ash, and you know it." Keila pointed out. "I'm not defending her. She messed up and hurt you and I'm mad at her for that too, but you can't compare a fight like that to all of the horrible, abusive things that Ash did to you, and you know it."

Marceline let out a sound that was an amalgamation of a whine and a groan. "You don't _get_ it. She didn't even care that my Dad found out about my _eating disorder_."

Keila froze in shock, those last two words resonating in her mind. She knew it was stupid, but she kind of hoped that it was some sort of made up code for something. She didn't want to think about Marceline having an eating disorder and not trusting her enough to tell her.

" _Eating disorder_?" Keila repeated, leaning closer to Marceline and grabbing the bottle of vodka from her hands. "What did you say about an eating disorder?"

Marceline blinked at her, staring down at the bottle in Keila's hand. "Give me my drink back. I gave you the money for that."

"Don't try to change the fucking subject," Keila snapped at her. She let out an exasperated sigh, trying to calm herself down. Shouting at her tipsy best friend probably wasn't the best plan if she wanted some answers. "Tell me the truth. Please. You're like a sister to me, and if you don't think you can trust me…"

"That's why I didn't tell you." Marceline mumbled into one of Keila's couch cushions. "Because you'd get all weird and overprotective about it. _Bonnibel_ laid off if I asked her to. I miss her."

Marceline's head fell into Keila's lap, and the older girl wove her fingers through her hair, "I just want to help you. Sometimes I forget you're not the same clumsy five year old that spilled marmalade all over me."

Marceline sighed, squeezing her eyes shut. "Are you mad at me?"

"Of course I'm not mad at you," Keila easily responded, "You're my best friend. I'm going to be here for you and make sure you get better, if it's the last thing I do. Got that?"

Finally, for what seemed like the first time in months, Marceline cracked a smile. It was weak, but at least it was genuine. "Got it. I love you, Keila."

Keila just smiled, "I love you too, kid."

* * *

Bonnibel opened her laptop up, drumming her fingers against her thigh as she waited for it to boot up. She picked up Marceline's shirt from under her pillow and put it up to her nose, allowing herself a deep inhale. Dusk. Pavements after rain. Strawberries. Winter nights. Marceline.

Bonnibel tucked the shirt safely under her pillow, watching as black fabric disappeared under pink bedsheets. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, smoothing out her pink button-up pyjama shirt. She needed to keep Marceline's shirt out of sight, that way, her ex-girlfriend would stay out of her mind, too.

(It never worked.)

Actually, it'd probably work a lot more if Bonnibel didn't hold it close to her chest every night, pretending that she still had Marceline and that everything was alright.

Bonnibel logged onto her computer, giving it a moment to wake up properly before she double-clicked on the Skype icon and changed her status to _online_. She looked through her contacts, blinking back tears when 'Marceline Abadeer' was at the top of her favourites.

Out of pure masochism, she reopened their conversation, allowing herself a nostalgic smile as she scrolled through the endless pages of links. When they weren't hanging out in person, they'd Skype and sit in a comfortable silence – Marceline would see something on her Tumblr that she found amusing or thought Bonnie would find interesting, and would remind her that she was still on a video call with a "Hey, Bon, look at this thing," and Bonnie would click the link and give a comment or two before returning to her homework.

She'd just read over a completely out of context message – " _Space invaders would kick your princessy ass all the way to Jupiter"_ – when her screen changed to something else.

She quickly clicked on the 'accept' button, putting on a brave face when the call connected. "Hey. Thanks for calling me when I asked."

"It's alright, Bonnibel. Anything you need," Bea smiled through the screen, "You know I want to make up for…things. I'm just surprised that you wanted to in the first place."

"Um…yeah, well – I just," Bonnie bowed her head, looking down at her lap, "I wanted to talk to someone that wasn't Lady. I seem to recall that you used to be pretty good at comforting me."

Bea frowned at her, "What about your girlfriend? Madeline or something."

"Marceline," Bonnie corrected, the name reminding her of that dull ache in her chest, "She's kind of the problem, actually. We broke up."

"I'm really sorry," Astonishingly, Bea seemed genuine. That was probably the nicest surprise Bonnie had had in weeks, "Was it bad? Or are you still friends?"

" _Bad_ is the understatement of the century," Bonnie finally let out an exasperated sigh, "It was all my fault. I self-destructed. You know how I used to get around finals and stuff, right?"

Bea laughed lightly, "Oh, yeah. Remember that time we stayed up all night cramming for our physics final in sophomore year? You were practically a zombie the next day."

Bonnibel's smile was weak and forced, "I started taking things out on her. She'd interrupt me when I was studying -"

"God, we've both felt your wrath, then," Bea joked, clearly trying to lighten up the situation, "If she did it more than once, I'm surprised she didn't learn."

Bonnibel shook her head, wiping at her eyes and choking back what would've been a loud sob. "It was when she had a panic attack and she felt like I was the only one she could turn to and I just…pushed her aside. You don't know how guilty I feel about that."

"I guess we both understand guilt then," Bea murmured, sending Bonnie a comforting smile. "I'm really sorry that you guys broke up. But it's high school. It happens. And there's still time before you graduate – maybe you'll make friends with her again. You never know what could happen a month or two down the line."

Bonnibel sniffled, "Yeah. Maybe. Thank you for letting me vent, but I'll get out of your hair now."

"No, wait," Bea stopped her before she could hit the 'end call' button, "let's catch up. Tell me about the life of Bonnibel. I want all the details since the move. You can omit a few of the more upsetting ones, though."

Omitting Marceline shortened Bonnie's story down a lot more than it should have. "Well, I made a lot of great friends in my first few weeks of living here, and they're all still around now. Lady's been especially great lately. She's promised me that she'll have someone to keep Marceline some company, because I really don't like the thought of her being left alone with her thoughts. It's upsetting. Summer was great, last year. Instead of sitting in my room nerding out about something, I was out with friends and…others. 2014 was amazing."

"And 2015?" Bea pressed, "You've missed an entire four months off there."

Bonnibel chewed on her bottom lip, "I saw the New Year in with Marceline. We – um – kissed at midnight. January was fine. I spent lots of time with my friends, and early February was alright too. But then I got my college acceptance letter, and everything went downhill from there."

"NYU?" Bea interrupted her before she could continue and torture herself thinking about things she could've said or done differently. "I got in too. If you haven't made peace with your girlfriend, we could sign up to be roomies on campus? It'd be cool having someone I know there. Maybe we could get close again."

" _Ex_ -girlfriend," Bonnibel corrected her in a breath, "And…uh, yeah – I guess. As long as you don't tell me I'm not allowed girls in the room or something or -"

"Bonnibel," Bea cut her off, "I know you're still bitter about everything that happened, and I'm really sorry that I told everyone something that you didn't want them to know. You were right. I should've just…kept it to myself."

"Congratulations on having common sense," Bonnibel sarcastically replied – not in a mean way. Apparently, this little chat with Bea was already cheering her up a little bit. Enough for her to use sarcasm, anyways. "I'm getting over it. And if you didn't really want my forgiveness, you wouldn't be talking to me right now."

Bea nodded, "Yeah, exactly. It'd be fun for us to actually hang out in person again, you know?"

"When is your graduation?" Bonnie asked, unable to believe she was actually about to propose this, "Depending on when you graduate, you could come up here for a few days before your prom. We could have a proper catch up."

Bonnibel was stunned when Bea seemed to light up. "Yeah! That's awesome. It's on May 25th."

"Mine's a couple of days before that," Bonnie replied, "We could start organising things with both of our parents now, and you could come here in June or something once we're both free."

"That sounds like a lot of fun," Bea nodded, "You _have_ to introduce me to your friends. Especially this Lady person. I think she and I would get along nicely."

Bonnibel cringed. That sounded like a terrible idea. Tons of past embarrassments would be unearthed. That would be awful. "Yeah…no horrible stories about my awkward stage, okay?"

"I'm making no such promises," Bea folded her arms across her chest and Bonnie knew that roughly translated into _no way in hell am I not telling them every single awkward thing you did_. "I have to run and do some homework, but I'll talk to you soon, alright? I'll ask my parents if I can come and visit soon. Bye."

"Bye." Bonnie was the one to hang up first, letting out a long sigh of relief. That had gone a lot better than she thought it would've. When she texted Bea and asked for a video chat, she figured the 'we can talk about anything you want' stopped when it came to her homosexuality. But apparently, Bea really _had_ changed.

A year ago, Bonnie would've been over the moon if Bea had proposed rooming with her in college, especially after what had happened. But now, there was only one girl that Bonnie really wanted to live with.

And if a miracle happened and Marceline suddenly forgave her, Bonnie knew who she'd choose without a second thought.


	82. eighty-two.

** Saturday 25th April 2015 **

Bonnibel let out a sigh as she dodged past multiple excited little kids who were racing back to their parents with boxes of toys in their arms. She wasn't sure if she was like that as a kid – if she was, she'd apologise to her parents later – and she was definitely grateful that Gracie was the opposite.

No, the little girl clutching onto her hand was probably the most subdued kid on the planet, which was exceptional, given they were walking through the aisles of a toy store.

"Have you seen anything you'd like to buy, Gracie?" Bonnie looked down to her and forced a smile. "Your Mom gave me twenty dollars and she said that you're allowed to buy one thing. Isn't that nice?"

Gracie sighed, looking over to the shelves with a little frown, "No, I haven't seen anything. Is there another shop that we can go to?"

"I'm not sure," Bonnie carefully guided her through the cramped store, "We can always look around outside of the mall."

Gracie nodded, still frowning. Apparently there had been something on her mind. "Alright. Then what will we do?"

"Well, I'd like to go to the bookstore and then we can go home and play some video games. How does Mario Kart sound?" Bonnie offered, sending her cousin her attempt at a bright smile. It wasn't as bright as it usually would've been, but she'd had trouble smiling in general, lately. She tried not to think about the last person that proposed a game of Mario Kart to her, either.

"Okay. But there's something else I want to do." Gracie said, glancing around her as though she hadn't decided which store she wanted to go in next.

"Yeah? What's that?" Bonnibel held open the door and let Gracie leave the mall before her.

Gracie latched onto Bonnibel's hand again. "I want to see Marcy."

And naturally, Bonnie felt like she'd been punched in the gut. Her eyes watered, she was winded and she had to blink back tears in order to keep her false smile in action. She opened her mouth to think of a good excuse, jaw working, making her appear similar to a fish out of water.

She tried to swallow the big lump that had formed in her throat. "Um…you see, Gracie, Marceline can't – she's busy right now."

Gracie's face fell and she tried to imitate Marceline's puppy dog eyes. Used on anyone else, the victim would probably doing whatever Gracie wanted. Honestly, they didn't work as well on Bonnie. Not anymore.

"But _Bonnibel_ ," Gracie whined, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout, "She said she was my friend. I want to see Marcy."

"You can see Marcy next time you come, okay?" Bonnibel tried to stay calm and collected as they walked into the bookstore. The last time she was in the bookstore, she was with – _no, Bonnie. Stop torturing yourself_. "It's just that she's really busy right now with homework and playing gigs that we can't see her. I haven't seen her myself for a while."

Bonnie had decided to repress the memory of Jake's birthday meal. It was for the best.

"Why doesn't she let you see her? Don't you love each other?" Gracie looked up at her in confusion, "It's mean if she won't let you in to see her because you need to give her kisses and stuff."

Bonnie tried not to think about how Gracie's advice would've been great a month ago.

"Yeah, well…I'm just giving her a little space." Bonnie sighed, letting go of Gracie's hand. She pulled a book from the shelf, flicking it over to read the blurb and then opening the cover slightly to get a small preview of the first page.

Frowning, she put the book back. Romance novels weren't her thing right now. Novels about death, destruction and heartbreak? Yeah, sign Bonnie right up.

She sidestepped a little to the right, checking out different sections of the bookstore. _Fantasy_. That sounded great, as long as there was no romance. Bonnie didn't care for the story where the boy and the girl go through a huge battle against evil and then kiss passionately once they'd defeated the big bad. Because that didn't happen. Love wasn't something you could rely on, and Bonnie had learned her lesson.

Marceline had been right. Closing yourself off was the most logical choice. It stopped people from getting in and hurting you. Bonnie had been trying to close herself off for weeks, to seal her heart inside a vault that only she had the combination to.

But she couldn't do it. She ached for Marceline. Seeing her pass in the school hallways were horrible because Bonnie just wanted to run forwards and kiss her and she _couldn't_. She'd never be able to kiss Marceline again.

Bonnibel cleared her throat, "Gracie, sweetie? If you don't want to find another toy store, we can get the bus home now."

Obviously, when she received no reply, Bonnibel spun on her heels, her eyes widening. Gracie wasn't stood beside her. Bonnie threw the book she was holding back into the shelf, frantically running around the store, hoping that every shelf she looked around, she'd see her little cousin looking through the books.

"Gracie?" She shouted through the store, again getting no response. If Gracie had left the store, it'd be like finding a needle in a haystack. There was no way she'd find her before the last bus.

And the last time Bonnibel lost a little kid…

 _No, Bonnie_ , Bonnibel scolded herself, _don't think about your brother. Think about Gracie. Think about finding Gracie. Think about finding her before Aunt Susan figures out that she was ever missing_.

Bonnie allowed herself a small panic, before she wiped at her eyes and steeled herself. She wasn't going to think about anything other than finding her cousin.

After another look around the bookstore, Bonnie darted outside and desperately launched herself into the swarm of shoppers.

God, she was in _so_ much trouble.

* * *

Marceline blinked in shock when she felt someone grab onto her hand. Naturally, she yanked her hand away from the offender, turning around to give them a piece of her mind – probably telling them to fuck off or not to touch her.

Either way, she didn't expect to see Gracie stood there, smiling up at her.

" _Gracie?"_ Marceline asked incredulously. She looked around them, but didn't see Bonnibel or her aunt and parents. That wasn't a good sign, and she was pretty sure that hangovers didn't make you hallucinate your ex-girlfriend's little cousin. "Are you lost?"

Gracie shook her head, looking around them. "No, Bonnibel brought me into town for the day. I'm going to get a new toy."

That did nothing to help at all. In fact, it just made Marceline all the more confused – again, probably an effect of the hangover. She took Gracie by the hand again – she didn't want the kid wandering off again – and tugged her towards a bench, sitting her down. Marceline collapsed onto the bench next to her, leaning against the backrest.

"Alright, so if you're with Bonnie, where is she exactly?" Marceline asked, gesturing around them, "Because I don't see her and she's not really that hard to spot with her bright pink hair, is she?"

Gracie giggled, "No, she isn't. I left her in the book shop because I saw you walking by through the window. She wouldn't let me see you because she says you're busy."

"Okay," Marceline hummed as she took in that information. As much as she really didn't want to face Bonnie – honestly, she'd rather run into her Dad – she knew that it was important to get Gracie home safely. Marceline shouldn't take out her resonating bitterness on a kid, "Well, we need to get you back there. Come on."

Gracie latched onto Marceline's hand, slipping off the bench and following her through the crowds. Gracie stayed close to Marceline, but wasn't as bad around crowds she remembered, which was a plus. She didn't need any hold ups.

When they finally arrived in front of the book store, Marceline took her inside and sat her down on the couch in the back corner of the shop. "You stay there for a moment, okay? I'm going to look around and see if Bonnie's still here."

Marceline knew that it was a long shot. If Bonnibel had noticed Gracie was missing, there was no doubt that she'd be running around town screaming the little girl's name. And as amusing as Marceline found that a few months ago, something in her had broken. She didn't really find much funny anymore.

She looked around different shelves, but Bonnibel was nowhere to be found. As expected.

So, Marceline went back to Gracie and sat down on the couch next to her. "Bonnie's not here anymore, Gracie. She probably noticed that you were missing and is running around looking for you everywhere. Knowing her, she's probably in hysterics."

Gracie giggled, "Crying? Bonnibel never cries."

Marceline sent Gracie a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Ignoring the empty feeling in her chest, she forced a laugh. "Yeah, she's a tough cookie."

"Are you going to ring her on your phone?" Gracie pointed down to the rectangular shaped lump in Marceline's front left pocket on her jeans. "Because then you can tell her where I am and then she'll come back and get me. And you get to see her and give her kisses."

That last part gave her a little pang of hurt in her chest. _God_ , Gracie didn't know how much Marceline wanted to do that. But she also didn't know how much Marceline didn't want to do that.

Marceline loved Bonnie. There was no doubt about that. Those sorts of feelings don't just go away overnight. But she didn't love the person that Bonnibel had become. She was _cold_ , obsessed with her studying and college and everything else, and yeah, she _had_ dismissed Marceline's feelings.

Even if she changed, what's to say she wouldn't just start again if Marceline got back together with her?

Either way, Marceline sucked in a deep breath and pulled her phone from her pocket. _For Gracie_ , she told herself as she scrolled through her contacts and pressed on ' _DO NOT ANSWER – BONNIBEL'_.

The phone rang once before Bonnie picked up. _Once_. She hadn't even hesitated to answer Marceline's call. That was surprising. Pleasantly surprising or horribly surprising, Marceline couldn't tell.

" _Um…hey,"_ Bonnibel's voice was quiet and full of sniffles, and she sounded like she was trying to mask them for the purposes of this conversation, _"Marceline. What – um…what can I do for you?"_

"You can drop the act," Marceline kept her voice neutral and emotionless. Things were better that way. "I know you're upset."

" _Yes, I – um – uh, I'm in a bit of a tricky situation right now,"_ Bonnibel let out a robotic laugh, _"See, I took Gracie into town today – they're here visiting from New York – well, obviously they are because that's where they live. Um…anyways, so – yeah, I lost Gracie in town while we were shopping and I'm just really freaking out because I don't know where she could be or what she's doing or if she's hurt or kidnapped or anything. Can I call you back once I've found her? Then we can talk about whatever you want to talk about._ "

Marceline went to explain the whole reason she was calling in the first place, but naturally, Bonnibel kept rambling.

" _Oh, no, wait,"_ Bonnie cleared her throat. Marceline could've sworn she heard her choke back a sob, _"I'd like to talk now. It's obviously important if you're calling me and the whole reason I don't have you anymore is because I stopped letting you talk about your feelings so I guess –"_

"Bonnibel," Marceline cut her off, "I'm not calling to talk to you about – I don't want to… _ugh_. I found Gracie. Apparently she saw me and that's why she ran off."

" _Oh,"_ Bonnibel sounded like she'd just heard the worst news in the world. Her voice was shaking as she continued. She sounded like she was about to burst into tears. _"Right, well – yes. Um. I should've known that – I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. How silly of me. Of course you weren't…um – where are you? So I can get Gracie."_

"In the bookstore. She told me that's where you were." Marceline kept herself steeled, but hearing Bonnibel stifling sobs was slowly cracking her perfectly moulded shell. "How far away are you?"

" _Not too far, I just -"_ Marceline heard a sharp inhale when Bonnie's voice cracked, _"I'll be two minutes. Thank you for finding her. It – uh, means a lot to me that you'd still…look after her."_

"Of course," Marceline kept her voice monotonous, "You're welcome."

" _Um…yeah,"_ Bonnibel seemed at a loss for words, sniffling, " _Bye. I'll be – yeah. Bye."_

Marceline was the one to hang up first. She didn't want Bonnibel to start rambling again and make her feel guilty for being so cold with her. But Bonnie deserved it. She hurt Marceline. That wasn't something Marceline could just forgive.

Either way, when Bonnibel showed up, her makeup smudged and her eyes red from crying, Marceline felt something inside her break.

Bonnie sent her a weak, awkward smile. "Um…hi. Thanks for finding her."

Gracie jumped up, wrapping her arms around Bonnie's waist. "Bonnibel! I saw Marcy and wanted to see her because you wouldn't let me."

"I told you that she was busy." Bonnibel knelt down to be at Gracie's eye level. "Don't run off again, alright? You almost gave me a heart attack, kid."

Gracie sent her a sheepish smile, "Sorry, Bonnibel. I just wanted to -"

"I know. You just wanted to see Marcy." Bonnie squeezed Gracie's little shoulder before grasping her hand again. "We should go for our bus now. Say thank you to Marcy for finding you and looking after you for me."

Gracie crossed back over to Marceline, giving her a tight hug. "Thank you. Can I see you on another day?"

Marceline glanced over to Bonnie; her false – albeit convincing – smile had fallen. "I don't think that's such a good idea, kiddo. Sorry. Like Bonnibel said, I'm really busy right now."

Gracie stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. "Next time, then? I want to beat you at Mario Kart again!"

Marceline let out a soft laugh, "Yeah, alright. Next time. Maybe if your family want a babysitter or something."

Gracie leaned up and pecked Marceline on the cheek, before running over to Bonnibel and grabbing at her hand again. Bonnie barely even noticed. She was too busy thinking about Marceline. About how she hadn't heard her laugh for what felt like decades.

"Gracie?" Bonnie looked down to her cousin, "Would you like to go and look at the children's books for a moment while I talk to Marcy? They're just over there."

Bonnie pointed at the children's section, which was in plain view of where she was stood. She'd be able to keep an eye on Gracie and have a private talk with Marceline. If Marceline even looked at her, that is.

Gracie nodded and bounced in the direction of Bonnie's finger, leaving her alone with Marceline.

The last time Bonnie was alone with Marceline, things hadn't gone swimmingly. Sure, Bonnie had tried her best to talk to her, and she'd managed to kiss her. But again, Bonnie was trying to repress the memory of being told that she meant nothing. She was trying to forget how Marceline had already moved on, that she was already seeing some guy. She didn't want to think about how Marceline hated her now, how she'd even said that to Keila. And now that she thought about it, Keila probably hated her, too. That's not what she wanted to think about.

She sat down on the couch, keeping a good distance between the two of them. She cleared her throat, kneading her thighs through the material of her purple jeans. "You didn't have to do that for me."

Marceline scoffed, " _Please_. I wasn't doing it for you. Like I was going to just let Gracie wander around town by herself."

"Please can you just…drop this act for a moment?" Bonnie finally turned to her, wiping at her eyes, "I hate to sound like a broken record player but I know that you still love me. And I can understand why you don't want to get back together with me. I hurt you and I know that. I was wrong."

"Yeah, and how much sleep are you saying this on?" Marceline snapped at her, "Next thing you know you'll be telling me that my eating disorder is exactly the same thing as the stomach flu. That my depression is 'just a bad day'. That my anxiety is just casual stress."

" _Marceline,"_ Bonnie shook her head, coughing to avoid a loud sob from being audible, "I don't – I've been getting at least seven hours a night. I turn all of my electronics off at ten and stop studying at eight and make my Mom look after my notes so I can get some leisure time. I'm trying to be better."

Marceline just sighed, "I'm not – we're _done_. Don't you get that? I don't want to be your girlfriend again. I don't even want to be your _friend_ again."

Bonnibel grabbed onto Marceline's wrist as she stood up, stopping her from leaving. "Why? I know that I messed things up and hurt you, but can we at least be civil? I need you in my life somehow. It's like someone has cut off one of my limbs."

"Well, I guess you're going to have to live without it, aren't you?" Marceline yanked her arm from Bonnie's grip. "Don't fucking touch me. We're done."

Marceline stormed out of the bookstore. Bonnie called after her, only to be completely blanked, as if she'd been put on mute and Marceline couldn't register what she was saying. Expect Marceline was the one with the remote.

Bonnie decided that she really hated watching Marceline leave her.


	83. eighty-three.

**Wednesday 6th May 2015**

"It should be _illegal_ to have to be at school at 7AM." Jake groaned, adjusting his backpack strap, "When are we getting on the coach?"

"Dude, chill," Finn elbowed him in the side, "It'll be like two minutes. It's like this with all museum trips and junk. They mess around for a while, then they tell you who your 'buddy' will be, and then you get on the bus."

"Wait, _buddy_?" Bonnibel snapped back into reality at the word _buddy_ , looking away from where her ex-girlfriend was stood with her brother and leaning against a wall, tapping around on her phone. "I didn't sign up for buddies. I don't do random assigned pairs."

"Nobody does," Lady pointed out, "but the school think it's a good idea to get everyone to branch out and make new friends, and apparently random assign is the best way to go about that. They don't take into account your actual friends while doing it, though. Two years ago I was put with LSP. There are flaws in the system."

Bonnibel huffed, "Well, I'm hoping I'm with one of you guys. I don't want to be stuck with someone I don't know and will never speak to again."

"Amen to that," Phoebe replied, casually grabbing hold of Finn's hand. Bonnie – although still repulsed by romance – tried not to roll her eyes. _How_ had Finn not seen that she liked him? "At least your name is high up on the roll call, so you'll know who you're with fairly quickly."

"What if you don't know who the person is?" Jake pointed out, "What the hell would you do then?"

"Maybe just wander around and call out for them," Finn suggested, his cheeks stained red as he glanced down at Phoebe's hand, "Kind of like you would if you lost a dog."

"Finn hasn't even met his buddy yet and he's already comparing them to a dog," Lady announced, "Ladies, gather round."

Finn blushed even harder. "Shut up."

Bonnibel watched the exchange, a real smile – god knows how long it'd been since one of those surfaced – on her face. "So, what's the point of these buddies? Aside from the friend making thing."

"Well, they started it because some kids were sitting alone on the bus ride there and walking around by themselves, and I guess the teachers felt bad for them," Lady explained, "So it's like a partner for the day. A lot of kids end up disregarding the system, but Citron goes mad if he catches you. It's best to just stick with your buddy and stay close to your friends as well."

"So you're telling me that if I get some random person, I have to spend the _whole_ day with them?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, " _That_ won't be awkward at all."

"Yeah, it sucks," Jake agreed with her, "It's only for compulsory trips, though. A lot of people just ditch and take the day off."

Bonnibel would've replied if their principal hadn't started talking about health and safety and the plan for the day and whatever else he deemed necessary. She kind of tuned him out, if she was being honest – his voice was scratchy and high and it gave her a headache. At least until he started listing off the 'buddies'.

Marceline was first on the list, as she was on every roll call. Bonnie only really tuned in to hear who the lucky person was that got to spend the day with Marceline – she would probably be spending the entire day staring at them in envy.

"Marceline Abadeer…your partner for the day is," Citron paused to look at the paper he had in front of her, "Bonnibel Butler."

It took Bonnie a moment to realise that _her_ name had been called out. She was buddied with Marceline? She didn't know if this was good luck or bad luck.

(Judging by the way Marceline was glaring at her, it was _bad_.)

It took the dark haired girl a moment to react properly, turning back to Citron with the same glare still plastered on her face. "No. I'm not being her partner."

"I'm not negotiating with you on this, Miss Abadeer," Citron's expression soured, "If I don't see you and Miss Butler attached at the hip all day, you'll have detention for a week."

"But –"

"I can give you detention now, if you'd like," He threatened, a rather sinister false smile on his face when Marceline sighed and slumped back against the wall. "Good. Now, who's next…?"

Bonnibel jumped when Lady squeezed her arm. "You need to go over there and stand with her, but stay close by to us all day. I'll try and get a seat behind you on the coach so we can talk."

Bonnie nodded, picking at her pink nail varnish and trying not to think about how she'd probably be ignored all day. Either that or Marceline would just slip away and ditch her for someone else. "Yeah. Alright. I'll…see you on the bus."

Sucking in a deep breath, Bonnie made her way over to Marceline and stood next to her, but at a respectable distance. She kept quiet – talking to her as of late had been about as effective as attempting to blow up a building with cotton candy.

Bonnie pulled her phone out of her pocket, stupidly pretending to text by tapping around on her home screen and trying to make the 'conversation' she was having look slightly interesting in order to make Marceline jealous. If she could move on, so could Bonnie. If Marceline could get a boyfriend, Bonnie could pretend she had a girlfriend.

She put her phone back into her pocket when she saw Marceline glance at the screen and roll her eyes. Apparently that trick didn't work very well. So, she resolved to stand in an awkward silence, waiting for Citron to finish buddying people up so they could get on the bus.

When they were finally given the green light, Marceline shoved past her and onto the bus before everyone else – Bonnie ended up caught in the crowd and ended up one of the last people on the bus, having to nervously walk past all of her classmates to sit next to Marceline, who had opted for a seat at the very back and had already put her earphones in and was staring out of the window, her bag occupying the seat next to her.

"Um…would you mind," Bonnie gestured to Marceline's black backpack, "Can you move this?"

Marceline stayed unresponsive, so Bonnibel just picked the bag up and sat down, unsure of where to put it, so she just kept it on her lap, fiddling with the strap and trying to ignore the dull throbbing in her chest. So that was how it was going to be for the day – Marceline being unresponsive and Bonnie awkwardly following her around. Great.

Bonnibel sniffled a little, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand as she pulled something out of her pocket – one of the guitar picks that Marceline had left at her house, forgotten on Bonnie's bedside table. Fiddling with it, she told herself not to cry, not while Marceline was sat right there and would probably just tell her to shut up.

Bonnibel rubbed her thumb against the smooth surface of the guitar pick, trying to remember the day Marceline had left it with her. It'd been a normal day, one where they'd just hung out in the same room and done their own thing – Marceline playing music on a guitar she'd brought over and Bonnie finishing up her homework on the other side of the room, listening to the gentle melodies being played nearby. When Marceline had announced that Simon wanted her home for dinner and she should probably head off, she'd dropped the guitar pick onto Bonnie's notebook. She'd smiled, and said, "For my number one stalker," and Bonnie had leaned over and kissed her goodbye before she sauntered out of the door, guitar in one hand and coat in the other.

Bonnie's heart stopped completely when she saw Marceline look over to her and pull one earbud out, frowning at the plectrum between her fingers. "Is that mine?"

Bonnie couldn't believe she'd actually spoken to her. "What?"

Marceline sighed, as though repeating herself was some sort of chore. "I _said_ , is that mine?"

"It _was_ yours." Bonnibel carefully responded, closing her fingers around the pick and hiding it away. "You left it with me."

"Well, can I have it back?" Marceline held out her hand, as though she just expected Bonnie to say yes, completely ignoring how both her backpack and coat were sprawled across Bonnie's lap like she was some sort of coat hanger.

Bonnibel clenched it in her fist, shaking her head. "No, you can't."

Marceline blinked in surprise, her previously neutral facial expression collapsing into an irritated scowl. "It's mine. Just because I forgot it or dropped it in your room doesn't make it your possession."

If it was anything else they were talking about – a pen Marceline had let her borrow or something else trivial like that – Bonnie might've handed it over with an apology and not stood up for herself.

But not with this. She wasn't losing this.

"Good thing you didn't do either of those things, isn't it?" Bonnibel tucked the green pick back into her front pocket, where it'd been residing for the past month and a half. She made sure not to tell Marceline that she was wearing her black rock t-shirt underneath her purple coat – the way this conversation was going, she'd probably make Bonnie strip off then and there to get it back. "You gave it to me. You said it was for me. It's _mine_."

Bonnie's vision blurred as her eyes watered. _Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. Don't show her how much she's getting to you, Bonnie_. She wiped at her eyes anyway, probably smudging her makeup even more than she already had.

"Give it back." Marceline ordered, her voice louder than she'd expected. Bonnie flinched back – it was almost shouted. "I don't want you to have it anymore."

"It's just a guitar pick." Bonnibel looked down the aisle in an attempt to find one of her friends who was nearby who'd be willing to switch with her, Citron's wrath be damned. "Why do you care so much?"

"Why do you?" Marceline immediately shot back. "It's not like you're going to use it for anything."

"Maybe I like having something to remind me that things didn't always suck between us, alright?" Bonnibel snapped, its effect mitigated by the crack in her voice and the sob she had to force back. "Lay off, alright?"

Bonnibel took the pick out again, turning it over in her hands as if to emphasis her point. Playing with it had become habit recently – whenever she found herself crying over Marceline, she'd pull it out and fiddle with it, trying to remember the girl that had given it to her with a smile.

Marceline snatched it out of her hands, tucking it into her own pocket. "Thanks."

Then, she stuffed her earbud back in and turned to face the window, her expression remaining stoic and indifferent as Bonnie burst into tears.

* * *

Normally, Bonnie would find a science museum interesting. Normally, she'd be running around, trying to see everything she could, but that wasn't the case anymore. The last time she'd been in a science museum, it'd been on her first date, where she'd had her first kiss.

And with Marceline walking alongside her, not saying anything at all, it _hurt_.

She stuck with her friends and their buddies through most of it – they'd all mostly been paired together, but there were a few new additions to the group. Marceline chatted with Finn and everyone like nothing had happened, but completely blanked Bonnie like she wasn't even there. It was a kick in the teeth to hear her talk with Finn and Jake about comic books and action movies and not have her holding onto Bonnie's hand the whole time as they walked, silently communicating through hand-squeezes and knowing smiles.

Of course, when Principal Citron announced that they were going to be doing an activity in their pairs for the last two hours, both Bonnie and Marceline weren't very thrilled about it. He explained that it was a competition, and that the winning pair would get a free ticket back to the museum and a candy bar each.

They were handed out two sheets of paper, both double sided with questions on that they needed to go around the museum to find the answers to, and the prize would go to the fastest pair. 'A treasure hunt with a twist', Citron called it. Either way, when they were dismissed, Bonnie was certain that everyone just went to the cafeteria. A free ticket to a science museum two hours away from town didn't really appeal to many of her classmates, Bonnie guessed. The candy was the only real incentive, and they could just buy that from the store anyways.

She was probably the only one that was interested, but getting Marceline to cooperate with her didn't seem likely.

She looked over to the other girl, who was sat down on a bench near her, flicking through her phone and seeming indifferent to the world. Sighing, she walked over and sat down next to her, but not close enough to be touching her. No, that'd end in a slap.

"Um…so," Bonnie held up the paper, "are you interested in doing this?"

No response. Typical. Marceline didn't even look like she'd seen Bonnie sit down next to her, let along registered her question.

Bonnibel played with her fingers as a substitute for something else. "Let me rephrase that. I'd like to do this because I think it'd be interesting for me to come back here and look around in my free time. It's really cool. Um. Yeah, you don't care about that. Can you help me out here?"

Marceline scoffed. "Why the fuck should I help you?"

"Honestly, I don't have a reason. I just really want this and think it'd be fun." Bonnibel flicked through the sheets. "I'm just asking you to help me because I know you're not heartless."

"Oh," Marceline looked up at her for a moment, before turning back to her phone, "No, then."

"Okay, again with the rephrasing," Bonnie sucked in a deep breath, "If you don't help me, I'll tell on you to Citron and you'll get detention for a week."

"Fuck you," Marceline snapped at her, "Do that and I'll tell everyone something you don't want them to know. I think you're forgetting that I know all of your dirty little secrets."

Marceline had her and she knew it. Especially at the way Bonnibel tensed up and her eyes widened in terror. Of course, Marceline was bluffing, but Bonnie didn't need to know that.

Eventually, Bonnibel just sighed and put the sheets of paper down, wiping at her eyes and mumbling, "Okay. I just…forget it."

Marceline felt a little pang of guilt at the pit of her stomach at the way the little nerd seemed to deflate and collapse in on herself, twiddling her thumbs and staring down at her feet in forfeit.

God, she couldn't believe she was doing this. "Fine. We can do your fucking treasure hunt thing. I've got nothing better to do anyway."

Bonnie's face lit up in a way it hadn't for a long time, and her smile was so big and genuine and _happy_ that it felt almost alien to her. Without thinking, she flung her arms around Marceline's waist, pulling her close, "Oh, thank you so much! This really means a lot, I owe you -"

Marceline roughly shoved her away, " _Don't_ do that. And yes, you do owe me."

Bonnie sent her a grateful smile, the warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest so foreign to her. She knew it wouldn't last, so she vowed to enjoy it for as long as she could. "I'll do anything. Just…thanks for being civil and doing this for me. Thanks."

"Don't think this is going to last." Marceline folded her arms across her chest as she stood up. "The second we get back onto the bus, I'm done."

Bonnie nodded, her smile wobbling for a moment. "Of course. I wouldn't expect anything else."

Either way, Bonnie walked back towards the exhibits with a bounce in her step, one that hadn't made itself known for a very long time. And Marceline rolled her eyes at her, allowing herself a little smile at how cute Bonnie was when she was genuinely cheerful, before switching back to indifference before anyone noticed.

Bonnie clicked her pen, tracing it along the paper, "Apparently the answers to questions one to five are in this section. We best keep our eyes peeled, because we've got to be fast. I really want to come back here one day and it'd be even more awesome to get my admission for free. Sorry, I'm rambling."

"You never apologised for your rambling before," Marceline replied, "I don't see why you should now. I'm used to it."

Bonnie blinked, shaking her head to clear it of any inappropriate thoughts like how badly she wanted to hold Marceline's hand or grab her and kiss her. "Yes, of course. Sorry."

Bonnie could've sworn she saw a flash of a smile dance across Marceline's lips. "No worries. Give me that sheet, I don't even know what the questions are."

Marceline didn't wait for her to hand it over and grabbed it from Bonnie's hands. She read it over, frowning a little more as her eyes swept across the page. "Right. So, I don't know what any of this means. I'm about as useful as a goldfish in a wrestling match right now."

Bonnibel just smiled again, shaking her head, "No, you can help! See, this one is just about respiration. All of the questions are super easy – at least, for me – and I know the answers already."

Marceline stopped in her tracks, holding out the paper in Bonnie's direction. "If you know the answers already, then why do you need to drag me around this fucking museum again? Is this just some sort of ploy to get -"

Bonnie cut her off before she could say anything else and storm off somewhere. She had a civil Marceline for three hours, tops. She didn't want to mess up and lose that. "No, no, you don't – it has things here, see, where you write out the section and exhibition the answer is in. So I need to go around, even if I know what the answer is."

Marceline blinked down at the papers, and for a moment, Bonnie worried that she didn't believe her and was going to leave anyway. "Huh. They really thought of everything, didn't they?"

Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief, letting out a nervous laugh in response. "Yeah, they did. Not that I'd cheat anyway, but still."

"We probably don't need to hurry," Marceline paused to point out one of the answers to a question, "You're the only nerd that'd actually want to win free museum tickets. I just happen to be unfortunate enough to be paired with you."

"You could've easily just walked off and done your own thing," Bonnie murmured, "I wouldn't tell Citron that you did. I just…wanted you to stop ignoring me, even if it's just for a little while."

"Oh, alright," Marceline spun on her heels, "Bye, then."

Bonnie crumpled. Marceline noticed and stopped in her tracks.

"It's okay," Bonnie took a while to respond, "You can go. You don't owe me anything. You don't have to be here and be civil with me if it's making you uncomfortable."

Marceline just huffed, "Have you written down the section number yet?"

Bonnie paused for a moment, surprised by the change of topic, "Um…yeah. Why?"

"Because I want to get this done quickly so I can grab some coffee," Marceline grabbed her arm, pulling her down the corridor. Although Marceline's touch wasn't exactly the same as it had been, it was still enough to make Bonnie's heart overcompensate. "Come on, nerd. Let's get you your free tickets so I can split."

Hearing Marceline call her 'nerd' and the fond connotations behind it made Bonnie's stomach lurch and her heart leap and her breath catch in her throat, colour rising in her cheeks. "Yeah. Let's."

* * *

Bonnibel handed the question sheets over to Principal Citron with a proud smile. "There. Marceline and I got every single one of the answers with the correct exhibition and section numbers."

He flicked through it, sparing Marceline a suspicious glance, before nodding to himself and passing her the tickets and chocolate bars. "Well done. Nobody else has handed in anything yet, but I'm not expecting them to. I should've probably said that this was a compulsory task. I'm surprised you convinced Miss Abadeer to help you."

"She offered," Bonnie said, "I mentioned that it sounded fun and then she offered to help me out, and she really was a big help."

He sent her one of his unnerving smiles. "Well, you're free to do anything until three, when we're meeting back here and taking a roll call before going to the bus."

Bonnie took that as a dismissal, and spun on her heels and jogged back to Marceline, holding out a ticket and a chocolate bar. "Here. You helped, so…"

Marceline glanced down at Bonnie's offering with an eyebrow raised. " _Really_? You _really_ think I'm interested in chocolate and a ticket to a science museum? Keep them."

"I can't _not_ give you anything for helping me. I hurt you and you put all of that aside for a few hours to make me happy and that's so amazing and selfless and I have to do something for you," Bonnie rambled, "I'd feel… _dirty_ if I didn't."

Marceline chewed on her bottom lip, and Bonnie found it hard not to stare and think about how those teeth used to graze against her lip as they kissed. "Fine. I guess I'd appreciate you paying for my coffee."

Bonnibel nodded immediately, completely unhesitant. "Of course! Let's go to the cafeteria."

They walked in an uncomfortable silence, Bonnibel stealing glances at Marceline and having to force down any stupid comments like "Want to hide in that storage cupboard and make out?" but she managed to contain herself as they got into the line for drinks. She pulled out five dollars and bought Marceline a caramel latte with an extra two shots of flavouring and one packet of sugar, pressing the lid down to make sure it was secure and then passing it over to her.

Marceline took a sip of it, nodding in approval. "Awesome. Thanks."

She went and found a table, and Bonnie trailed after her, unsure if her cue to leave had already come or not. Judging by the confused look Marceline sent her as she sat down, it had, but she persevered and ate one of her chocolate bars as Marceline sipped on her coffee and didn't acknowledge her presence.

Bonnie stared at her, calming herself down and ignoring all of her nerves and worries. Clearing her throat, she spoke up. "Thanks, Marceline."

Finally, Marceline looked at her. "What for?"

"For putting aside everything that made you feel uncomfortable before and helping me. I know you're still mad at me and I know you want nothing to do with me again, and that kills me," Bonnie started, "but I'm not going to keep pushing you. If you want me to give up, I will. I'll never acknowledge you again, if that's what would make you happy. You talked to me today for the same reason. Just say the words and I'll leave."

Marceline stared back at her, stunned. She hadn't expected Bonnie to so willingly offer to leave her alone. _Just say the words_.

But she couldn't. Marceline physically couldn't make herself say it. And that was terrifying. Yes, she was mad, yes, she wanted to hate Bonnie, and _yes_ , she promised herself she wouldn't let Bonnie back in. But when Bonnie finally offered to never speak to her again, Marceline couldn't say the words to make her go.

Instead, she looked down at the table, letting out a deep breath. She dug around in her pocket, holding out her guitar pick. "Here. You clearly want it more than I do."

She dropped it into Bonnie's palm, turning back to her coffee.

She felt Bonnie give her a tight squeeze and she cringed at the butterflies in her stomach. "Thank you." Bonnie stood up, looking around the cafeteria for her friends. "I'll…see you around?"

Marceline looked up at her, the hopefulness in Bonnie's innocent blue eyes betraying her stoic expression. "Yeah. See you around."

And when Marceline got home that night and found the second ticket to the museum stuffed in her coat pocket, she couldn't help but smile.


	84. eighty-four.

**Friday 15th May 2015**

When the school bell rang signalling the end of Bonnie's last lesson, the pink haired girl suddenly felt a weight drop in her stomach. She only had one more week of high school left and then it was off to college. She thought she'd be excited, jumping up and down with butterflies in her stomach, but instead it felt like someone had dropped an anchor in her gut.

Bonnibel didn't particularly like high school, especially back in New York. Sure, she liked classes and learning new things, but being around judgemental peers? Gossip? Rumours? No thanks. The compulsory gym classes weren't Bonnie's favourite thing, either – she always ended up picked last for team sports – and she absolutely hated how she found a lot of the work unchallenging. So why was she feeling this way?

She sighed, swinging her pink backpack over her shoulder and walking out of her classroom. She pulled her bus ticket from her pocket and fiddled with it as she walked out of the main doors, spotting Marceline stood by her car. She smiled to herself, but didn't walk over. After they'd talked civilly on the school trip, Bonnibel had tried to distance herself. She'd smile at Marceline in classes they shared, but she didn't go out of her way to annoy her. Finn had explained to her that Marceline had been planning on cutting her out of her life completely – she'd cried for at least an hour when she heard that – and if awkward smiles from across the classroom were all she'd get, she'd take it.

Time. That was the most important thing for her. If she took her time, hopefully she'd be able to wheedle herself into a good enough position and Marceline would consider them friends again.

Except she didn't have time. She was graduating in a _week_. The only chance she'd have to see Marceline after that was prom, if she even went, and Bonnie knew for a fact that she'd gone to Keila's senior prom with her so she probably wouldn't think it necessary for her to show up.

Maybe she could talk to Bea about it at some point, but mostly their texts were focused on organising a time for her to come and visit.

She walked over to her bus stop, pausing as she waited for it to pull up. She slid her phone from her pocket and typed out a text, just to vent her feelings.

_**Bonnie (3:26PM): It's crazy to think that we're graduating in a week, isn't it? I find it hard to believe how much has changed since I was the weird new girl a year and a half ago. I used to be so picky about making friends and I would judge people on looks and now I only care about the person inside. And I know that I've always been so excited about college and talking about graduating like it's an easy thing, but I'm actually really scared. It's like…now that the big event is only a week away, it's suddenly a lot more terrifying than it seemed six months ago. When I first moved here, I wanted nothing more than for graduation to come so I could go back home, but now I don't want to leave my home. I love it here. I love the little things like how small everything is compared to New York. I loved driving around in your car more than taking the subway. And soon it's all going to just be a memory. The future's coming up on me fast and honestly I'm nowhere near as prepared as I like pretending to be. I don't know if I'm going to handle college, let alone med school. I don't know if I'll actually be a doctor like my Mom. I don't know if I'll have time to do my own experiments and research and create something amazing that I can share with the world. I don't know if I'll ever have a wife or kids or even a pet goldfish and that uncertainty terrifies me. As a scientist, I fear the unknown and graduation almost symbolises how I'm going to be thrown into the unknown the second I get handed that diploma. I don't want high school to end. I had fun here. It's funny how I'm more scared to move back to New York alone than I ever was to move here, isn't it?** _

Bonnibel pressed the send button without a second thought, locking her phone and stuffing it in her pocket as her bus pulled up. She showed her ticket to the driver and found a seat close to the front, placing her bag on her lap to leave the place next to her open.

She didn't expect the recipient to respond to her text. In fact, it'd be more of a surprise if they did than if they didn't. Either way, when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket, she felt a little jolt of excitement in her chest. Maybe a little bit of hope mixed in with it, too.

_**Marceline (3:34PM): I know how you feel, I'm not exactly the type of person that just accepts change easily and it's super upsetting to think that this time next year everything will be so different and weird and alien. I don't like it at all. But you of all people don't need to worry. I know that you're probably the biggest perfectionist on the planet, but you really don't need to be afraid of college, because everyone knows you're going to go far. I swear, in ten years you'll have won like, three Nobel Prizes and I'll be sitting there in my trash can like 'yep I fucking called it'. And you'll have a super-hot wife and as many kids and goldfish as you'd like. Don't be scared of the world, Bonnie. Because you're going to fucking own it.** _

Bonnie read over the text at least five times before she let out a little squeak in happiness and squeezed her phone against her torso, almost as if Marceline would get a virtual hug in response. That was the first one of her texts that Marceline had replied to in months. She always ignored Bonnie's casual hellos and attempts at conversation, so getting a response was kind of a big deal.

_**Bonnie (3:36PM): That's the most amazing thing anyone's ever said to me. And coming from my ex-girlfriend…wow. Thank you so much. I'll see you at graduation?** _

That one, Marceline didn't reply to, but that didn't matter to Bonnie. The first text mattered more than anything else. Bonnie allowed herself a wide smile, reading it over again. She couldn't believe that it was actually there.

(She took screenshots just to make sure.)

She hadn't wiped the smile off her face by the time she arrived home, her cheeks flushed a light pink colour to match her hair.

"Bonnibel?" Her mom glanced up from where she was sat on the couch, "What's got you so smiley all of a sudden?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Bonnie assured. "Just a nice text from Marceline."

"Marceline," Lynn repeated, "Are you two…?"

Bonnibel read into the unspoken end of that question. "No, we're not back together. I don't even know if we're civil, but…it was just really sweet and it made me happy."

"Well, that's nice. I know how much you care about her and I hope you two will get through this," Bonnibel took her Mom's reassuring smile as a good thing. For the first time, she was starting to believe that they might. "Are you going to do a little bit of studying tonight?"

"Yes," Bonnie confirmed, "Can you come and take my notebooks and things from me at seven? I'd like to get to sleep a little earlier tonight."

"Of course," Bonnibel sent her Mom a grateful smile before she jumped up and headed to her room, pink backpack slung over her shoulder.

She flopped down on her bed, pulling her notebook out of her bag and flipping open the front cover. Time to think about her studies and do her science work.

Still, when she clicked her pen and Marceline drifted into her mind again, she paused for a few moments to smile and wipe the blush from her cheeks.

* * *

Bonnie was halfway through a recap activity on respiration when her bedroom door was pushed open and Marceline walked – more like _fell_ – into her room. She closed the door by falling against it, turning to Bonnibel still resting against it.

Bonnie blinked, sure that the other girl was a figment of her imagination. Marceline wouldn't willingly show up at her house without some sort of motive. Maybe it was a dare or something. That made sense.

Eventually, Bonnie cleared her throat and said, "What are you doing here?" and immediately cringed at how blunt that sounded, and at how much this situation was reminding her of something else.

"I need you to hide me." Marceline toppled onto her bed, bringing her knees up to her chest. "You owe me and I need this."

Bonnie dropped her pen, spinning around on her chair, "Are you drunk right now?"

" _No_ ," Marceline's response was snapped and defensive, but her half-hearted glare easily liquefied into a sheepish expression, "I'm just…a little tipsy."

Bonnibel reached across her desk, grabbing her phone and checking the time. "It's half five in the evening. Why are you already drinking?"

"That's none of your business. Just let me crash here for a while. Half an hour, tops," Marceline replied, leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes. "Just so I can sober up. Simon will kill me if I -"

Bonnie picked up on how she stopped herself. She quickly stacked up her papers, capping her highlighters and pens, and then standing up and sitting down on her bed next to Marceline. She'd do things differently this time. "Talk to me. Why would Simon be mad if you went home? And why do you need hiding?"

"I ran into Ash at the bar -"

"You were in a _bar_?" Bonnie interrupted. She was fairly certain that Marceline wouldn't be able to get into bars until she was legal to drink. And if she was tipsy… "How did you get in? And how did you get alcohol?"

"Fake ID." Marceline kept her eyes shut, her hands falling to her sides. "I need hiding because Ash was there and he said some things and then I said some mildly terrifying things and then it turns out that he wasn't alone and had like six other guys with him and they started following me…"

Bonnie had to admit that she was incredibly worried about how Marceline was hanging around bars and drinking at 5PM on a Friday night, but she didn't comment. Marceline probably wouldn't tell her the reasons for it, so she didn't bother.

"Of course you can camp out here. I know how much of an uber-jerk Ash is, and accompanied with other guys…I don't want to think about what could happen there." Bonnie took a dangerous leap and put her hand on top of Marceline's. "But why would Simon be mad at you for going home?"

"He -" Marceline sighed, hiding her head in her knees. "I'm not – you'll get judgemental about it."

"Hey, don't worry," Bonnie looped her pinky around Marceline's, "no judgement over here. Talk to me."

Marceline huffed, "He found me passed out from drinking the night we broke up. I slept through all of Sunday and he told me that I shouldn't – that I'm not _allowed_ to drink while I'm sad because he thinks I'll turn into an alcoholic or something. But I don't fucking – _ugh_."

"And have you been doing it anyway?" Even though that was becoming rather obvious, Bonnie just wanted to double check if it was the first time this had happened.

Marceline mumbled something that sounded a lot like a 'yes', finally looking up at Bonnie. "It's not like it's a problem, though. I can keep it under control, and I don't want him ordering me around. If I want to drink for false happiness, I fucking will."

 _False happiness_. That was the one thing stuck in Bonnie's mind. Had Marceline's depression gotten bad again? Was it Bonnie's fault?

"Are you back on your depression medication?" Bonnie blurted that out before her brain could keep her mouth firmly shut. "I'm sorry, I didn't…I shouldn't have pried."

Marceline just scowled. "Yeah, you shouldn't have. When you break someone's heart you stop getting all of those juicy details about what medications they're on. Sorry to disappoint."

Bonnibel looked down, her weak smile wobbling and her words coming out in a broken whisper, "Um, Ash is probably gone now. You could leave if you want. I still don't see why you came to _me_ in the first place."

"It was either you and your obsessive studying or him and his goons. You're the lesser of two evils." Marceline explained, "And I still need to sober up before going home to Simon."

"Alright," Bonnie stood up, "I'll grab you a glass of water. I don't know how drunk you need to be to get a hangover when you're sober again, but it's best to be safe. I'll be two seconds."

Bonnibel slipped out of the room before Marceline could protest, letting out a big sigh of relief when she was out of the other girl's view. This definitely wasn't how she expected she'd be spending her Friday night, but life could throw weird obstacles at you sometimes and this was just one that Bonnie had to get past, so she filled up a glass with water and padded back up the stairs to find Marceline still in the same position as before, on her phone. Texting Keila, no doubt, probably an SOS text to get her out of Bonnie's bedroom. Bonnibel tried not to take that personally.

"Here," Bonnie leaned over her bed and passed Marceline the glass of water, "Drink up. After that you can take a nap, if you'd like. I'll wake you up in a few hours when my Mom comes up to get my notebooks and things for the night at around half six or seven-ish."

Marceline drained the water, "Thanks. You sure you're okay with me just going to sleep?"

Bonnie sent her a soft smile, "Yeah, it's alright. You need to sober up, it's not like you came over here to see me."

"Good point," Marceline pulled back Bonnie's bedsheets, tucking herself in and resting her head on the pillow. "Goodnight, I – wait, what's this?"

Marceline shuffled to the side a little, producing a piece of black fabric from underneath the sheets. It took Bonnie a few moments to realise that the black fabric was Marceline's shirt. "Oh. Um, that's nothing, just…must've left it in there…uh – just ignore that. Stuff it under my pillow."

"You actually _kept_ the shirt I gave you?" Marceline frowned at it, spreading it out in front of her, "Must've left it in there? For two months?"

Bonnibel barked out an awkward laugh, "Just ignore it. Put it under the pillow."

"You still have it." Marceline seemed perplexed by the mere thought, "Why do you still have it?"

Bonnie nearly lunged across the room to snatch it from Marceline's grip, quickly shoving it in the closet. "I don't – it's not…I just _do_ , alright?"

Marceline raised an eyebrow in… _amusement?_ Bonnie, although surprised, knew it was because of how red her cheeks had flushed. "Alright. Well…goodnight, I guess."

With that, she turned over in the bed and left Bonnie flushing bright red, unable to focus on any of her work as she calmed herself down.

She tried for at least half an hour to focus on her science revision, but eventually just closed her notebook with a sigh. She couldn't concentrate with Marceline behind her, even if she was completely asleep.

(Bonnie assumed she was, at least.)

She looked over at Marceline and then up at the clock. It was only just past six. _How_ had she only been there for half an hour? It felt like a decade already.

Bonnie jotted down a few more notes in her notebook – just things to remind her where she left off for tomorrow – and then gathered up her things to take downstairs. She walked into the front room, where her mother was sat with her laptop out, apparently doing some Amazon shopping. Bonnie put her notebooks on the coffee table and sat down on the couch. "Here. I decided to finish up early."

Lynn glanced up from the laptop, "Why's that? You don't usually finish up until I come and get your things."

"Yeah, but I couldn't concentrate with Marceline sleeping behind me," Bonnie let out a sigh, "How do you stop being in love with someone?"

"It takes time," Lynn slowly began, "but since when was Marceline here?"

"Didn't you let her in?" Bonnibel's face sunk into a frown, "She came half an hour ago. Said she needed hiding. Apparently her ex-boyfriend was chasing her with a load of other guys and I don't think he'd hesitate in doing something horrible to her."

Bonnie thought her Mom would latch onto the whole 'Marceline letting herself in' thing, but surprisingly, she didn't. "Ex- _boyfriend_? I thought she was gay like you."

"No, she's bisexual," Bonnie explained, "and this ex-boyfriend is probably the king of the jerks. Apparently I'm the 'lesser of two evils'."

Bonnie looked down at her lap, allowing herself a small smile when she was pulled into her Mom's arms. "I'm sure she didn't realise that saying that upset you."

"Yeah," Bonnie let out a shaky breath, "She can be pretty oblivious sometimes. I miss her. _God_ , she's upstairs and I miss her."

"Tell her that, then," Her Mom advised, "The only way you two can make up is if you talk things over."

"I've tried. She's not interested." Bonnie sighed, standing up and stretching, "I'm going to make something to eat and then wake Marceline up. Thanks for the talk."

Bonnibel made her way into the kitchen and focused on making herself dinner. She settled with spaghetti, making a little bit extra just for Marceline; she didn't know how much she'd been eating lately.

Then, she took two bowls upstairs, setting one on her now clear desk and one on her bedside table. She leaned over and shook Marceline awake, smiling when she saw her stretch and hide her face further into Bonnie's pillow.

"Come on, lazy pants. Get up," Bonnie shook her a little bit more, "it's dinner time."

"It's sleep time." Marceline shot back as Bonnie pulled the covers off her.

"I'll sit on you if you don't get up," Bonnie threatened, " _or_ I'll tickle you."

Marceline seemed to take this threat seriously and sat up, " _Fine_. God. What're you talking about dinner for?"

"I was making dinner and I made you some too. It's my famous spaghetti. Hope you like it." Bonnibel placed the bowl on Marceline lap, grabbing her own and sitting down next to her, "I felt like it'd be rude for me to make my own dinner and not offer you something."

"You don't need to be so hospitable. I was just here to hide and sober up." Marceline ate a forkful of it anyway, despite any protests she had. "I still don't want to be your friend."

Bonnie's stomach turned to led and her throat closed over. "Oh. Alright then. Um – well, still, I wanted to be a good hostess."

"And I know you're probably wondering what that text was earlier if I don't want to be friends again," Marceline started, and Bonnie really didn't want her to finish. Anything she said would just hurt Bonnie more, not that she didn't feel like she deserved it. "I was just stating fact, things that should be obvious to you by now anyway. You were scared and I'm not heartless. But we're even now. No need to talk to me again."

"I want you to be my friend again, though." Bonnibel murmured. She knew it was useless, that Marceline would just scoff and roll her eyes and bark out some upsetting insult about how she wouldn't touch Bonnie again even with a thirty foot long pole. "Well, I mean, I want you to be my _girl_ friend again, but I know that's not happening. I know that you basically hate me now and what hurts the most is that I deserve it. I've never not wanted you in my life. When I hurt you, I was stressed and tired and wasn't thinking clearly and it sucks that things had to end that way when in reality I didn't want them to end at all. And I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you when your Dad found out about your…eating problems. I should've been there and there's no excuse for how awful I was."

Marceline stared at her for a moment, putting her fork in her bowl and setting it aside. "I should go. Simon will be wondering where I am."

Bonnibel swallowed the lump in her throat, trying to ignore the stinging in her eyes, "Um, yeah, you wouldn't want to worry him. I just…can I say something?"

"Will it be something else about how sorry you are?" Marceline almost _snapped_ back at her. "Because it won't change anything. I'm not letting you back in."

Bonnie went ahead and said it anyway. "After the museum, I thought things were getting better. I thought that we'd maybe have another shot at being friends before we graduate. Everyone had been telling me that once we both cooled off, things would get better and we'd be friends again. Hell, even _Bea_ told me that. And you were civil with me and actually helped me and we talked and I just…I started to believe my friends. I started to listen to them and got all sorts of false hopes and now you're – you seem to have changed your mind. You don't like me again and it hurts."

"I didn't ' _change my mind'_." Marceline shot back, moving over to the door, "I made it perfectly clear that I'd be civil until we got back on that bus, and I was. So don't go acting like I led you on or anything. Don't try to put the blame on me. _You're_ the reason we're in this mess. It's your fault, and not because you're into your science or studying or because you just ' _really want to get to college_ '. You're _cold_ , Bonnie. Once you take away that fucking act you put on like you're the nicest person on the planet, you're fucking _cold_ , and it's not because of those things I said before. It's because you're a bad person. Something inside you is messed up and makes you as fucking selfish as you are. The only reason you're being so nice and acting like you are is because you _want_ something, and I'm fucking done with that. I'm fucking done with _you_."

With that, Bonnie's bedroom door was slammed shut, and she collapsed back on her bed in tears. She sobbed into her pillow, unable to think about anything other than her ex-girlfriend and how she'd ruined everything.

Most of all, she couldn't stop thinking about how everything Marceline said was true.

It was all true. Bonnie could be cold. If something happened that she didn't like, she'd be hostile. And yes, she was being so nice and trying to change everything because she _did_ want something. She wanted Marceline.

She didn't sleep at all that night. Not with Marceline's scent lingering on her sheets.


	85. eighty-five.

** Friday 22nd May 2015 **

Bonnibel stared down at the diploma in her left hand, unable to believe it was actually there and that this day wasn't just a dream in her head. She'd graduated. She'd actually finished high school. She'd never do an experiment in the science labs again. She'd never have another lesson with the same teachers. She'd never hear one of Principal Citron's morning announcements again. She'd never sit on the back field with her friends again. She'd done so many things for the last time in this past week that she didn't really know how to take it all in.

Lady ran up from behind her, slinging an arm around her shoulder. Her graduation cap was askew and she looked like she'd just run all the way from the back field. "Hey, Bonnibel, we're going to take a group photo with all of us who've just graduated and our parents. _Then_ we're going to take another photo with just everyone in the group. You in?"

Bonnibel nodded, looking over to her parents. "Uh…yeah, sure. Once my Mom stops crying though."

Lady followed her gaze, laughing at Lynn who had her face hidden in Peter's shoulder. "Oh, wow. You should've seen mine when we were getting our diplomas. Actually, you should've seen Finn."

Bonnie laughed, "Trust me, I did. He'll probably say that he just had something in his eye, right?"

"Probably. Finn's always been one to protect his pride," Lady commented, looking over to the blond boy. His eyes were red and puffy from crying. "He's been dreading today, I think. Most of his friends are leaving and heading off to university. It must suck for him."

"Yeah. I'm not too thrilled about the whole 'going to university' thing, to be honest." Bonnie admitted. In fact, as of late, university had become the _last_ thing she wanted to do. She hated the thought of change and probably never seeing any of her friends again. "It just seems like a kind of…evil, looming on the horizon. That sounds so weird."

"No, I get what you mean," Lady assured her, "I'm just surprised that's coming from you. Three months ago you were desperate to go to college. Now you look like you want summer to last forever so you don't have to go."

"I _do_ want summer to last forever. I think about it, and I don't want to move back to New York." Bonnie disclosed, looking over to her parents. "My parents won't be coming back with me, and although these past few months have been suckish, 2014 was probably one of the best years of my life. I don't want to let this place go but now that graduation has happened…I have to."

"You know she's staring at you, right?" Lady told her, staring straight ahead. Bonnie just frowned. "Marceline. She's looking at you. She's to your right, with Keila."

"She made it pretty clear that she hates me," Bonnie folded her arms across her chest. "I doubt she's looking at me. She's probably looking at something behind me."

"She's been staring at you for at least five minutes and there's nothing behind us but a bunch of crying parents." Lady told her, rolling her eyes as if Bonnie was being difficult. "You should talk to her. It might be your last chance to."

" _Again_ , she hates me. Talking to her would be a death wish." Bonnie shot back, looking over to her parents. "I'm going to go and get my parents for that picture you were talking about."

She spun on her heels, her graduation gown twirling like a prom dress as she walked over to her parents, sitting down next to them.

She cleared her throat to get her still crying Mom's attention. "Hey, guys. My friends and their parents want us in a group photo."

Peter smiled, standing up and bringing Lynn with him. "Alright. Have you wished all of your friends good luck for the future?"

"I'm going to be seeing them through summer, Dad," Bonnie reminded him. She spared Marceline a quickly glance, but the other girl was talking to Keila, not looking in her direction at all. She wanted to be mad at Lady for getting her hopes up, but she couldn't bring herself to be. It was graduation. Not time for arguments.

She led her parents over to her friends and laughed at how most of their parents were as bad as her Mom. At least now, Lynn had stopped crying and started wiping at her eyes – Lady's Mom was still going.

Bonnie felt LSP grab onto her and push her next to Jake, "You go there, your parents go behind you, and then we should be all set."

Naturally, she was in control of the mini photoshoot they were having. Anything to do with the way she looked, LSP was in charge, no questions asked.

Bonnie stayed in position, holding her Mom's hand and smiling for the camera. She hoped it looked real enough – she'd hate to look upset in her graduation photo – but she felt like something was missing. Like someone was missing.

Finn snapped the photo for them and then passed the camera back to Lady's still tearful Mom, who promised to send the picture to all of the other parents.

Bonnibel was double checking her phone for notifications – as usual, there weren't any – when she was pulled into a huge hug by Finn. "I'm going to miss you, you know."

Bonnie pulled back, laughing, "You do realise I'm not leaving yet, right? College doesn't start until the fall."

"But still, you're not going to be in school for the next month." Finn pointed out, "It's going to be super weird not seeing you in some of my classes and stuff and not seeing you at breaks."

"I know. Lots of things are going to change, but I'll see you over summer." Bonnie assured him, "I'm sure our friends will have multiple get-togethers."

"Yeah, good point," He smiled, "Will you video call me when you're back in New York?"

"Of course I will," Bonnibel confirmed, "Just give me your screen name at the end of summer and we'll Skype."

Finn glanced behind Bonnie for a moment and allowed himself a small, knowing smile. "I should go. LSP will want us all 'in place' for the group picture."

"Alright," Bonnibel's face sunk into a frown as he quickly walked back over to their friends, and she turned around to see what he'd been looking at, just out of curiosity.

She definitely didn't expect to see Marceline standing there, fiddling with her graduation cap. "Hey."

"Uh…," Bonnie looked around her, just to double check that Marceline was actually talking to her, "hi. What can I do for you?"

Marceline sighed, "Just…good luck for the whole college-med school-wife-kids thing."

Bonnie's frown sunk deeper into her face, "Why are you wishing _me_ good luck, after everything I did and everything you said? I thought you hated me."

Marceline shook her head, leaning against a wall, "I just didn't want your lasting memory of me to be… _that_."

Bonnibel's face almost split in two from the big grin that exploded on it. "Wow. That's really…cool of you. Good luck with the whole music thing. I know I'll be hearing your songs on the radio in a few years."

Marceline smiled. She actually _smiled_ at something that Bonnibel had said, for the first time in months. "Thanks. I'll – um, maybe see you in New York sometime?"

Bonnie's smile dropped and her eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Well, you never know. We might run into one another sometime," Bonnibel's face fell. That wasn't what she interpreted that as. "So…it's a possibility. Maybe in a few years. I don't know."

Bonnie's stomach felt like lead. "Yeah, maybe."

"Well…goodbye, I guess," Marceline sent her an awkward attempt at a smile and fiddled with her hair, pushing her bangs back towards her hairline, "Um…yeah. Bye."

Marceline turned to walk away, and Bonnibel felt tears stinging at her eyes. "Wait. Take a picture with me?"

"Of course," Marceline turned back around, not commenting when Bonnie put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Bonnie snapped the photo and tried not to take how Marceline quickly pulled away from her personally. "Um…I'll – yeah, bye."

"Do you want me to send you the photo?" Bonnie asked, trying to prolong Marceline's departure for as long as possible.

"No, that's okay," Marceline replied, Bonnie rather obviously deflating, "Bye, Bonnibel."

Bonnie didn't like it when Marceline called her that one bit. "Goodbye. Uh…I love you."

Bonnibel cringed when the words came tumbling out of her mouth. _Idiot,_ she cursed herself _, why did you say that? She's obviously freaked out and you ruined an already awkward moment._

"Um, yeah," Marceline turned around, "Bye,"

Bonnibel watched her walk away with something tugging in her chest. Then, she wiped at her eyes and turned back to her friends, pulling out her phone to look at the photo she'd taken. She smiled at it, but not in a good way. She and Marceline were stood close, smiling at the camera like nothing was wrong. It looked like it came from some alternate, better dimension where she and Marceline were still together and they were happy.

If Bonnie could jump through the screen and get to that dimension, she would. Without a second thought.


	86. eighty-six.

** Sunday 31st May 2015 **

Bonnibel walked through the air conditioned mall, licking at her ice cream cone. She sat back down on the bench that she was previously occupying, passing the other ice cream cone she was holding to her companion.

"Thanks, Bonnibel," Bea smiled, tasting it, "Mint chocolate chip. You remembered."

"Of course I remembered," Bonnie rolled her eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You were my best friend for two years and I had a huge crush on you. How could I forget?"

"Speaking of best friends," Bea's smile dropped into something more serious and Bonnie knew she wouldn't want to know what the rest of her sentence was going to be, "when do I get to meet Lady? I'm sure we have a lot of best friend knowledge to exchange."

"If that's what'll happen, you're meeting her _never_ ," Bonnie said, "maybe you'll run into her in _hell_ where you're both experiencing eternal torture for embarrassing me."

"That's a bit cruel, sending me to hell for that," Bea elbowed Bonnie in the side, "but I guess I deserve it. Maybe if I don't tell her about that time you literally fell into a trash can?"

"You said you'd never mention that again," Bonnie glared at her in mock hurt, "I swear, if that gets out here, Lady will never let me forget it. Maybe you two would be great friends."

If Bonnie was being honest, she thought that the person Bea would get along with the most out of all of her friends here was LSP. And that definitely wasn't a good thing.

"We sound like we'd be a great villainous duo." Bea laughed, before sobering up and sending Bonnie a look that worried her. A look that told her they'd be talking about something sensitive. "So…have you made friends with Marceline again? How are things going on that front?"

Bonnibel sighed. Of _course_ she'd want to know. "Um…we had an argument and she called me a bad person, and then she came over to be at graduation -"

Bea's face twisted into a glare. "If she ruined your graduation, I swear -"

"She didn't ruin my graduation. Well, not intentionally," Bonnie cut in. She thought about how weird this was, Bea comforting her about Marceline. A year ago, it was the other way around. "She came over to me and said goodbye. It was too…final. We took a picture together and then I accidentally told her that I loved her and she just kind of…left. And I'm never going to see her again."

"Everything will be okay once you move on," Bea squeezed Bonnie's thigh.

Bonnibel had noticed that a lot of people had been saying that lately. _Move on_. Before graduation, people were assuring her that it was fine, that she and Marceline would cool off and get back together. Then they cooled off and people stopped saying things. Once graduation passed, Lady had told her that she'd move on and find another girl. Her Mom had said the same thing. And now Bea was saying it.

"You know, if I'm going to be honest, I didn't like her," Bea announced, not surprising Bonnibel at all, "I knew things would go sideways when I saw you with her at McDonald's."

Bonnie tilted her head to the side in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"She had that whole 'too cool' thing going. Dating the bad boy – or bad _girl_ , in your case – never works out. There are too many complications, especially with your clashing personalities," Bea explained to her. Bonnie's frown deepened as she spoke, "It was either you two broke up or she'd drag you into a life of alcohol and drugs and stuff. I mean, the whole reason you broke up was because she didn't want you to _study_ as much."

Bonnibel blinked, "Well…I don't know about that, but I loved her a lot. And she'd never push me into things. She was so sweet."

Bea raised an eyebrow, "You don't know that. The whole 'stop studying' could've led onto 'come to a party' or 'drink alcohol' or something."

"I do know that," Bonnie persisted, "Marceline went to plenty of parties and never once pushed me to attend. She tried to stop me because she was worried about me, and rightfully so. I should've listened to her. You know, I think she's so much smarter than me."

"Nobody's smarter than you," Bea smiled at her, "Besides, Marceline was a distasteful, lazy punk who probably did nothing more with her time after school than get drunk. You could do so much better."

Bonnibel sighed, looking down at her feet. "You really think that?"

"Uh, _yeah_ ," Bea rolled her eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You're amazing, Bonnibel. And any girl would be lucky to have you. You don't need some bad-mannered lowlife who'll just drag you down in a few years' time."

Bonnibel opened her mouth to respond, when a shadow fell over her and she looked up to see Keila. And a very angry looking Keila at that. "Keila? What're you doing here?"

"Oh, nothing, you know," Keila glared at her, "just walking around the mall with my best friend and we overhear you two calling her all these names. This one," Keila glanced over at Bea, "doesn't know her, but I expected better from you. _God_ , I really thought you two had a shot, as well."

"No, I wasn't –" Bonnie shook her head, "I didn't say anything bad about her."

Keila scoffed, "Yeah, don't bother lying. We fucking _heard_ you. You know what? She deserved better than _you_."

"I _didn't_ say anything about her!" Bonnie exclaimed, standing up in an effort to leave. "I said she was smarter than me. That she was right. That I _love_ her."

"Funny, we didn't hear any of that." Keila stepped around her and stopped her from walking away. "We just heard the part where you and your friend here called her a 'bad-mannered lowlife'. I can't believe I actually used to like you."

"I didn't -" Bonnie cut herself off with an exasperated sigh, "I don't think that. I would never think that of her. Can I go now?"

"No, you're going to listen to me," Keila folded her arms across her chest, "If you go near her again, I won't hesitate to give you a broken nose. You've hurt her so much already and we come to the mall for a nice day out so I can cheer her up without letting her get drunk, and then she overhears you saying negative things about her and runs off having a fucking panic attack before I can do anything about it. And I swear to _god_ , if she shows up on my doorstep crying one more time because of _you_ , you're dead."

"If Marceline's having a panic attack somewhere, why don't you go and do her some actual good rather than standing here yelling at me for something that I didn't even _do_?" Bonnie snapped back, "Bea was trying to make me feel better about never seeing her again, and if putting Marceline down was the way she decided to do that, that's down to her, _not_ me."

"You could've told her to shut up," Keila had raised her voice, and Bonnie knew that definitely wasn't a good thing, "You could've _defended_ her. You could've told _Bea_ how fucking wrong she is about my best friend. But _no_. You hurt her _yet_ again."

"And like I said before, what are you doing to comfort her?" Bonnie argued back. She wasn't being yelled at for something she didn't even _do_. She wasn't taking the blame for anything Bea said. "Instead of shouting at me, why don't you go and be a decent best friend and make her feel better?"

Bonnibel didn't see Keila's fist coming.

Her hand instinctively flew up to her nose, the throbbing pain in it finally registering. It came away stained red and the second time Keila's fist came towards her, she saw it in her peripheral vision and knew she wouldn't have time to duck away.

Someone stood between them and Keila stopped almost instantly.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Keila's arms fell to her sides and Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief, silently thanking Bea with a nod when she passed her a few tissues for her nose.

"Stopping you from doing something even more stupid than punching her," Marceline replied, putting a hand on Keila's shoulder, "I'm over it. It's fine."

"You and I both know you're fucking lying and that she deserved that," Keila snapped, "She deserves more than that."

"You think I don't agree with you?" Marceline shot back, "But I don't want you getting into trouble just because you went into overprotective mode. She's not worth it."

Bonnie tried to ignore the stinging pain in her chest as she heard that. It was a lot worse than the throbbing in her nose.

"But you are," Keila persisted, "Can I hit her again?"

Marceline shook her head. "Nope. You can buy me some acoustic guitar strings with your staff discount though. I'd really appreciate that."

"Fine," Keila spared Bonnibel one last venomous glare, stalking away from them with Marceline closely behind her.

Bonnibel watched after them for a while, long after they'd both disappeared from view, stuck in some sort of trance. Marceline had helped her.

Bonnie sat back on the bench, looking up to Bea. "Is your nose okay?"

Bonnibel nodded, "Yeah. I should be alright. I think it's starting to stop bleeding."

"God, I can't believe that bitch," Bea glared in the direction Marceline and Keila had gone in, "I can't believe she just hit you like that. I should've done something."

Bonnie tried not to comment on how her nose probably wouldn't be bleeding if Bea had just said something. She didn't want this trip to end in an argument. That wouldn't be good at all.

"Keila had her reasons to be angry and I don't blame her for that," Bonnie replied, "I'm not too thrilled about getting punched, obviously, but I'm not angry. She was right. I deserved it."

"You didn't." Bea collapsed onto the bench next to her, "You didn't want to date her best friend anymore and she just freaks out like that? What a weirdo."

"I _do_ want to date her, though. That's what she doesn't get." Bonnie sighed, "Marceline doesn't want to date _me_. It's the other way around. I've tried and she wants nothing to do with me. Maybe you're right. Maybe I should just give up. It sounds a lot less painful."

"Yeah. Screw her," Bea squeezed Bonnie's hand. Two years ago that would've sent shivers down Bonnie's spine. Now it didn't do anything, "Find someone else and show her how much you don't need her."

Bonnie nodded. "Yeah. You're right. I don't need Marceline. If she can do fine without me, I can do fine without her."

Bea beamed at her, "That's the spirit. Come on, let's do something fun. We could do a science experiment back at your place?"

Bonnibel finally tried a smile. "Yeah, that sounds like an amazing idea."

* * *

Keila was still seething with anger by the time they arrived at the music store. " _God,_ I can't believe you ever dated her, dude. She's such a fucking bitch."

"She's…she was right, though," Marceline sighed, plucking her guitar strings from the hanger they were on, "I would've just dragged her down."

"You're ten times better than she'll ever be, alright?" Keila's smile was ineffective due to it still being half an angry scowl, "Don't believe a word she says. Or that fucking bitch she was with."

"Bea." Marceline said the name monotonously. She was trying to ignore the fact that Bonnie had previously had a huge crush on Bea _and_ had said she wasn't going to make up with her. Yet, there she was, stood in the middle of the mall with her ex-girlfriend like she hadn't outed her and made her school life a misery. "That one, I'll agree with you wholeheartedly. She _is_ a bitch."

"Perfect friend for Bonnibel then, isn't she?" Keila paid for the strings and passed them to Marceline, nodding over to the coffee shop. "Want to get a drink?"

"If you're buying." Marceline murmured, following Keila up to the coffee shop. She found a table, sitting down and waiting for Keila to buy her a caramel latte. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, going onto Bonnie's Facebook page. She did a little bit of scrolling, nothing on it setting off any alarm bells. In fact, Bonnie had barely been active for the past few months. There were only two posts since January, neither of those made by Bonnibel – there was a post of tagged photos from graduation from Lady, and a status update of LSP's that she was tagged in.

The last post from Bonnibel was a status written on New Year's Day, reading ' _Had a great New Year with my amazing girlfriend_ _ **Marceline Abadeer**_ _and I hope all of my friends and New York family that I didn't get to see had fun too! :)'_.

Marceline blinked in an attempt to hold back tears. She wasn't going to cry over Bonnibel any longer. No, Bonnie didn't deserve her tears. Keila was right – she needed to move on. She was never going to see Bonnibel again. She didn't need to think about her anymore; it was incredibly unlikely that they'd run into one another in New York, and even if Marceline _did_ see her, she'd probably just hide until Bonnie left.

Marceline scrolled up on Bonnie's page, hitting the 'unfriend' button on the top without a second thought. She _did_ have a little internal conflict when a message reading ' _Are you sure you want to unfriend Bonnibel Butler_?' flashed on the screen, but she sucked in a deep breath and pressed _yes_ , waiting as Bonnie's page reloaded. All she could see was the profile picture. _Good_.

Keila sat down in front of her, putting her coffee in front of her, "What're you doing on your phone?"

"Deleting people from my life," Marceline replied, taking a sip of coffee and helping herself to a little bit of the cupcake Keila had bought herself, "I just unfriended Bonnie."

"About time," Keila rolled her eyes, "Do you think she'll notice?"

"Probably," Marceline replied, drumming her fingers against the table, "maybe, I don't know. If she looks at my page, then yes. If not, she might not notice."

"What if she adds you again?" Keila raised a challenging eyebrow, "You'd better keep your walls up and ignore her."

"I will," Marceline nodded, albeit a little distractedly, "Promise. I'm done with her."

"Then why do you look like something is still bothering you?" Keila asked, reaching over to squeeze Marceline's hand from across the table. "Come on. You know you can tell me anything."

Marceline looked Keila over – she seemed to have calmed down a lot, so that was a good sign. She just didn't want her best friend arrested for murder if she ended up mad and did something stupid. And she didn't want Bonnibel hurt, not that she'd admit that to Keila.

"Well, I – you know how I talked to her at graduation, right? Just to leave things off a little less negatively," Marceline started, unsure of how to word this, "Keila, she told me she loves me and I just – it kind of threw me off."

Keila stared down at a little notch in the wooden table they were sat at. "Well…do you still – do you feel the same way?"

"Yeah," Marceline instantly replied, "Those sorts of feelings take forever to go away. They don't until you move on or distance yourself. But she's always texting me and trying to talk to me and I want to grab her and kiss her but at the same time I want to slap her."

Keila laughed, relieving a little bit of the tension in Marceline's chest, "Which do you want to do more?"

"Honestly? I don't know," Marceline sipped at her coffee, "Buy me some wine later? I'll give you the money but -"

" _Marceline_ ," Keila interrupted her. Marceline blinked in shock; hearing her actual name in Keila's voice was so unknown to her that it was alien, "No. You were drunk last night. _And_ the night before that. Three nights in a row is a little bit too much and I'm starting to worry about you."

Marceline slumped against her chair, "You sound like Simon."

"Good. That means I sound like I care about you," Keila replied, "and that's important. Now shut up and drink your coffee. Then we can go back to my place and you can get your feelings out the good, old fashioned way – through writing songs. We haven't written any new songs for a while."

Channelling her anger and sadness through songwriting sounded like a better idea than getting drunk and laying on Keila's couch while the room span. Besides, she had raw materials to write songs with – all of the emotions she'd pent up after the breakup. Maybe this was the jumpstart her creativity needed.

"Yeah. Okay." Marceline nodded, sipping her coffee, "Music. Yeah. I should focus on my music."

"Exactly," Keila nodded, "You love music. It's obviously going to make you feel better."

Marceline faked a smile. The only thing that would make her feel better was the Zoloft she kept by her bed, but she didn't need Keila knowing about that. As far as Keila knew, Marceline's depression was gone. Keila thought she was fine, and she didn't want to worry her further.

"Yeah. Obviously," Marceline nodded, downing the rest of her drink, "let's go. I think I have enough energy in me to write something."

She was lying, of course. But the smile it put on Keila's face made lying worth it.


	87. eighty-seven.

**Monday 8th June 2015**

"I can't _believe_ you," Lady jabbed her forefinger into Bonnie's breastbone as she answered the door for her, "Your New York friend was here for _four days_ and you didn't let me meet her."

Bonnibel held her hands up in defence, "Hey, I had a reason for that. A perfectly _valid_ reason as well."

Lady's left eyebrow quirked up, folding her arms across her chest, " _Well_? Aren't you going to tell me this ' _reason'_?"

"You know, you sound like you don't believe I actually have one," Bonnie said, sitting down on the stairs to untie her shoelaces, "I just didn't want you two swapping embarrassing stories. I had enough taunting while she was here, thanks."

"That's not good enough," Lady concluded, pulling out her phone, "I'm going to add her on Facebook and meet her that way. We can swap embarrassing stories perfectly over that medium. _And_ I won't forget any because Facebook saves messages."

Bonnibel just rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't do that to me. Not when I'm still sore from a breakup."

"You're never going to see her again, Bonnibel," Lady didn't look up from her phone, "I'm sure that's all the assurance you need that it's okay to move on. I know you're scared to."

Bonnie opened her mouth in protest. "I promised her -"

"Yeah, and she hasn't said anything nice to you in three months. Nearly four." Lady interrupted her, shoving her phone back into her pocket. "It's okay to say goodbye."

Bonnie sighed, "I told Bea I'd try to move on, and I am, but I can't look at any other girl like that and imagine myself dating them. It feels wrong."

"It takes time," Lady assured her, leading her into the living room, "Just don't think about romance for a while. Wait until you're back in New York. Spend your last two months here having a good time with your friends."

"Yeah," Bonnie bobbed her head in concurrence, "good plan. Speaking of good times with friends, what're we doing tonight?"

"We're having a pre-prom party," Lady proudly gestured around the room like she was revealing something amazing, like the first ever time machine or her own homemade rocket. In reality, it was just a room filled with balloons and a 'happy birthday' sign stuck on the wall, the 'happy birthday' in question scribbled out with Finn's handwriting on top of it reading 'happy pre-prom!' and another three of those were hanging above her and on adjacent walls, "LSP insisted. Pre-prom and post-prom parties are just as important as an actual prom. I don't know where she got that from."

"Probably read it on Wiki-How," Jake flopped down on the sofa, "'How to have a perfect end of senior year'," He smiled up at Bonnie, "Hey, Bubblegum."

"Hey, Jake," Bonnie replied. She looked over to the coffee table, which had been pushed to the end of the room and stockpiled with drinks, "How many of those are alcoholic and _how_ did you get your hands on them? I know you lost your alcohol supplier when the whole Marshall-Gumball thing happened."

"Marceline always stepped in for us after that. She has a fake ID. Didn't you know that?" He frowned at her. Bonnie was a little stunned that Marceline had this fake ID while they were still dating. Probably even before they were together, now that she thought about it. "I asked her if she wanted to come when she dropped it all off, but she said she was already doing something with her band."

Lady nodded, "You still didn't tell her how much alcohol we have."

"Oh, right. Sorry, got side-tracked." Jake shook his head, as if he was wracking his brain in an attempt to remember the question. "Most of it is. We got a big bottle of lemonade and one of Coke for you, and then we have a lot of beer and one bottle of vodka for shots. Marceline was going to give us two but then she kept one."

That set off a few alarm bells in Bonnie's head, but she tried to shut them off. Marceline wasn't her problem anymore. She shouldn't care if she wanted to spend her nights drinking herself to death.

"Ah, right…so I'm probably going to be the only sober one by the end of this, right?" Bonnie asked. She already knew the answer, but that didn't matter.

"I think so," Jake bobbed his head in confirmation, "We don't know if Phoebe drinks, though. If she does, then yeah."

Finn walked in the room, flopping down next to Jake, "I don't think she does. She said she had to be home by ten, though. Curfew and all that."

"That sucks," Bonnie commented, sitting down on the adjacent couch. "My parents said I can call them for a ride until eleven. After that I'll have to either walk or get a ride from someone else, but seeing as you're all going to be drunk…"

"Why did you never learn to drive when you were back in New York?" Lady asked her, "You were seventeen when you moved here, right? You could've been driving for a whole year until then."

Bonnie shook her head, "I couldn't. The legal driving age in New York City is eighteen. Even if I could've, there wasn't really any point. They have a good public transport system so it made more sense to just get the subway than spend a lot of money for a car and have to sit in a load of traffic anyway. When I moved here I considered it, but then I met Marceline and she offered me rides and things, plus I'd always had my heart set on going back to New York for college. Again, no point, because I'd be back in New York and could get the subway again. Any car I had would end up put out of use and sold anyway."

"Good point," Finn remarked, "I didn't know about the legal driving age being higher, though. If you want, I can stay sober and drive you home."

"No worries, Finn," Bonnie assured him, "I'll be fine walking home. I'm only around a fifteen minute walk from here."

Finn opened his mouth, probably to insist that he didn't care about getting drunk or something and how it wasn't his prom they were preparing for, but he was cut off by the doorbell, which was followed by a series of loud, obnoxious knocks on the front door.

"That'll be LSP and Cake," Lady stood up, exiting the room to get the door.

Bonnie sunk further into the couch. With LSP here, there was no doubt that they'd be playing some horrible version of truth or dare. Something along those lines, anyway.

Either way, Bonnie sent the other girl a soft smile when she walked back into the room, accompanied by Cake, Gumball, Phoebe Fionna…and _Marshall_? Even she had to refrain from blurting out 'What are _you_ doing here?' in surprise.

Jake didn't hold back, except he sounded a lot more angry than surprised. "What the _hell_ is he doing here?"

His question was directed at Fionna, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. Jake had been quite hostile with her since finding out about her and Marshall.

"Um…he said he wanted to come," Fionna started slowly, "I said he might make things awkward but he promised he had a reason."

Marshall shot Jake a grin. "My sister told me this was a good idea. Blame her."

"You know? I might," Jake pulled out his phone and dialled Marceline's number, putting her on speaker. Bonnibel might've shuffled a little closer to him, just to hear more clearly.

She picked up on the second ring, " _Uh…hi?"_

"Marceline," Jake looked over to Marshall as he spoke, "your brother just showed up at my house and I want to know why he said you told him to come over and ruin my prom party."

"Don't put her on the spot like that." Bonnibel muttered, nobody hearing her other than Lady, who just rolled her eyes.

 _"He said he wanted to apologise to you guys. Don't remember telling him to go to your house though."_ Marceline sounded a little dazed and Bonnie was kind of worried that she was hurt. _"Maybe I was drunk or something_."

"Right, well…why does he suddenly want to apologise?" Jake asked her.

Marceline made a noise reminiscent of confusion. _"Maybe he decided to stop being such a dick. I don't fucking know. We don't really talk that much and even if I want to talk to him he just ignores me. Like other people."_

"You might want to stop rambling. You're on speaker," Jake said, eliciting a smile from Bonnie, "and pretty much our entire friend group is here. I just want to know what's going on with your dickhead brother."

 _"I don't know,"_ Marceline huffed, " _and I'm busy. Can I go now?"_

Jake frowned. "Are you drunk? You're acting kind of weird."

" _No. Just busy."_ Marceline easily replied, _"I can do a fucking sobriety test if you're that bothered. But I was in the middle of a thing when you called and now said thing is becoming even more important. So I'm leaving."_

"Alright, then. Bye." Jake hung up first, tucking his phone back into his pocket and glancing back up at Marshall. "Blaming Marceline didn't work. What's your next excuse?"

"Didn't you hear her? She told me to apologise to you guys." Marshall shot back, folding his arms across her chest. "Well, just one of you. I don't have to apologise to _you_."

Jake stared at him expectantly; everyone did. Even Bonnie.

"So," Marshall's gaze moved from Jake over to Gumball, "Gumball. I'm really sorry that I was a dick to you. And I'm sorry I'm not gay. Wait, no, that sounded wrong. I'm sorry that –"

Gumball cut him off with a shake of his head, sitting down on the couch next to Bonnie. "Don't hurt yourself. I'm over it. It was nearly a year ago. I like someone else. But it's good to know you're not going to be a homophobic asshole."

"So…we can be friends again?" Marshall asked, sitting next to Fionna.

"Maybe. Not yet, but maybe." Gumball looked over to Bonnie, who smiled at him, "I'm pretty sure Bonnibel can tell you first-hand how long it took for her to make friends with her mean ex-crush."

"Over a year. She apologised when I ran into her in early August and I've only just given her another shot." Bonnibel supplied. Even though she was giving Bea another chance, if she said anything remotely homophobic, Bonnie would drop her like a hot coal and cut her out. This was her last chance. "And she had to work really hard to get me to agree to it."

Marshall looked over to Gumball. "Fine. Challenge accepted."

* * *

"Gumball," Marshall looked across the circle, "Truth or dare?"

"Neither. I hate this game." Gumball folded his arms across his chest. Bonnie had to agree with him, there. "Next person in line to be picked, choose whichever you want."

"Dude, no," Jake sat back down with another beer bottle. Bonnie was sure it was at least his fifth, "You can't back out of the truth or dare. It's against the rules!"

Gumball sighed, taking a swig of his beer. Bonnie was thankful he was only on his first and probably wasn't planning on getting drunk. At least she would have one sober companion for the night. "Fine. Dare."

Marshall smirked. "Make out with…Bubblegum for one minute."

Bonnibel looked up from her glass of lemonade, eyes wide. "Hey, don't bring me into it! I don't want to kiss a boy. No offence, Gumball."

"None taken," Gumball replied, "I'm not too thrilled about kissing a girl, either."

"Kissing girls is great." Bonnie replied, thinking back through all the times she kissed Marceline. "Their lips are so soft – although in the winter once she'd been outside, Marceline's lips would be chapped – and she tasted so sweet like vanilla and -" Bonnie cut herself off, "I'm rambling and need to shut up."

Phoebe laughed at her, "I think it's cute."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, allowing herself a teasing smile. "Kissing girls or my rambling?"

"Both." Phoebe easily replied, completely shocking everyone in the room. "Yeah, I've been kind of…thinking of a good way to tell you guys that I think I'm bisexual? Well…know I'm bisexual."

"I wasn't – um, expecting that?" Finn's statement came out more like a question, his cheeks flushing bright red. "Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend that you wanted to tell us about?"

"No, I'm single," Phoebe answered, beaming at him, "but I like someone. That's not why I wanted to tell you all, though. It's just been eating away at me for a while and I've been worrying about it since before I left England, but yeah…"

"Well, I'm proud of you," Bonnie smiled at her, even if the news had come as a little shocking to her, "I know from experience that coming out is really scary."

"Actually, it was Gumball, you and Marceline that made me feel better about it," Phoebe admitted, not even looking in Finn's direction when she started holding his hand, "I saw how accepted you all were by everyone else and it made me feel a lot less scared about telling people. I talked to Marceline about it a lot though."

"Oh, really?" Bonnibel was stunned; Marceline hadn't mentioned anything about that. "I didn't know."

"Yeah, she helped me figure things out and told me how she came to terms with accepting it and stuff…" Phoebe explained, "She was really helpful. It was really hard actually asking her about it at first because she used to intimidate me a lot."

"She used to intimidate everyone a lot." Finn laughed, "Aside from Bubblegum."

Bonnie just shrugged, "It's probably because I never witnessed her breaking Ash's wrist in the middle of school."

"Good point," Lady commented, taking another swig of beer. Although she was claiming she was completely sober, Bonnie knew her friend was a little tipsy – it _was_ her third beer, after all. "Anyway, back to the game. Gumball – kiss Bonnibel and then we can move on."

Gumball just sighed and leaned over, pecking Bonnie on the lips. "There. Jake, truth or dare."

"Dare. I'm in the mood to do something radical!" Jake pumped his fist in the air, Finn cheering for him, "Anything you want."

Gumball hummed in thought. "Run down the street naked."

Bonnibel had to admit that she was a little surprised by how quickly Jake stripped off and ran out of the front door, but alcohol would do that to you. That was why Bonnie didn't drink – alcohol made you lose your inhibitions, and after her accidental coming out scare early last year, Bonnie wasn't going to take any chances. No way.

Bonnie stayed in the front room as most of her drunken or tipsy friends ran outside after Jake to laugh at him running down the street. She drummed her fingers on her lap, looking up at Phoebe, the only other person who had stayed in the room with her. "So…did you – when Marceline was helping you figure things out, what kind of stuff did she say?"

Phoebe blinked at her, apparently surprised that Bonnie wanted to know. "Um…well, she just said that…do you mean what kind of things she said about you, or…?"

"Preferably," Bonnibel admitted, barking out a bitter laugh as she directed her gaze to her lap, "Happy things, please. I don't want to hear any complaints she probably had, and -"

Phoebe interrupted her with a shake of her head. "Oh, she didn't have any complaints. She always talked about how much she loved spending time with you and how her relationship with another girl was the best one she'd ever had. She told me that when she first started dating you she was scared of getting a bad reaction from people who didn't already know about her sexuality, but apparently none of that mattered to her after you kissed for the first time. I just…thought it was really sweet."

Bonnibel's stomach lurched in the best way possible, her chest filling with a cheerful warmth that she hadn't felt in months. "Wow. That's…thanks."

"Don't worry about it," Phoebe bumped Bonnie's arm with her fist in a comforting manner, "I know that you miss her."

"Hey, Bonnibel," Jake staggered back in and Bonnie had to quickly divert her gaze, "I think I might dare you to do that. You need to loosen up and it was great!"

"Yeah, I'll pass, thanks," Bonnie commented, keeping her gaze directed towards the wall, "Are you decent yet?"

"He's fine," Gumball assured her, and she sent him a grateful smile before turning around.

Contradictory to what he said before about picking Bonnie, Jake chose Finn next, "Bro, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Finn exclaimed, folding his arms across his chest. "I can take anything."

Jake smirked. "Kiss Phoebe."

Naturally, both Finn and Phoebe flushed bright red, but the blond boy turned over to the redhead and nervously pecked her on the lips. Bonnie noted the shaky breath he let out afterwards and the even brighter blush on Phoebe's cheeks, and even though Bonnie was repulsed by the mere thought of romance as of late, she was happy for them.

Finn eventually cleared his throat, "LSP. Truth or dare?"

"Truth." She easily responded, slurring over her words a little. LSP was probably the drunkest of them, taking shots left and right and virtually downing her bottles of beer.

"Um…why aren't you dating Brad anymore?" Finn asked.

"I still _am_ ," LSP scoffed as if it was the greatest offence in the world not knowing about her love life. " _Obviously_. I love him!"

Bonnie had to admit that she found it hard to keep up with their on-again, off-again relationship. Honestly, she didn't think they were in an _on_ period right now, but still, she hadn't been paying attention to any of her friends' romantic relationships. Especially after seeing Marceline with that boy at Jake's party.

"I've noticed that this game isn't as fun when I'm not trying to get Abadeer to reveal one of her deep dark secrets." LSP downed the last of her drink, "Not that she ever does anyway."

Lady rolled her eyes, "Just ask someone."

" _Fine_ ," LSP groaned, looking around the room and finding a suitable victim, "Bubblegum. Truth or dare?"

There wasn't anything left that LSP could ask her that she could tell everyone, aside from minor things that Bonnie didn't really care about anyway. "Truth, I guess."

"Did you and Abadeer ever have sex?"

Alright, turns out there was one thing that LSP could ask her that she didn't want her to know. Great. Bonnie didn't want to think about Marceline at all, unless it was good things – even those made her sad – and usually not thinking about Marceline was LSP's personal policy too. That was why Bonnie had been extra tolerant of her lately; if she talked about Marceline, LSP would tell her to shut up, and all of her other friends were too polite for that.

(She knew they were getting tired of her.)

Naturally, the gossip chose Marceline as a specific topic.

"No, we didn't." Bonnibel cleared her throat, her cheeks flushing a bright pink, "I wasn't ready for things like that and I'm asexual so I never felt the need or desire to."

"Probably why she left you, isn't it?" LSP snorted with laughter, "You deprived her."

Fionna smacked LSP on the arm as Bonnibel looked down at her lap, biting her lip and holding back her tears. "Hey, don't. I know you're drunk but still…"

Bonnibel wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, standing up from the circle they were sat in. "I'm going to get some air. I'll be back in a moment."

She slipped out of the room, sitting down on the stairs and allowing herself a moment to breathe. Maybe that was why Marceline didn't want to get back together with her. What if she offered to – _no_ , Bonnie cut that train of thought off quickly, _that won't matter_. Bonnie knew she was being silly.

Or was she? Marceline might want the freedom to be able to sleep with other people, considering she'd been tied down to someone with no sexual desire. That could be why Marceline didn't want to get back together.

Bonnibel rested her head in her hands, letting out a deep breath. Either way, she'd never find out. She'd never see Marceline again.

The thought of that killed her.


	88. eighty-eight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a high probability that there won't be any updates for two weeks. I'm going to Canada for a holiday and I don't know if I'll have time to upload. If I can, I will, but there's like an 85% chance it won't happen. Apologies in advance.

**Thursday 18th June 2015**

Bonnibel sat up on the couch she was laid on, sliding her phone from her pocket. 10:32AM, no notifications. As always.

She rubbed her eyes, looking around the room. The television was still on, Lady passed out on the other sofa – they'd had a girl's night and watched a few romantic comedies, and Bonnie had to admit that they weren't as fun without Marceline's sarcastic commentary.

Bonnie reached over, switching the television off by the remote. She yawned, standing up and making her way into Lady's kitchen, putting some bread in the toaster and getting a plate out and some butter from the fridge.

She waited for her toast, picking it up when it popped out of the toaster and buttering it. Then she made her way back into the lounge, eating her toast before crossing the room to wake Lady up. She shook her friend, smiling at her as she tiredly swatted Bonnie's hands away.

"Come on, wake up, sleepyhead," Bonnie teased, nudging her, "It's half ten. You've had enough sleep."

"One more hour would be nice." Lady mumbled into her pillow, "Please? Don't be such a fun-sucker."

"Don't think I won't jump on you," Bonnie threatened, "because I will. And then you'll have to get up _and_ you'll be really sore because I'm heavy. Come on."

Lady groaned, sitting up and pushing her blonde hair from her face, "God, you're harsh on a morning."

Bonnibel just shrugged, "I'm being reasonable. You have to get up at a good time in order to get things done."

"Getting things done?" Lady raised an eyebrow, "Do my eyes deceive me or is the organised, ready to go Bonnibel back?"

Bonnie sat down on the couch, shrugging, "Well, I wouldn't say that, but I do want to do _something_ today. I just want to distract myself for the day and have fun. We could maybe go shopping with the others – that's how desperate I am."

Lady frowned at her, apparently not realising why Bonnibel was wanting a decent distraction. Bonnie would've thought it'd be rather obvious. "Did something happen? Are you alright?"

"I've been better, but I'm definitely not at my worst." Bonnie admitted, picking up her phone and staring at the date. "A year ago right now, we were in London. At the science museum."

"And you'd just started dating Marceline." Lady finished, pushing her blanket off her, "I'm really sorry, Bonnibel."

Bonnibel let out a sigh, looking down at her feet. She tried not to think about Marceline. It would end in tears, no doubt, and that wasn't how Bonnie wanted to live anymore. She was trying to move on, to forget. She had to start acting like it.

So, she put on a smile and looked back up at Lady. "Yes, anyway, I would like to do something. We could go for a walk by the lakes with everyone else. It's a nice day out, so I shouldn't be sulking."

Lady blinked in surprise, apparently not expecting that at all. "Oh, alright. Sure. I'll call them all up and we can go. We could pack a picnic if you want?"

Bonnibel beamed, "Yeah, I like the sound of that. I can get started on that while you ring everyone else."

With that, she stood up and spun on her heels, making her way back into the kitchen and busying herself as she heard Lady making phone calls in the other room.

She made a few too many sandwiches of different varieties, wrapping them all up in cling film and appreciating her handiwork before trying to peel some carrots. She never got to make this much food when going out on a picnic date with Marceline. She should be happy that she was able to pack whatever she wanted. Little things like that would make her feel a whole lot better about herself.

She was halfway through peeling a carrot when Lady walked into the kitchen. "I'm going to call Marceline and see if she wants to come, because I don't want to not include her in things. Is that alright with you?"

Bonnie's hand slipped and she grazed her middle finger with the carrot peeler she was using. She put the peeler down, holding her thumb over the cut, all while nodding a little too much. "Yes, that's fine. It's not like we'll talk to each other, is it?"

"Exactly, yeah. It'll be okay," Lady smiled at her, looking down at her hand, "Is your finger alright?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll be fine," Bonnie assured her, continuing with the carrot she was peeling, "See? Fine."

Lady looked a little concerned, but thankfully didn't comment on how jumpy Bonnie seemed. "Alright then. I'll go and call her."

Lady slipped out of the room and Bonnibel pulled out a small knife, chopping up the carrot a bit too aggressively. She didn't care that Marceline was coming. She didn't care that it was their anniversary that they should have been spending together. She didn't care that Marceline would ignore her.

She. Didn't. Care.

Obviously.

* * *

Marceline rolled over in her bed, falling against another cold, sleeping body. She nuzzled her head into their neck, an arm falling over their stomach in a protective manner, and closed her eyes again to get herself a little bit more sleep.

"Morning."

Marceline rolled her eyes behind closed eyelids and kept her mouth shut. If she didn't move, they'd think she was asleep and she could get another hour or so. It was probably too early for her anyway.

"You're ridiculous, you know that?" They spoke again and Marceline couldn't stop herself from scowling. "Marmalade, I've known you since you were five. I know what you look like when you're pretending to sleep, and your scowl is kind of giving you away."

"Ugh, fuck off," Marceline rolled over again, hiding her face in her pillow, "I'm _tired_. Let me sleep."

Keila sighed, smacking her on the arm. "Come on. It's eleven. We need to get you some breakfast. Most important meal of the day and all that."

"You sound like Bonnibel." Marceline's voice was muffled by her pillow, "That's not a good thing."

"You need to get breakfast." Keila sounded a lot sterner than she had before, and Marceline felt the bed rise as Keila stood up and it lost her weight. "I don't care if I sound like Bonnibel. I know you didn't tell me about your eating problems because you were worried I'd fuss and get overprotective and I'm really trying not to be like that, but you have to work with me here."

"Fine, whatever," Marceline mumbled into her duvet, "I'll have toast."

Keila smiled, leaning down and kissing her best friend's cheek. "Thank you. I'll be right back."

Marceline cracked open one eye to watch Keila bouncing out the room with an irritatingly victorious smile on her face. She closed her eyes again, taking a moment to get herself comfortable. Letting out a deep breath, she decided that sleeping through today was her plan.

She was just about to drift off again when her phone's obnoxiously loud ringer woke her up straight away.

Marceline scowled, leaning over to her bedside table and picking up the phone, holding it to her ear. "What?"

" _Wow, grumpy, much?"_ Lady laughed, _"Listen, we're all going out for a picnic down by the lakes today. Would you want to come?"_

"Who's going to be there?" Marceline asked – she'd sooner have to spend a full day shopping and getting makeovers with LSP than see Bonnibel.

 _"Well, the usual group, minus LSP who's on a date with Brad."_ Lady told her. The lack of LSP was an incentive to make an appearance, but dealing with Bonnie wasn't something she wanted to do. Especially on what was supposed to be their anniversary. _"Um…yeah, that's pretty much it."_

"So Bonnie's going to be there?" Marceline asked, just for confirmation. Couldn't be too careful.

After a moment of hesitation, Lady spoke _. "Yes, she will be. It was her idea, actually_. _She's making the picnic right now_."

"I'll pass, in that case." Marceline replied, sending Keila a smile when she walked back into the room with two plates. "Call me when she's not going to be there."

 _"Well, we're meeting at one if you change your mind,"_ Lady responded, _"Down by the lakes at one. Bye."_

"Later," Marceline said, hanging up quickly. No _way_ was she spending the day with Bonnibel. Wasn't going to happen.

"Who was that?" Keila passed her a slice of toast, "One of your dork friends?"

Marceline rolled her eyes, "It was Lady. She wanted to know if I wanted to meet them all by the lakes for a picnic. I passed, because Bonnie was going to be there."

Keila scowled, perfectly personifying how Marceline felt. "Yeah, don't go. She probably wanted you to come so she could try to get back together with you again. Granted, she isn't the _worst_ of your exes, but she's still pretty bad."

Marceline hummed, "They both bothered me for months after breaking up. They both irritate me. It's just, with Bonnie…I still -"

Keila cut her off, "I know. But you've got to try and look on the bright side of things. You can date anyone you want. You can even go out and _sleep_ with anyone you want."

"I'm not like that, though. I wanted -" Marceline cut herself off with a sigh, unable to believe she was actually about to admit something like this, "I wanted my first time to be with her. I wanted to do it with someone that I was in love with."

"Don't upset yourself, alright?" Keila slung an arm around her shoulders, "Come on. Eat your toast and then we'll go out and make fun of people. You know how much you love making fun of people."

Marceline smiled, resting her head on Keila's shoulder. "Yeah, okay. Sounds like a lot of fun."

* * *

Bonnie stretched out on the towel she was sat on – she liked to call it her makeshift picnic blanket – plucking another sandwich from the basket. She knocked her sunglasses in front of her eyes and took a bite, smiling to herself. She was having a good day.

She finished off her fourth sandwich, brushing the crumbs from her dress. "Spending today with you guys is _great_."

Finn looked her over, as if trying to detect some form of sarcasm in his friend's tone. "Yeah, it has been. Are you just going to sit there and eat all the sandwiches or are you going to go in the lake?"

Bonnibel looked over to the lake, shaking her head. She pulled another sandwich – cheese, this time – out of the picnic basket. "I'll stick with the sandwiches. Comfort eating is awesome."

"Yeah, but you've eaten most of the sandwiches already and nobody else has really had any." Finn pointed out, "Don't you think you should slow down?"

Bonnie shook her head, "No, I made loads. There's cupcakes, too. Lady and I baked those this morning."

Finn frowned. "I'm going to move this picnic basket away from you."

Bonnie pouted, but didn't complain. Finn was probably right – Bonnie _had_ been dipping into the basket a lot, usually when she thought about Marceline, which was frequently. Comfort eating had always been Bonnie's thing. If she failed a test? She'd eat an entire tub of icing. If something made her upset? Oops, there goes a full jar of Nutella. Thinking about Marceline? The picnic basket would probably be empty by the time her friends came back to get something to eat. It was probably one of the reasons for her pudginess.

Bonnie laid back on the towel, splaying her arms out by her sides with a sigh. "Finn, I want a girlfriend."

He frowned at her, looking at her over his sunglasses, "You mean like Marceline? Or a different girlfriend?"

"I'd like to say a different girlfriend," She admitted, staring up at the clear blue sky, "but I'd be lying. I want Marceline. Today was supposed to be special. We were supposed to be celebrating one year of dating. This is what I had planned. I was going to take her on a surprise picnic by the lake, and I thought maybe doing it with you guys would make today hurt a little less. Maybe it'd show me that it was nothing special. But it _was_ something special. I want to stop thinking about to her, to stop talking about her, because I can _feel_ people growing tired of me, but I miss her so much."

"Think about happy things," Finn suggested, "Maybe…I don't know, try kissing another girl. Try to think about how you don't need her and how you can love someone else just as much as you loved her."

"Things would be so much easier if I'd just never made friends with her. If I'd just given up back in January last year." Bonnie let out a wistful sigh, "I wouldn't be hurting as much as I am if I'd just given up. Sometimes I wish I'd never met her."

Finn frowned at her, shaking his head, "No, you shouldn't think like that. You guys had loads of happy times and it's like…you're supposed to remember the good times."

" _God_ , it's like she's _dead_ ," Bonnie scoffed, finally turning her head to the side, "It's like she died in some car crash or something. Her ignoring me and the fact that I'm never going to see her again makes it feel a lot like a demise."

Finn opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Bonnie's phone ringing. Obviously, Bonnie was a little stunned that someone was calling her; all of her friends were present. She let herself have a little bit of false hope as she pulled the device from her pocket, frowning when she saw that it was just her Dad.

She answered it anyway. "Hey, Dad. What's up?"

 _"Bonnibel, honey,"_ Peter's voice had a terrifying edge to it and Bonnie automatically knew that something was wrong, sitting up on her towel and frowning " _I need you to come home right now, okay? It's really, really important that you come home straight away."_

"Why? I'm with my friends by the lakes." Bonnie told him, unsure of why he was acting so strange. He sounded kind of like a person on the phone in a horror movie, trying to warn another person that the killer was nearby. "Can I stay out for another hour or so?"

" _No, you have to come home. Get one of your friends to drive you_ ," Bonnibel noted the tremor in Peter's voice, like he was about to burst into tears. It just made her all the more suspicious. " _I have to – there's something I need to take care of and I want to know that you're home and safe before I do. Please hurry, okay?"_

"But – Dad, what's going on?" Bonnie asked him, standing up and brushing more crumbs from her dress. "Why do you sound like you're about to burst into tears? Is everything okay?"

" _No, Bonnibel,"_ He answered; Bonnie could tell he was having trouble staying calm, " _Your mother – she's been in an accident, and -"_

That was all Bonnibel needed to hear. She bolted over to Jake, who was having a mini-water fight with Lady, her hands shaking and her phone by her side. Bonnibel tried to keep herself calm. "Jake? Can you please give me a ride home?"

"Come _on_ , Bubblegum, we've been here for like an hour and you're already wanting to go home?" Jake rolled his eyes at her, "Stay for a little while, and come for a swim and stuff."

Bonnibel shook her head quickly, pushing her bangs back with trembling hands. "No, you – you don't understand, my Mom – she's…Dad told me – I have to _leave_."

Lady was the one to stop their water fight, holding a hand up to Jake with a concerned look on her face, "What's wrong with your Mom, Bonnibel?"

"She's – I don't…Dad said," Bonnibel leaned over in an attempt to regulate her breathing, rubbing her thighs through her tights. Her brain clouded over as her friends left the lake and approached her, closing her in.

She held her phone out to nobody in particular with a shaky hand, hoping that somebody would get more information from her Dad. Her brain was going into overload, her heart overcompensating itself and the open space she was in suddenly felt a whole lot like a cramped changing room stall in the mall.

She felt herself fall backwards, her friends words muffled and indecipherable, like was being dunked and held underwater because she honestly felt like she was _drowning_ , her lungs searching for air but unable to find any. Her throat closed over and her diaphragm felt like it'd collapsed in on itself, starving her of air and making her dizzy and unable to process coherent thought.

 _Is this what dying feels like_? That was the only thing Bonnie could think as she hunched over herself, trying to focus on something else. She rubbed the towel she was sat on with her fingers, trying to imaging that it was something else, something more comforting, like a blanket she was sharing with her Mom on movie night or one of Marceline's hands.

She thought of happy things, like Finn had told her to. Her birthday date with Marceline. Her science experiments. Her friends. The day she came out to her Mom. Anything other than what might be and what wasn't. She couldn't bring herself to think about what could've happened, what kind of accident her Mom could've been in, if she was going to be alright.

She never thought she'd see the day when thinking was bad for her.

Eventually, air found Bonnie's lungs again and she took in deep breaths as her friends led her to Jake's car after talking to her Dad. Apparently her Mom had been in a car crash. She'd been heading back to the hospital from her lunch break and a drunk driver had rammed into her. She wasn't dead, but injured. Badly. _Critically_. They'd identified her from her driver's license in her purse.

Facts. Bonnie had always loved facts. They were easy, simple, gave the basic information, and most importantly, they were the cold hard truth. Bonnie didn't like the facts in this situation one bit. In fact, she was hoping that they'd turn out to be wrong, maybe that they'd identified the wrong woman. Although it was unlikely, someone could've stolen her Mom's car and taken in for a joyride, getting hit. Her Mom might be fine.

Her friends asked her questions on the way home, but she couldn't respond. It was like she'd shut down. She couldn't make the words reach her mouth and could hardly think up any coherent responses. All she could do was breathe.

She felt stupid when she was helped through her front door and expected her Mom to come out of the lounge, asking her about her day and where she'd been.

She let herself be led up to her room and sat down on her bed, tucking her knees up to her chest. Nothing her friends tried to do to comfort her was helping whatsoever. Her Mom was in the _hospital_ , and Bonnie didn't know if she'd get better. She'd lost Marceline, and now she might lose her Mom. Bonnibel just sat on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, with silent tears rolling down her cheeks as her friends tried to make her feel better – an impossible task. Bonnie didn't know if she'd ever be happy again.

Her Mom was in critical condition, and the doctors didn't know if she'd pull through. Bonnibel just _couldn't_ lose her Mom. She just _couldn't_. It'd tear her apart. Her Mom was one of her best friends. She couldn't lose her best friend _and_ her girlfriend in the span of four months.

Bonnie saw Lady slip out of the room and frowned, but that only lasted as a distraction for a few seconds, as the reality of her situation sunk in. Her Mom could die. Her Mom could never see her get into university, or be at her wedding. Her Mom wouldn't be there as she grew up.

She finally understood why Marceline was so upset over her Mom, and she hated that.

That was the one person she wanted here. She wanted Marceline, who could actually understand what Bonnie was feeling. She wanted her girlfriend back. Marceline might actually be able to help her, even if it was only a little.

So, when Lady walked in with Marceline awkwardly following behind, Bonnie wondered for a brief moment if her friends had developed a mind reading device behind her back.

Marceline looked down at the teary-eyed Bonnie and her heart broke. Inwardly, she cursed herself – she hated how she still loved Bonnibel, especially after the pink haired girl had hurt her like she did. "Hey."

She watched as Bonnie's friends silently left the room, leaving the two girls alone. Probably not the best idea, since Bonnie was fairly certain that Marceline hated her.

Bonnibel sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She wasn't sure how her friends had convinced her to come, but she really hadn't been expected the next time she saw Marceline to be like this. In fact, she wasn't expecting to see Marceline ever again.

She put on her attempt at a bright, cheerful voice. "Hi. How are you?"

Marceline shot Bonnie a look – she wasn't buying her faux-happy act at all. Her voice was crackly and she sounded like she was ready to burst into tears. "I came here because Lady told me about your Mom. Don't act happy when you aren't."

Bonnie shuffled to the side to leave Marceline a space on the bed, which the dark haired girl took. "Did you come to rub it in my face about how much I deserve this since I hurt you?"

Marceline wanted to snap at her for that, but she knew Bonnie was going through a hard time, and the last thing the girl needed was Marceline being a bitch. The dark haired girl clenched her jaw as she replied. "I _came_ to tell you that if you ever need me, you can talk to me. I kind of know what it's like to go through something like this, you know?" Marceline's face fell into a scowl, "Whatever. If you don't want me here why don't you just kick me out? Go on. It's not like you've never done it before."

Bonnie looked up with wide eyes and gripped onto Marceline's arm. The thought of having Marceline walk out of that door again killed her almost as much as the thought of losing her Mom. "No. Don't leave me."

Marceline moved her arm from Bonnie's grip, but sent the pink haired girl an attempt at a comforting smile. It came out awkward and forced. "Hey, I won't. If you want me here, I'll be here."

Bonnibel weakly smiled – this was the first good news she'd had all day. "Thank you. Just hold me?"

Bonnie didn't wait for a reply and laid down so her head was in Marceline's lap. She wasn't thinking straight – she knew this was probably overstepping some boundaries, but right now she didn't care. All she wanted was for her Mom to be okay.

She allowed a brief smile to cross her face when one of Marceline's cold hands began weaving through her hair. Bonnie closed her eyes and willed herself to fall asleep, just so she wouldn't have to think about her Mom or how complicated things have been lately.

"What happened? With your Mom, I mean." Marceline broke Bonnie out of her near-slumber, and the pink haired girl looked up at her, a new wave of tears at bay. "I get it if you don't want to talk about it, but Lady – when she called me in the car – just said that something happened to her and it wasn't looking good."

"She…she was in a car crash on her way back to work from her lunch hour." Bonnie murmured. "Drunk driver. My Dad's up at the hospital now and I'm going to assume Finn and Jake and everyone left, so it's just you and me here."

Marceline looked down at Bonnibel, who hid her face in her stomach and coughed back a sob. "Do you want me to make you anything? A snack or a drink?"

"Chamomile tea would be nice." Bonnie said, sitting up and rubbing at her eyes – they were watery and her vision was blurred. "It usually – my Mom used to make it for me when I was doing homework so I didn't stress out."

"Okay. I'll be right back." Marceline shuffled off of Bonnie's bed and headed towards the door, and for a second Bonnibel tried to call her back – she didn't want to see Marceline leaving, even though she knew she'd be back soon. The first time was hard enough.

"Wait," Bonnie called out. Marceline paused, her hand on the door handle, looking down at Bonnibel inquisitively. "Thank you. For coming here, I mean. I appreciate it. I know I hurt you a lot and you don't know much I regret breaking up with you and I want you back _so much_ and -"

"Bonnie," Marceline cut her off and shook her head. "This isn't the time to talk about that. Plus, Lady figured you'd want someone who'd understand what it's like. Thank her."

"But you came." Bonnie pointed out. "You could've easily told her no. Besides, I've been pretty sure you hate me these past few months."

"You know I don't hate you." Marceline sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I was just mad at you and didn't want to let you back in."

"Are you still mad at me?" Bonnie hoped she'd say no.

"Kind of, but I'll get over it." Marceline answered. "You need me and I'm not going to just tell you to fuck off. That's the last thing you need right now. As long as you want me here, then -"

"I want you." Bonnie cut in, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I want you here. Don't ever doubt that."

"Then I will be." Marceline said. She pushed open Bonnie's bedroom door, and the pink haired girl went to oppose her leaving, but Marceline just turned to her and rolled her eyes. "Do you want your tea or not?"

"Yeah, but I just don't want to see you leave me." Bonnie's voice was broken and quiet, like she was just recovering from losing her voice. She cringed at crack in it, a tell-tale sign that she wasn't done crying.

"Shut your eyes, then." Marceline said, pushing the door open a crack more. "Seriously, I'll be two seconds."

As Marceline left, Bonnie turned her back on the door and rested her head down on her soft pillow. Though it was arguably more comfortable than Marceline's lap, it definitely wasn't as soothing.

She closed her eyes and tried to focus on something other than her Mom, and she found herself listening to Marceline, who she could hear singing to herself as she made Bonnibel's tea. Bonnibel felt a little comforted – she loved hearing Marceline sing.

She heard footsteps and assumed Marceline was coming back, so she sat up and stared at the door until it pushed open and Marceline stepped in the room, putting the tea on Bonnie's bedside table. "It's really hot, so it's probably best if you leave that there for a while."

"Okay." Bonnie replied, tapping the bed next to her, "Come and sit."

Marceline complied, and Bonnibel took hold of her hand, only to have Marceline pull it away. "No. You can't do that to me."

"Do what?" Bonnie questioned, "I was just holding your hand. I just wanted to focus on something else."

"I'm really uncomfortable with that kind of thing." Marceline slowly began. She'd have to work back up to casual touching with Bonnie. It wasn't something that would come easily. "You know I have trouble with that kind of thing and it was okay before because we were dating and -"

"I want you back, Marceline." Bonnie quietly cut in. It was barely a whisper, but Marceline caught it. "As a girlfriend, of course. I miss you so much. I should've never ruined everything with you. When I lost you I realised you were the only thing keeping me sane. I need you."

"I'm not getting back together with you." Marceline quickly shot Bonnie down. There was no _way_ that was happening. "I'll be your friend, but I can't do it again, Bonnie. You don't know what you want right now. You're all stressed out because of your Mom and you're not thinking clearly. I don't want to get back together with you for you to just dump me again in a week, and I can't bring myself to let you in again."

"But I _wouldn't_." Bonnibel persisted. She went to grab Marceline's hand, remembering their conversation and lowering her hands to her lap. "I regretted wrecking things the second you walked out of that door. I _love you_ , you idiot. I never _stopped_ loving you, my judgement was…it was _fucked up_ at the time and I thought that distractions were a bad thing but I should've made time for you!"

Marceline didn't really know how to respond to that at all. She didn't want to hurt Bonnie any more than she was already hurt – Marceline knew first-hand how much losing your mother was, and although Bonnie's Mom hadn't passed away, there was a big chance she would. She had to respond this carefully.

Marceline took in a deep breath. "I…Bonnie, you know how I feel about you, but can't take the risk. I can't let you back in again. I'm sorry, okay? I know this is probably the last thing you wanted to hear today. I'm – I feel really bad about it but I just…I can't trust you. If we ever do, it'll take time."

"But…there's a chance?" Bonnie looked so hopeful and Marceline couldn't bring herself to upset her.

"Yes." Marceline knew that she was lying through her teeth, but the look it put on Bonnie's face made everything worth it, "There's a chance."

Bonnibel sniffled and pulled Marceline in for a hug. "Thank you, _thank you_. I won't ever screw up again, I promise. I'll prove to you that I want you back and I'll earn your trust again."

Marceline tensed, but allowed one arm to rest on the small of Bonnie's back, "Okay. Do you want to talk about something else?"

Bonnibel moved away from Marceline and rubbed her eyes, sniffling. "Um…sure. Anything. How – um, how have you been doing?"

"Yeah…honestly, life isn't – um…you know what? I'm okay." Marceline decided on lying. Bonnie didn't need to know that she'd been drinking a bit too much as of late, or how she was itching for a drink that second, _or_ how she was back on her depression medication. "I just hung out, you know? Spent time with Keila and played music. Nothing much, to be honest, but yeah. I'm alright."

Bonnie sent her a doubtful look, wiping at her eyes. She needed to think about something that wasn't her Mom, but nothing was working – no matter what, she was still at the back of Bonnie's mind. "I know you. I can tell when you're lying."

Marceline breathed out a heavy sigh. "Well, whatever. I'm not okay. What else is new?"

Bonnibel sniffled, "Um, yeah, I…I haven't been alright either. I just feel so guilty. I should've never been so mean to you. I really wanted to make amends and Lady and everyone just told me to talk to you but every time I tried you'd just tell me to eff off. I thought you hated me. I _know_ that Keila hates me."

"I could never hate you, you know that." Marceline assured, bumping against Bonnie in what she hoped was a comforting way. That was as much contact as she could bear. "I was just mad, and so was Keila, and I know she feels bad about hitting you. Deep, deep down."

"You had a right to be mad at me." Bonnie sighed, resting her head on her pillow. "I was a bitch. I should've just told you how stressed out I was and talked to you about it instead of breaking up with you. I'm so horrible. And the thing with Keila, I'm not mad at her about that. Bea was being a bitch and although I think she deserved to be slapped for that, I deserved it for everything else."

"You're not horrible, Bonnie." Marceline replied. Bonnibel's heart lurched upon hearing Marceline refer to her as 'Bonnie' again. "Just relax, alright? Try and take a nap or something and clear your head. You might feel a little better when you wake up."

Bonnibel pulled her sheets across herself. "Only if you promise to be here when I wake up."

Finally, Marceline flashed her a soft smile. "Always."

* * *

The light in Bonnie's room was hazy as she sat up in her bed. Her duvet fell off of her; she couldn't remember being tucked in, and her curtains were drawn but Bonnie couldn't tell if it was dawn or dusk outside.

 _Mom_.

Her brain brought Lynn up and Bonnie felt a stab of pain in her chest.

 _No, think about something else, something that makes you happy_ , Bonnie told herself, focusing on the loose thread on her duvet, _something like Marceline_. _She was here. Promised she still would be_.

With that thought, Bonnie tried pushing her Mom from her mind and looked around her room, hoping she'd see Marceline. She didn't.

 _Please don't say she's left me again_ , Bonnie prayed to herself as she climbed out of bed and pushed her bedroom door open.

"Dad?" She called through the house, "Marceline?"

No response.

Then, she heard a little thud and the bathroom door swung open. Marceline nearly fell out and sent Bonnie an awkward smile. "Hey."

Bonnie's heart fluttered. "Hi. You said you would be there when I woke up."

"Yeah, but I needed the bathroom, so…" Marceline trailed off, making a gesture towards the bathroom before her hands gripped onto the end of her plaid shirt in obvious discomfort. "Your Dad came back about two hours ago and headed out again."

Bonnie almost leapt over to Marceline in nervousness, "Did he say anything?"

"He just said that nothing has changed since the accident." Marceline said; Bonnie's hopeful expression wilted and Marceline felt a knot in her chest. "Hey, that could be good news. At least she didn't get worse."

Bonnie let out a bitter laugh and fell back against the wall. "God, I can't believe that four months ago I thought everything was going to be great. I can't _believe_ I actually thought I'd have a perfect prom where my Mom and Dad would take photographs of me in my dress, and I can't believe I thought I'd move in with my girlfriend after summer and go to the college of my dreams." She banged her head back against the wall in frustration, "I'm so stupid."

Marceline sat down next to her and awkwardly patted her on the shoulder in reassurance; it didn't work. Bonnie was crying again. "Hey, Bonnie, calm down. Come on. You don't need to cry."

Bonnie looked at her with a rage similar to when they broke up; Marceline recoiled. "I don't need to cry? I _can't_ go to prom and have both my parents see me off, I _can't_ move in with my girlfriend because I _lost_ you and college is the thing that caused the whole mess between us in the first place. Everything sucks, and I hate it. I just – I'm _sick_ of it. Screw living. I just want to take an eternal nap."

Marceline blinked in confusion, before pulling a crying Bonnie close to her. She gave Bonnie a reassuring squeeze. "You'll get to college – just because it messed things up between us, doesn't mean that it's not something you want anymore. Don't worry about that. Your Mom will be fine, okay? I know it."

"You don't, though." Bonnie had calmed down enough to talk without her voice cracking, but she was still shaking in Marceline's arms, "You can't guarantee my Mom will be fine. I just…I guess I just wanted my senior year to be perfect, and now I can't even go to prom."

"Who says you can't go to prom?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Come on, you're all for the whole school spirit thing – you'll enjoy it."

"I don't want to go alone." Bonnie sighed, "All my friends have dates and there's nobody I want to go with except…" Bonnie trailed off and glanced up at Marceline. She knew that was stupid and it'd never happen. There was no point in telling Marceline that she wanted to go with her.

"Except me?" Marceline finished for her, and Bonnie was a little stunned she'd inferred correctly.

Bonnie nodded in confirmation, red creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. "Yeah."

Marceline sighed, unable to believe what she was about to do. _Bonnie deserves it, right? After everything that's happened, she deserved one night of normalcy. Maybe I do, too_. "Okay. Well…I'll go with you."

"Just as friends?" Bonnie asked, although it seemed more like a statement, and judging by her tone she didn't like that plan.

After a long pause, Marceline shook her head. "We can go as a couple. But this _isn't_ us getting back together, okay? I don't want to give you any false hope. I just…you deserve a decent prom night."

Bonnie felt tears pricking at her eyes – happy ones, for a change – and she pulled Marceline down for a hug. "Thank you so much. Really. You don't know how much I appreciate this. God, you're so amazing, why the hell did I ever hurt you?"

Marceline awkwardly hugged her back and attempted a nonchalant shrug. "Don't worry about it, Bonnie."

With a dry throat and a nervous wobble in her voice, Bonnie quietly announced her thoughts, "I love you so much."

She felt a little tremor in Marceline's chest – she wasn't sure if it was a cough or a choked back sob. "I know."


	89. eighty-nine.

**Thursday 26th** **June 2015**

Bonnibel had mixed feelings on waking up. She liked those few seconds of blissful nothingness, where you forgot all of the horrible things going on in your life, it was nothing but you and the comfortable embrace of your bed's blankets.

But _then_ she'd think about her Mom, and want to roll over and go back to sleep. Forever.

She had to force herself to get out of bed. Remind herself that not all hope was lost; her Mom could end up being alright. Could.

Eventually, Bonnie rolled over in her cold bed to check her phone for the time. 11:34AM. One message. The message struck her as odd. She doubted it would be any of her friends, and she hadn't talked to Marceline since the week before when they'd finally talked civilly. She tapped on the icon and it sent her to a text conversation she hadn't opened for a while.

(It was too painful to do so.)

_**Marceline (10:23AM): what time do you want me to pick you up for prom?** _

Bonnie felt like smacking herself when she read the message. Prom. She'd forgotten all about it. The prom dress she'd bought back in February with Marceline had been gathering dust in the closet ever since their breakup. It hurt too much for Bonnie to even glance at it. And she didn't have anyone to do her hair and makeup – her Mom would've been the one to do it.

_**Bonnie (11:36AM): I don't know if I want to go. My dress is probably really disgusting and dusty and my Mom isn't here to do my hair and makeup, so…** _

Bonnie put her phone down and opened her closet door, raking around the numerous summer dresses until she eventually found what she'd been looking for; the pink prom dress she and Marceline had picked out earlier that year.

(It felt like decades ago.)

She pulled it out and examined it. It appeared to be perfectly fine – a little wrinkled, but it was nothing she couldn't take care of in a few minutes of ironing. She admired it for a moment, a wistful sigh escaping her lungs. She'd imagined her prom day to be so different. Ever since she'd started high school as a freshman, she'd always wanted her Mom to take her to the hairdresser's to get her hair done especially for the occasion. Then she'd go out to eat with her parents, and then go home and get into a pretty dress and put makeup on. Her date would show up and her parents would ride with them in the limo they'd rent and take photos that she'd look back on and smile.

She had none of that.

Sure, she had the pretty dress, but she didn't have the meal with her parents to look forward to, the limo to ride in, her date wasn't even her _girlfriend_ anymore. She hadn't even booked the hairdresser's appointment.

And her Mom wouldn't be there to see her. She'd be in a hospital bed, comatose.

Her phone buzzed on her bedside table, and she closed her closet door and laid the dress out on the end of her bed, before picking up the device and frowning.

_**Marceline (11:39AM): if you're sure you don't want to then you don't have to but I think it'd be good for you to get out of the house** _

_**Marceline (11:39AM): your friends told me you haven't been outside for a week** _

Marceline cared enough to check up on her? Bonnie felt a small flicker of hope in her chest. Maybe if she went to prom and everything went smoothly, she and Marceline would get back together. She knew Marceline had said that wouldn't happen, but there was a chance, right?

Bonnie decided she'd try to make the best of a bad situation and attempt to make her prom at least a little bit like she'd wanted it to be. What could go wrong?

_**Bonnie (11:39AM): Will you come round at 2? I just really want someone to help me get ready and my Dad is hopeless with that sort of thing.** _

There was a soft knock on Bonnie's bedroom door, and she looked up to see her Dad enter her room. He sent her a weak attempt at a smile; it was clear he'd been crying and didn't want her to know about it. "Would you like to come to the hospital with me and visit your Mom?"

Bonnie blinked in confusion. Her phone buzzed in her lap, but she was too bewildered to check it. Ever since the accident last week, her Dad refused to let her visit her Mom. Apparently she was in a bad way and he didn't want her to see that. Besides, it wasn't like she was even awake to speak to her. That was how she knew something wasn't right. "Yeah. Why are you suddenly okay with me going to see her?"

Peter grimaced. He'd hoped Bonnie wouldn't pick up on that. He let out a small sigh and sat down on Bonnie's bed, putting a comforting arm around his daughter.

 _Oh no_ , Bonnie thought, _this isn't right_. _Something is wrong. Something has happened._

"Listen, Bonnibel," Peter began, "There's no easy way to tell you this. She's not been showing any signs of recovery and the doctors aren't sure if she's going to last much longer. I want you to be able to get a chance to say goodbye if something goes wrong."

Bonnie felt numb. Everything seemed to slow down and get drowned out and fuzzy, like she'd just been thrown into a pool full of icy water. Her body froze and pinpricks of fear crept down her spine. "No. This can't be right. You can't give up hope, Dad. She's going to be okay."

Peter pulled Bonnie close to him; she hit him in the shoulder. "She's fine, Dad. She's _fine_. Stop lying to me. Don't say stuff like that." Bonnie had never been one to not trust in the words of doctors and scientists, but she _knew_ they'd made a mistake. "I'll come with you but I'm not saying _goodbye_. Just to talk to her. She's going to be fine."

Peter tried to calm his distraught daughter down, rubbing soft comforting circles on her back as she cried into her lap. Eventually, Bonnie collapsed into him and sobbed into his chest, thinking about nothing other than her Mom, sending a collective prayer to any powerful being she could think of. _Please let my Mom be alright._

* * *

The hospital had a bitter smell to it; a mixture of disinfectants all blending together to make the air seem almost acidic. Bonnie bounced her leg up and down in nervousness as she waited for her Dad to come out of the hospital room her Mom was in – she knew he was saying goodbye.

She'd been crying on and off all morning; she'd get a sudden feeling of helplessness and lose all hope, crying so hard she was left feeling like she'd coughed up all of her internal organs. Then it would subside and she'd assure herself everything was fine. It was a stupid, endless cycle, and she just hoped the latter half of it was right. She didn't know what she would do if her Mom died.

Her Dad finally came out – she didn't know if she was relieved or terrified – and beckoned her towards the door. She felt a lump in her throat as she shakily rose to her feet and warily walked over to him. She glanced through the doorway he'd just come from and her vision distorted with tears at the sight of her Mom looking so weak and dependent on all of the wires and machines she was latched onto.

Her feet forced her forwards and she traipsed into the room, sitting down in the one visitor's chair beside the bed. She kept her gaze focused on her lap and forced herself to hide her tears and swallow the lump in her throat. She finally looked up and her hand immediately went up to wipe her eyes. "Hey, Mom."

Her Mom looked to be peaceful and sleeping – that was _one_ good thing that came from the coma – but Bonnie knew that if she was awake she'd be in a lot of pain. Her right arm was completely shredded – Bonnie could barely make out the hand – and the right side of her face was nearly unrecognisable, probably from the way the other car had collided with her. Bonnie felt a blinding anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to scream, she wanted to break everything in this room, and she wanted the person that did this _dead_.

She gripped tightly on the wooden arm of the chair to calm herself down, forcing herself to think about other things; good times she'd had with both of her parents, spending time with her friends, all of the dates Marceline had taken her on.

Finally, she cleared her throat and began talking. "Hi. A lot has happened since that stupid drunk driver hit you. A _lot_. It's my prom tonight, and I really hope that I can come back tomorrow and tell you all about it. I guess it should be fun. Marceline is taking me. I know that we broke up and I know that we haven't talked properly since then, but she came over the night of the crash to talk to me and she made me feel better and told me she'd take me to prom. I might even manage to get back together with her."

"I wish you were _here_ , if you know what I mean. I wish you were awake so I could tell you about everything properly, and I wish you'd never left work early and got hit by that fucking idiot and I wish he was the one in this hospital bed, not you." Bonnie let out a sob, slamming her hand down on the arm of the chair in anger. "You're not supposed to die here. You're supposed to see me off to prom and college and be there at my wedding and I'm not supposed to lose you until I'm older and I _can't_ lose you, Mom. I love you and I need you to pull through for me. _Please_."

Bonnie broke down, her head falling into her hands. She felt like she was choking on her tears and felt a dull ache in her head as she cried, the beeping of the heart monitor her Mom was attached to being drowned out by the sound of her loud sobs.

She felt a pair of comforting hands on her shoulders, helping her out of the chair. She didn't register what was going on until she felt a soft breeze and looked up to see her Dad walking her to the car and helping her in the passenger seat. He buckled the seatbelt for her and walked around to the driver's side, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. "Things will work themselves out, Bonnibel. We'll be okay."

She didn't believe him. How would things work out without her Mom? They wouldn't. They couldn't.

On the drive back home, she kept her eyes closed and her head against the window, trying to think about something other than her Mom. Something cheerful. Her friends. When Marceline was her girlfriend. Playing Mario Kart with Gracie after school. Her old science experiments with Bea. Anything.

She felt the car come to a stop and she opened her eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the bright summer sun. Then, her eyes widened in surprise; Marceline's car was parked outside her house. She checked her watch. 1:02PM. Marceline was an hour early.

Bonnie climbed out of the car and wiped the tears from her eyes when she saw Marceline sat on the front porch, twirling her car keys around her finger. Marceline glanced up and saw her, pulling herself to her feet. "Hey, Bonnie."

"Marceline." Bonnie frowned, "What are you doing here? I didn't think you were coming until 2."

"I got kind of bored at home and decided to come and see how you were doing." Marceline awkwardly explained, stepping aside so Peter could unlock the door. "I just figured I'd check up on you. Keep you company and stuff."

Bonnie felt warmth spread across her chest. Marceline still cared. "Thank you. That means a lot."

Marceline felt a little stab of pain in her chest when she noticed the tear streaks on Bonnie's cheeks and the redness in her eyes. Something bad must've happened. "Are you okay?"

They stepped inside Bonnie's house and kicked their shoes off. Bonnie nodded to the stairs, "Can we go up to my room? I'll explain things up there."

Marceline nodded and followed Bonnie to her room, closing the door behind them with a small click. She sat on Bonnie's bed and kept a decent amount of distance between them. "What happened?"

"My Mom isn't getting any better and they don't think she's going to make it." Bonnie held back a sob and shuffled closer to Marceline, "Will you hold me?"

How the hell could she say no to _that_? Marceline shuffled uncomfortably – she really wasn't okay with Bonnie touching her, but she knew that the last thing Bonnie needed was to be told no. Eventually, she nodded and let Bonnie rest her head on her chest, wrapping a gentle arm around her.

Bonnibel listened to the rhythmic thud of Marceline's heartbeat and tried not to cry. Her grip on Marceline tightened, as though she was going to slip from her fingers, and she nestled her face in Marceline's neck.

After a while, Marceline began rubbing circles on Bonnie's back, and the pink haired girl felt like going to sleep, but she sat up and sent Marceline a weak smile. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it." Marceline awkwardly responded, sitting herself up.

Bonnie swallowed the lump in her throat, and she quietly murmured, "Can I ask you a question?"

Marceline frowned. "Sure. Go for it."

"You said we're going to prom as a couple, right?" At Marceline's nod, Bonnie continued, "Well, what does that mean?"

Marceline was even more confused. "What? I don't get your question."

"Well," Bonnie was unsure if she was stepping over some boundaries, but she pressed on. "Does that mean we can _act_ like a couple? Like we used to. Hold hands, dance together, hug…" Bonnie trailed off, quietly adding, "Kiss? Stuff we would've done if I hadn't screwed everything up."

"I…" Marceline trailed off, "I don't know. Especially about kissing. Probably not. I don't think I'm ready for that."

Bonnie felt like Marceline had just punched her in the gut. "Oh. Okay."

"I'm really sorry, Bonnie, I just…" Marceline sighed, "I just can't trust you."

Another punch. Probably to the face this time. "Stop. This was a stupid idea. We're never going to be the way we were, are we? You're _never_ going to trust me again and I hate that. Just go. You don't need to be here to comfort me when I hurt you like I did. I don't deserve it."

"I never said I wouldn't _ever_ trust you again." Marceline replied, "I just said it'll take time. And yeah, you hurt me. A lot. But I'm pretty sure I've said some things in the past few months that have hurt you, so I think we're even."

Bonnie could name a few of the hurtful things Marceline had said, but she really didn't want to look back on them. "Am I not allowed to touch you tonight?"

"We can hold hands." Marceline said, "And I'll dance with you. But _no_ kissing. This isn't us getting back together, Bonnie. I told you that before. You know I care about you, but I can't do that. Not yet."

Bonnie deflated. She'd hoped that maybe tonight held some chance of her and Marceline getting back together. "I love you."

"I know." Marceline responded. "Now go and start getting ready. I'll help you."

Bonnie nodded and stood up from her bed, a dull, heavy feeling in her stomach when she realised Marceline hadn't said it back.

* * *

"Do I look alright?" Bonnibel brushed her fingers through her pink locks, asking for what felt like the fiftieth time. "I don't know if I do. Maybe we shouldn't go."

"Hey," Marceline spun her around, halfway through fixing her tie, "You look amazing. Way better than anyone else will look. Honestly."

"Do you think my Mom would like it?" Bonnibel looked at herself in the mirror again, her expression concerned as her gaze swept over her reflection. Maybe it was a little too frilly around the waist. Maybe she looked a little too pudgy in it. Maybe she wasn't skinny enough to wear it.

"I think your Mom would think it's amazing. How about we take a selfie once I've finished tying this and then you can show it to her when you visit her next?" Marceline asked, fumbling with the tie, "I'm sure she'd like that."

Bonnie nodded, smoothing the dress out and staring back at her own reflection for a moment before moving over to her bed to put her heels on. She stared over at Marceline who had sat down on her desk chair to put her shoes on, tying up the laces. She let out an upset sigh; this night was meant to be so much different. Her friends didn't even know she was going to prom, let alone with Marceline, and she wanted to go and spend time with them. No matter how different it was, she was going to have fun.

Marceline shrugged on the suit jacket she was going to be wearing for the night, standing up and sending Bonnie a smile. She straightened the jacket out, "You ready to go?"

Bonnibel nodded, trying not to let her eyes water. She and Marceline had spent a lot of time on her makeup, and she didn't want to ruin that. She was just thankful that Marceline was so amazing at doing her hair – it looked better than it had in months.

Marceline sat down next to her on the bed, "Hey. Smile. This is your senior prom. You're only going to get one of these. Might as well enjoy it."

Bonnie sniffled. Marceline was right. She should be enjoying tonight. She should be happy that it was her prom, her final high school moment. Her last goodbye. But she wasn't happy. Not one bit.

The weird thing was, Bonnie wasn't sad, either. She wasn't really anything. There was just a heavy feeling in her chest, like someone had dropped an anchor in it. Aside from that, everything was numb. Empty. Even when she looked at Marceline. Nothing.

"Yes. You're right," Bonnibel sat up, a hand falling on Marceline's thigh. She was still wearing her black skinny jeans – naturally – as the dress pants from the suit she'd borrow from her brother were too big. The shoes were as well, so she had to improvise with a pair of completely black Vans. Bonnie didn't mind at all; honestly, she wouldn't have cared if Marceline had shown up in her Charmander onesie. "I should try to have fun and enjoy myself. It's just for tonight."

"Yeah," Marceline concurred, "We can take a bunch of photos and then you can go up to the hospital tomorrow to show your Mom. I'm sure she'd love that. You can do a recap of the night for her."

"That sounds lovely." Bonnie murmured, pulling Marceline closer to her. She picked her phone up, flicking it over to the camera and taking a picture with her friend. "There. Picture number one, taken."

Marceline nodded, standing up and gesturing over to the door, "Do you want to head off? I've got the prom tickets in my car."

"Okay. I need to take some pictures with my Dad, though." Bonnie replied. She stood up, taking one last glance in the mirror and nodding at her reflection. She was going to be fine.

She followed Marceline down the stairs and into the living room, where her Dad was getting some sleep on the couch. His business suit was wrinkled and his tie was crooked and Bonnie knew that he'd probably only had about four hours sleep in the past week. In fact, Bonnie hadn't been getting much more.

She felt a little bad waking him up, but she knew she'd feel worse if she didn't get photos with at least one of her parents. "Dad? Marceline and I are going to prom now."

He sat up, rubbing at his eyes, "Oh, alright. What time do you think you'll be back? I might be up at the hospital so be sure to take your house key."

"Alright," Bonnie cast a glance over at Marceline, who slipped out of the room to grab Bonnie's key for her. "I want to take a few pictures, if that's alright."

"Yes, of course," Peter stood up, smoothing out his clothes and smiled at Marceline as she walked back into the room with Bonnie's house key in her blazer pocket. She took Bonnie's phone from her and snapped a few photos for the shorter girl, and then tucked that in her pocket as well. "You girls have fun."

"We will," Bonnie sent him a weaker version of her usually bright smile – although she had to admit that it had been dim for a while now – and then followed Marceline to her car. She sat down in the passenger seat and clicked her belt on, turning to the other girl accompanying her. "Marceline?"

"Yeah?" Marceline started the car and looked around at her, "What's up, Bonnie?"

"Thank you for coming with me tonight," Bonnibel thought that now was as good a time as any to express her gratitude. Really, the only reason she was going tonight was because of Marceline. At least her senior prom was slightly similar to what she'd hoped it would've been when she had her as a date. Even if she was Bonnie's ex-girlfriend. "I know that you didn't particularly want to come, and it means a lot to me that you'd put aside all of that residual anger just to make me feel a little bit better."

"You're welcome." Marceline sent her a smile, "You're my friend. I'm going to be there for you. Simple as that."

Although it hurt to be referred to as just a friend, it was still better than any alternative. "Yeah. Well, it means a lot."

Marceline smiled, keeping her eyes on the road ahead, "Either way, I'm making it my mission to get you to smile tonight. And I want a real smile, not any of those forced ones you've been doing for the last week or so."

Bonnibel just stared at her lap, "Yeah, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I doubt you'll succeed. I don't think I have any smiles left in me."

"That's ridiculous," Marceline brushed her off. "Of course you do. You're Bonnie. You're the happiest, smiliest person that I know."

"Smiliest isn't a word." Bonnie deadpanned, resting her head against the window, "You probably wanted to say 'most smiling'."

"It's a word now," Marceline shot back. Her smile faded and her tone became a lot less light, and Bonnie really didn't know what to make of that, "Listen, if I can be depressed and still smile, so can you."

"You're still depressed?" Bonnie turned around to properly convey her shock. She thought that Marceline was alright in that aspect. She smiled a lot and made jokes and always seemed to be happy, especially when she was with Keila. "I didn't know. I thought you were okay."

Marceline bit on her lip and kept her gaze trained on the road. "Forget I said that. You don't need to worry about me."

"I do, you're my…friend," Bonnie protested, "It's natural to worry about your friends. Are you taking anything for it?"

Marceline's jaw locked. "Yes, but that's not important. You made it perfectly clear that you didn't want me to tell you these things, so I'm not going to. You have enough on your plate to be worrying about me."

"I said that when I hadn't slept for over two days," Bonnie pointed out, "I didn't mean that. I want to be involved."

Marceline shook her head. "No. It'll just put a strain on you and I'm _fine_. It's nothing I can't handle. It's been worse."

(Surprisingly, she wasn't lying there.)

"That doesn't mean it's good, though," Bonnibel finished for her, continuing to poke and prod for answers, "Please tell me. I don't want to be kept in the dark. That'll but more of a strain on me than knowing."

"Just _drop_ it, okay?" Marceline snapped at her and Bonnie automatically closed her mouth, blinking back tears. Marceline exhaled and looked at Bonnie in her peripheral vision, "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to shout. I only wanted you to drop it."

Bonnie nodded, turning to look out of the window at the blurry streets, not looking back at Marceline until she felt the car come to a stop outside school. There were a lot of cars already parked and a few people taking photos outside with parents. Bonnibel felt a surge of jealousy. That's what she should be doing.

"We should go inside. Your friends will probably all be there by now." Marceline's voice brought Bonnie back to earth and she turned to look at her friend. "They'll probably want group photos. You know how LSP is."

Bonnibel bobbed her head in confirmation, "Yes, you're right. She was quite stressful on graduation day. She wanted us all to be in the perfect position. She even had to order all of our parents around. Mom was a little shocked by that, but at least I have a lovely graduation photo with her. She looked so proud of me in it."

Bonnie blinked back tears. She couldn't ruin her makeup. She needed to look perfect for her prom.

"Maybe once she's out of hospital you guys can do a do-over photo. You can get in your prom dress and take a picture with her and it'll be just like she was there." Marceline suggested, squeezing Bonnie's arm. "Or I could just Photoshop you one."

Bonnibel let out a watery laugh. "Thanks for the options. I'll consider them."

Marceline climbed out of the car, walking around to let Bonnibel out. The pink haired girl linked her arm through Marceline's and followed her through the parking lot and straight through to the gym.

It looked a lot different to how it did when Bonnie last saw it. There was a lot more balloons scattered around the floor, loud pop music which Bonnie saw Marceline cringe at, and a lot of tables set up in the latter half of the gym, decorated with tablecloths and cutlery for their meal.

Bonnie spotted her friends right away when she saw Finn's enthusiastic waving, and she pulled Marceline over and took the two free seats between Lady and Fionna.

She frowned at Finn and Phoebe, who were sat parallel to her, "What're you guys doing here? You're juniors."

"Jake snuck me in as his date and Lady did the same for Finn," Phoebe explained, nudging Finn in the side, "He didn't want to not be there for you guys' last official time on school campus."

Finn laughed, "Yeah. Fionna's here because she's Marshall's date, and Cake came with Gumball. So the whole gang's here. Isn't that great?"

Fionna nodded, " _Technically_ we're seniors now since you guys graduated. So this is totally fine."

Marceline looked around the group, before turning back to picking at her fingernails with mild disinterest. "I have to admit, I admire your cunning."

"Wow. And that's coming from the girl that tin-foiled Citron's office in freshman year and got away with it." Lady nudged Finn from across the table, "Your plan has her stamp of approval. How does that feel?"

Bonnibel's frown deepened as she cast a glance over at Marceline, "You tin-foiled Principal Citron's office?"

Marceline laughed a little, "Yeah, it was Keila's idea. We got into school super early and did it and he sort of assumed we'd done it since we had a reputation for being troublemakers and it was in the middle of our lunch period when he decided to confront us about it. We were standing in the cafeteria and he shouted at us, and I got up the courage to talk back and I said 'Why do you automatically assume we did it?' and then he just kind of looked at me really angrily and said 'Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?' and I turned to him and said in front of a crowded cafeteria 'My mother is dead' and he went really quiet and said 'My apologies' and then just walked away. It got me and Keila out of about a year's worth of detention."

"I wish I could've seen that," Finn laughed, "You standing up to Citron. Sounds awesome."

Bonnibel just nodded, "Well done for standing your ground, Marce."

Marceline frowned at her. Probably just stressed out because she still hadn't smiled. It wasn't going to happen; she couldn't smile, not while her Mom wasn't alright. Once she was safe and sound and on the road to recovery, Bonnibel would definitely feel a whole lot better.

She felt Marceline bump against her. "Cheer up, Bon. I know it's hard, but you've got to try."

Bonnie avoided that subject completely. "Can we dance?"

Marceline blinked at her, "You want to dance with me?"

"Yes," Bonnie nodded, "right now. Can we?"

"Sure, I guess so," Marceline glanced over to the dance floor. Admittedly, it was mostly couples, and she knew they'd get stared at, but if Bonnie was asking it must be because she thought it would make her feel better. She held out a hand, "Alright then. Come on."

Bonnibel's fingers wrapped around hers and Marceline felt a jumping in her gut. She led her friend to the dancefloor, her hands resting on Bonnie's waist as Bonnie rested her palms on Marceline's shoulders.

They rocked side to side for a little while, Marceline eventually breaking the silence with a laugh, "Yeah, I'm sorry, I don't know how to dance properly."

"I know," Bonnie's response was toneless, "I'm not much of a dancer myself and I wouldn't have expected you to learn or anything. This is nice, actually."

Marceline examined her for a moment. "You're still thinking about her."

It wasn't a question and Bonnibel was incredibly surprised that Marceline had read her so well. "I'm never not thinking about her. She's my mother. She's always supposed to be here, especially when I'm this age."

"Join the club," Marceline sighed, "I know it sucks, but you need to try and keep going. Don't let it turn you into me."

Bonnie shook her head, "It's – I'm not giving up. I know she's going to get better. Mom's always been a fighter. This time in a year she'll be back home and I'll be laughing about what a scare it was."

"Do you want to –" Marceline paused, taking her hands off Bonnie's waistline to pull the pink haired girl's phone from her pocket. She extended it to Bonnie. "It's your Dad."

A cold sensation ran down Bonnie's spine as she pressed answer and plugged her left ear until she managed to make it outside. Her heart was beating much too fast, so much that it was all she could hear. "Dad?"

" _Bonnibel,_ " His voice was shaking and Bonnibel's stomach plummeted to her feet, _"She's – she's gone, honey. Your mother just passed away."_

Bonnie expected tears. She expected to collapse, her knees to buckle out from under her and break down in sobs, feeling nothing but pain and anguish and _loss_.

There was nothing.

Marceline took her home, trying to comfort her and make jokes in the car. Bonnie stayed unresponsive. Nothing Marceline could say mattered. She couldn't think, couldn't feel. There was just an empty, heavy feeling in the centre of her chest and a knot in her throat that strangled and crushed any attempts at language.

Marceline helped her up the stairs, Bonnie feebly clinging onto her arm as they walked into her room. She stood still, staring into space as Marceline undid her dress and left her in her underwear, finding a pair of grey sweatpants for her to put on. She grabbed the black rock t-shirt from under Bonnie's pillow and tugged it over the pink haired girl's head, guiding her over to the bed.

Bonnie collapsed against her headboard, watching emotionlessly as Marceline untied her tie and popped the top button of her shirt. She shrugged her blazer off and left it on the back of Bonnie's desk chair, and she sat down next to her on the bed. Slowly, she pulled Bonnie over to her and rubbed comforting circles on her back. Bonnie barely registered it.

"You can cry in front of me," Marceline picked up on how frozen Bonnie was, like someone had replaced her with a cardboard cut-out. "I won't – these things hurt. You shouldn't be ashamed to cry."

"I'm – I'm not," Bonnie finally stammered, glancing up at Marceline with completely dry eyes, "I don't think I can. Is that bad?"

Marceline's eyebrows dipped into a frown. "Of course it's not bad. People grieve in different ways."

Bonnibel blinked, looking down at her lap and fiddling with a loose thread on her grey sweatpants. "How did you do it? I mean – I, it's just – you know what it's like."

Marceline's cold fingers weaved through Bonnie's hair, tickling her neck and sending shivers down her spine. "I had a lot of panic attacks. The first week without her I just kind of shut down – stopped functioning. Wouldn't eat, wouldn't talk, wouldn't _move_. Marshall told me that he thought I was dead, too. Apparently my Dad tried hitting me a few times to get me out of it. Didn't work. Eventually I came around. After that it was a lot of crying, pretty much all the time."

Bonnie's head fell on Marceline's bony shoulder, "I feel guilty. I feel like I should be sobbing my heart out, and I feel so _bad_ for not doing it. Did I not love her as much as I thought? Am I a bad daughter? What if -"

"Hey," Marceline cut her off with a stern look, "You're not a bad daughter. It – like I said, people grieve in different ways. It probably just hasn't hit you yet."

Bonnie threaded her shaky fingers through Marceline's. "It has. There's this…emptiness in my chest and it's like someone ripped out my heart and stomped on it thirty times over, before shoving it back inside me all broken and battered and torn. But I just can't cry. It's like something in me is damaged. Maybe it's something that she took with her." Bonnibel swallowed the lump in her throat, shuffling as close as she could to Marceline as though she'd disappear too. "She's _gone_. She's really gone. My Mom is dead."

"Bonnie, listen to me, alright?" Marceline pushed Bonnie's head up with two fingers under her chin and made her meet her gaze. "Even if she's not physically here, she's not _gone_. She'll always be with you, right in there," Marceline prodded Bonnie in the sternum, "She'll be with you, looking after you and cheering you on."

"Everyone says that," Bonnie whispered, fiddling with the bottom button on Marceline's shirt. Doing it up, undoing it, redoing it, and undoing it again. "But it's not true. I won't be able to come home and expect her to be annoying me about my night and asking if I had fun and wanting to gossip. All those times I just told her to leave me alone, I should've -"

"Don't think about things you should've done, alright? You're the most amazing person on the planet." Marceline squeezed her hand. All Bonnie could think about were the words _you're a bad person_ echoing in her mind. "You know what I like to think? I like to believe that people have two lives. One is the life that they actually live, that they're there for. The second one is how they live on through memories and if that's the case then your Mom's second life is going to go on for _so long_ , Bonnie. So many people are going to remember her. You. Your Dad. Your whole family. Even casual patients are going to think back to that amazing doctor they were treated by. She was loved by so many people, and that's what's important. That second life is so important because it just proves how amazing she was. Your Mom will live on in people's memories for years to come. She'll live on through you. She'll live on through stories you'll tell to your kids. And stories they'll tell to their kids. Just like you will."

Bonnibel stared at her, "That's beautiful. Thank you."

Marceline flashed her a grin, "Just trying to make you feel better."

It didn't do much, but it made that heavy feeling of loss that was tugging on her heartstrings loosen its grip slightly, so that counted for something. "Yeah. Can I sleep on you? I think sleeping is the only way I'm not going to think."

Marceline nodded, and Bonnie leaned up and kissed her cheek before quickly recoiling. She knew she'd messed up. _Idiot, Bonnibel_ , she told herself, _you're an idiot_. _She doesn't want you to touch her and naturally you've gone and kissed her on the cheek. Complete idiot._

"It's okay," Marceline sent her an awkward smile, "Just don't do that again. Okay? Go to sleep."

Bonnibel nodded, shuffling over to the side of her bed, near the wall. "Goodnight."

She closed her eyes and heard Marceline shuffle away from her, letting out a shaky sigh as she burrowed her face into her pillow.

The bed sunk again, and she felt Marceline's arms wrap around her waist. Bonnibel felt a jump in her throat and flipped over so her nose was touching the tip of her friend's. She glanced down – Marceline had taken off her jeans and had unbuttoned her shirt to make herself comfortable and her heart leaped at the sight of Marceline's exposed stomach. She was so beautiful.

"Night, Bonnie," Marceline's hand fell on Bonnie's waist.

Bonnibel swallowed the lump in her throat. "Yeah. Goodnight, Marceline."


	90. ninety.

**Saturday 4th** **July 2015**

Bonnie had lived without her Mom for eight days. Just eight days. It felt like a decade, maybe even two. Eight days had dragged by like the school days she spent alone in New York, like the weekends she spent in her room alone, like the months had plodded on when she was pulled apart from Marceline.

Except it was so much worse.

Throughout everything else, she could always walk down the stairs and count on her Mom to keep her company, whether it be for an impromptu shopping trip or a movie day. She had none of that now.

She never thought she'd want to be dragged to the mall for ice cream and made to try on clothes Bonnie knew she'd never wear. She never thought she'd want to go _shopping_ more than she had for the past eight days.

Her friends had been around a few times to comfort her – Lady, Fionna, LSP and Cake had brought several tubs of ice cream and romantic comedies for her to watch, and Finn, Jake, Marshall and Gumball had tried to beat her at Mario Kart and actually won. Bonnie didn't really pay attention that much.

Marceline hadn't called her since spending the night after prom, and Bonnie didn't know what to make of that at all. It's not like Bonnie had tried contacting her either – she wasn't sure when she was overstepping boundaries – and whenever she tried to pick up the phone, she would overthink things and want to scream down it until her vocal cords snapped.

The funeral was scheduled for Tuesday and Bonnibel was dreading it. The thought of a funeral made everything that little bit more real. If she was being honest, sometimes Bonnie would forget. She'd see something in one of the stupid romantic comedies her friends brought over and think ' _wow, I should show that to Mom'_ , and then it would hit her and she'd cry silently into her pillow. One time she'd even walked into the front room and called out for her, before realising and feeling like she'd just been hit by a bus.

Bonnibel had been taking a lot of walks since it happened. Her head would get clouded up and she'd feel crowded like the walls were closing in on her and she'd have to get out to get some air to her brain so she could just _think_.

Today wasn't good. It was the Fourth of July. She should've been celebrating. Every year, her family had a barbeque for it – her Dad would make his famous burgers and her Mom…she'd always be there to help Bonnie with the vegetables to make things easier for her Dad. Then they'd set off some fireworks in the back yard and tuck in. Knowing that she wouldn't have that this year made Bonnie's head feel so cluttered and crowded that she went to the one place she thought would help her clear her head.

The cliff.

She went on past-Marceline's recommendation – she remembered Marceline telling her that she went up there to think, to look down at the town and clear her head. According to her, everything looked so small when she was up there and it was comforting. Bonnie didn't know exactly how that worked, but she figured that Marceline's opinion was a reliable one. She'd been through what Bonnie was going through.

She really wasn't surprised when she saw Marceline's slender frame on one of the benches.

She wasn't sure if she should sit down. Marceline came up to the cliff for alone time and Bonnie should respect that. She decided that she was going to leave her alone. She hadn't called, so Bonnie shouldn't bug her, no matter how upset she was.

She walked over to one of the other benches and went to sit down, looking out at the town. It was near dusk – fireworks would be going off not too long later. She let out a long breath, thinking that maybe staying up there would be a good idea. She could watch the fireworks by herself and envy other people who were having the time of their lives celebrating with their families.

Marceline sank down next to her on the bench, "Hey, nerd. What're you sulking up here for?"

"Clearing my head," Bonnie turned to look at her, "You didn't have to come over here."

"Of course I did," Marceline rested her arm on the back of the bench, so it was virtually _around_ her. Bonnie didn't know how to take that. "You're upset. I don't see why you didn't come over to me in the first place."

"You didn't call me. I thought you didn't want to talk," Bonnibel fiddled with her fingers, glancing back over at the town, "I thought maybe you didn't want to be…involved with everything. I would understand entirely if you didn't want to be. I'm a mess right now."

Marceline's arm fell from the back of the bench and she squeezed Bonnie's shoulder, "I would be a hypocrite if I said I didn't want to be around you because you're a mess. In case you didn't notice, I'm kind of a mess too."

Bonnibel wiped at her eyes, throwing her arms around Marceline's neck and hiding her face in her shoulder. She cried into Marceline's grey plaid shirt, trying to focus on how her friend's cold fingers were tracing down her spine and her soft wintery scent that was masked by her sweet strawberry perfume. Marceline's fingers wove through Bonnie's pink hair as she cried into her shoulder, _shush_ ing her as she sobbed her heart out until she gave herself a headache.

She sniffled, trying to calm herself down as she pulled away. She rubbed at her eyes again, staring into her friend's fascinating crimson eyes. "Can I spend tonight with you?"

Marceline looked at her feet. "Well, um – I'm going to a party at Guy's. I don't know if you want to come along or not…I know it's not really your scene but I promised Keila I'd be there."

"Oh," Bonnie looked down in disappointment, "that's alright. I don't want to intrude on you and Keila. I know she doesn't like me."

Marceline sighed, "It's not that she doesn't like you. She's just angry that you hurt me. She can be like that. Keila won't have anything to say to you, and I can promise that. She knows what's happened with…she knows what's happened lately."

Bonnibel frowned down at her lap, "You told her?"

"I tell her everything." Marceline said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We hang out at least once a week. She likes to – she calls it 'having a catch up' – but she likes to kind of…counsel me. She looked at my texts over my shoulder and saw that I was texting you and she called me an idiot and smacked me upside the head. I had to explain."

Bonnie fiddled with her fingers, picking at her pink nail varnish. "Um – and, uh…how did she react?"

"She stopped mid-rant about how much of an idiot I am and told me that if it was putting any strain on me I shouldn't get involved. I promised it wouldn't and she called me a dumbass and said that I'm 'too sweet'. Whatever that means." Marceline shrugged, "She won't have a problem if you come tonight."

"You _are_ too sweet," Bonnie agreed between sniffles, "I'd like to come. It sounds like it might help me get my mind off things."

"Alright then," Marceline concurred, "Just wear something a little less _pink_. Keila and I will pick you up at half seven."

* * *

Bonnibel jumped at the sound of a car horn outside, lacing up her shoes. She looked in the mirror with a final nod at her reflection. Although it was quite obvious that she was nervous – Marceline's other friends frightened her a little bit – she looked fine. She was worried about seeing Keila for the first time after the mall debacle; naturally, she didn't want to be punched again.

She took in a deep breath and walked outside, saying goodbye to her Dad and closing the door behind her. Marceline's car was parked in front of her driveway, and she climbed into the backseat and let out a shaky greeting. "Hi, Marceline. Hello, Keila."

Marceline smiled at her in the rear view mirror, "Hey, Bonnie."

Surprisingly, Keila didn't glare or scowl. There wasn't any swearing. She didn't just stick with ignoring Bonnie and staring blankly out of the window.

No, she completely stunned Bonnie and spun around in her seat, sending her a bright smile. "Hi! How are you?"

Bonnibel blinked in shock. "Oh… um… I'm okay. Um, why are you... are you alright, Keila?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Keila beamed, "A little buzzed – I think this one," she paused to poke Marceline in the side, "slipped something in my coffee – but fine. Pre-party drinking isn't a bad thing. She's driving, so…"

"I swear to _god_ , I didn't put anything in your coffee, K," Marceline glanced over at her friend from the driver's seat, "You're just weird."

" _You're_ weird," Keila shot back, cracking her knuckles, "Call me that again and I'll mess you up."

Bonnie hoped Marceline would take that threat seriously. She could tell her first-hand how much Keila's punches hurt – Bonnie's nose had throbbed for two days afterwards.

"If I were you, I wouldn't call her that," Bonnie nudged the back of Marceline's chair with her foot, "It'd suck to see you get your nose broken."

Marceline sent Keila a look that Bonnie couldn't quite decipher, "Yeah. Keila can throw a pretty good punch."

" _God_ , have some tact," Keila elbowed Marceline in the side, earning her a smack from her friend, "I'm sorry about that whole mall fiasco. I kind of overreacted. Happens sometimes."

"That's okay. You don't need to apologise," Bonnibel told her, "I deserved it for…everything, really."

Keila sent Marceline a triumphant smile. "See? Told you she agrees with me. Everyone agrees with me aside from you. Even _Bonnibel_ knows she was acting like a bitch."

Marceline spared Keila a scathing glance, "I'm starting to think that maybe you slipped something in your own drink. Or, maybe you just pretended to as an excuse to blurt out a load of silly comments."

"I'm _buzzed_ ," Keila corrected her, "That's my excuse, Abadeer. I've always got that pre-party buzz. Especially on my drinking nights."

Marceline just rolled her eyes, "Yeah, _alright_. Pretend to already be drunk. Totally believable. And the Oscar goes to -"

"Oh, stop being so whiney," Keila rolled her eyes right back at her, "The Oscar for the biggest _whiner_ goes to _you_."

Marceline sighed, parking the car in front of a house Bonnie guessed to be Guy's. The loud music and people flocking to it kind of gave it away. She smoothed out her dress again and nervously followed behind Marceline and Keila, grabbing onto her ex-girlfriend's arm as they entered the house and she laid eyes on the pierced and tattooed drunks that were already occupying it.

"Marceline?" Bonnibel boosted herself up to whisper in her friend's ear, "Are you planning on getting drunk tonight?"

"I drove here, Bon," Marceline said that like the answer was obvious, "No, I'm not _planning_ on getting drunk. There's a teeny chance it might happen accidentally because I'm tempted to grab a screwdriver -"

"What the hell do tools have to do with you getting drunk?" Bonnibel half whispered back, her face falling into a frown when Marceline cracked up. "What?"

"It's not – I didn't mean a literal screwdriver," Marceline laughed, shaking her head and slinging an arm around Bonnie's shoulder. "God, you're far too innocent. It's vodka mixed with orange juice, dude."

Keila snorted with laughter, "That's so… _cute_. Have you ever been to a real party before?"

"Um, remember that time we first met? Pretty sure it was in this exact house, right over there," Bonnibel jabbed a finger down the hallway, "So _yes_ , I've been at a 'real' party before."

"That wasn't really a _party_." Keila replied, looking to Marceline for backup, who nodded, "It was more like a get-together with alcohol and marijuana."

" _Marijuana_?" Bonnibel repeated, eyes widening to the point they were about to pop out of her skull. She looked up to Marceline with the same horrified expression. "Is there – is that going to be _here_? _Now_?"

Marceline awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck, not meeting Bonnie's gaze. "I don't know. It's a _party_ , Bonnie. I don't know what you're expecting."

"But I didn't – _drugs_? Are you _serious_?" Bonnie sent Marceline a look that perfectly represented how appalled she was. "You two have never…right?"

Keila raised an eyebrow, nodding to Marceline, "Hasn't she told you about the time she accidentally ate a pot brownie?"

"You know," Marceline sent Keila a glare, "if I hadn't already told her about that, I swear, I'd probably have smacked you right then."

Keila just rolled her eyes, "Come on. Get a drink with me."

Marceline held up her car keys, "Driving. Remember?"

"Just one," Keila held up a finger, grabbing onto Marceline's wrist and pulling her over to where the drinks were in the kitchen. She picked up a bottle of beer, holding it out, "You can drive on one beer. Besides, by the time we're heading out you'll have sobered up."

Marceline sighed and took it, taking a swig, "Fine. Just don't let me near the vodka."

"Deal," Keila grabbed herself a beer and then held it out to Bonnibel, "Here. Let loose. Party. Forget about things."

Bonnie glanced down at the cold bottle in her hand. She shouldn't. She _really_ shouldn't. She should put the beer bottle down and walk away, spending the night watching Marceline from the sidelines and observing how people change when they're drunk.

But Keila had said _forget about things_. Forgetting sounded amazing. Marceline had told her that alcohol gave her false happiness; maybe it could do the same for Bonnie.

So, she sealed her fate and took a sip, cringing as the bitterness hit her tastebuds.

She glanced up, noting Marceline's confused frown, before looking over to Keila, "Thanks."

"No worries." Keila glided past her and towards a door, "You'll get used to the taste. I'm going to say hello to the lesser beings." She glanced up at Marceline, "You coming?"

"Um…" Marceline shook her head, pointing out of a different door, "No. I'm going to go and say hey to Tuff. See you in a bit."

Keila nodded, making her exit and leaving them alone. Bonnibel cleared her throat. "Tuff. That a friend of yours?"

Marceline hummed, "I'll be two minutes."

Bonnibel tried to ignore how Marceline skirted around the question just like she skirted around her to say hello to the boy Bonnie thought she'd been _dating_ for the past few months. She knocked back her beer with a glare when she saw them hug, and tried to down the drink completely when Marceline led him over to her.

"Dude, I've met her," Tuff stopped Marceline in the middle of her introduction, "She was at that guy's birthday meal. Your ex, right?"

Marceline nodded, letting out an awkward laugh. "Um, yeah. Bonnibel."

Bonnie's gaze flicked over him, "Hi. I'm going to sit down somewhere. Bye."

Marceline frowned at her, grabbing onto her wrist as she tried to leave. She wasn't going to talk to Marceline's _boyfriend_. No way. "Are you going to be alright?"

Bonnie grabbed another beer bottle, yanking her arm from Marceline's grip. "I'll be fine."

With that, she stalked out of the room with her head held high, feeling very proud of herself for holding her ground.

Marceline huffed, leaning back against the kitchen counter, "I should go after her."

"She said she'd be fine," Tuff assured her, bumping against her in a manner she assumed was supposed to be comforting. It didn't really do anything. "I don't think she really likes me."

"Probably just overthinking things," Marceline stared up at the ceiling in thought. "Bonnie's like that. I think maybe she thinks that we're…"

Tuff laughed, "Wow. That's – wow. It might be down to the fact that you told me to be as much of a dick to her as possible at that meal thing."

"Yeah. Maybe," Marceline glanced over at him, "What exactly did you say to her?"

"I might've called your bisexuality a ' _lesbian phase_ '." He admitted, "And rolled my eyes when she told me she was in love with you."

" _Dude_ ," Marceline scoffed, but her smile mitigated its effect, " _I'm_ offended by that. Lesbian phase? Are you fucking serious?"

"You told me to be an asshole," He held his hands up in defence, "You know I don't really think that."

Marceline hummed in thought, "Maybe you'll have to make it up to me somehow."

"Really?" He reached behind him and produced a bottle of Smirnoff, "Want to do some shots?"

"Can't. I'm driving." Marceline stuffed her hands in her pockets and shrugged, "Besides, I probably should stay off that for a while."

"Alright then, be lame." Tuff casually shrugged, "But I could drink you under the table. Just saying."

Marceline scoffed, "You know what? Pour some shots. I'll show you."

* * *

A hand grasped onto the door handle and pushed it open, the room spinning as she sat down on the bed. Bonnie's head fell into her open palms and she stared at a darker patch in the carpet in an effort to stop herself from feeling so dizzy she threw up.

She shuffled back on the bed, slowly taking in the room she'd decided to hide out in. It was dark – a result of her forgetting to turn the light on – and compact, only a little bit of walking space around the bed. There wasn't really anything in it; no posters, no personal items, no clothes hanging in the open closet, so she allowed herself to relax and stretch out. The room didn't look like it belonged to anyone, so Bonnie didn't think it'd be much of a problem for her to camp out in it until Marceline or Keila called her.

Her moment of relaxation didn't last that long. All she could think about was Marceline and that boy. Marceline liked someone that _wasn't_ her. That wouldn't do. Bonnie decided she'd run for president and make it law that Marceline Abadeer wasn't allowed to be in love with anyone but her, because Bonnie needed her. _Tuff_ didn't.

Bonnibel slowly pushed herself up, staggering towards the door and pulling it open. She was going to get Marceline away from him and spend the night with her. She had to show Tuff that Marceline _wasn't_ available and that she was Bonnie's. Marceline Abadeer was _off_ the market.

She staggered down the hallway and into the kitchen. Marceline was in there before, so she probably still was. Bonnie hadn't been gone that long, had she?

It was empty aside from two people grabbing more drinks.

Bonnibel rubbed her eyes and staggered into the sitting room, scanning it for Marceline. Keila was there, beer in one hand and mouth on some girl's neck, but no Marceline. And no Tuff.

Bonnie scowled and spun on her heels, walking straight into someone's chest. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to bash into you like that."

A rough hand fell on her shoulder, pushing her away, "Watch where you're going, alright?"

She glanced up, her expression souring when she met Ash's gaze. His face did the opposite, switching from angry scowl to frightening smirk.

"Sorry," Bonnie mumbled, pushing past him, "I said sorry, dickhead."

He grabbed her again, by the arm this time. "Wait a minute. You're that girl. The one that's always with Abadeer. The lesbian."

Bonnibel blinked, pulling her arm out of his grip, "Get off me. I need to leave now."

Ash's intimidating laugh sent a cold sensation down Bonnie's spine. "You're looking for Abadeer, aren't you?"

Bonnibel frowned, looking up at him, "Do you know where she is?"

He nodded and Bonnie found it hard to decipher the smile on his face. It was similar to a smirk, but there was something else under there, something that wasn't good. He grabbed her by the wrist and started pulling her in a random direction. "Yeah, I do. Follow me."

Bonnie tried to yank her arm from his grip. "Hey, get off me. I don't like you."

"Don't fucking tell me what to do." Ash snarls at her and keeps pulling her.

"Keep touching her and I'll break your wrist again."

Ash froze, looking around to see Marceline in the doorway, glaring at him. His shock didn't last all that long though. "Yeah, fuck off. I know you're all talk."

Marceline wrenched him off her, pulling her fist back and punching him in the face in one swift motion. Drunkenly, Bonnie stood up and stayed behind Marceline, relief the only thing in her system. She watched as Ash's hand came away from his nose covered in blood, clinging onto Marceline's arm.

"That look like all talk to you?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, folding her arms across her chest, "Touch her again and worse will happen. Fuck you."

Marceline's arm wrapped around Bonnie's waist, and she helped her out of the room and down the stairs. "Hey? Bonnie, are you alright?"

"He told me you he knew where you were." Bonnibel sighed and looked up at Marceline with a scowl, "I bet you were with that _boy_."

"Ash lies, Bonnie. All the time." Marceline walked her into the lounge, "Why were you looking for me?"

"I wanted you," Bonnie poked Marceline on the tip of her nose, "I wanted you to know that you're _mine_."

"I'm n -" Marceline stopped herself, looking her over with an amused smirk, "You're drunk, aren't you?"

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders, "Don't know. Maybe. Slightly."

Marceline just smiled, giving her a gentle squeeze, "Come on, nerd. Let's get you home."

She felt Marceline walk her out of the door and she spun back around, pointing towards the house. "What about Keila?"

"She'll text if she needs me." Marceline assured, opening the passenger door to her car and sitting Bonnie down. She leaned across her to buckle her in and Bonnibel grabbed onto her shirt to prevent her from moving away. "What's up, Bonnie?"

"You're my hero." Bonnie nuzzled her face into Marceline's neck, "I want you to know that you're mine, okay? Not _Tuff's_. I'm going to – have you got a pen?"

Marceline laughed, carefully prying Bonnie's fingers from her shirt. "I might have one in the side pocket."

Bonnibel frowned when Marceline closed the car door, but she grabbed a pen that was left in the side pocket of the door and turned over to Marceline, beaming at her when she sat down in the driver's seat.

"Come here," Bonnie ordered, pulling Marceline closer to her from the other side of the car. She put the tip of the pen on Marceline's arm and tried to write, frowning when it didn't work. "Your pen is broken."

"You've still got the cap on, loser," Marceline pulled it off for her, nodding down to the pen. "Try it now."

Bonnibel used her own hand as a test, "Oh, you fixed it. You're magical."

Marceline smiled as Bonnie started writing on her arm. "I am, huh? What'd you need a pen for, anyway."

"Well, my Mom always used to tell me that if I wanted to reserve something in the refrigerator, I should write my name on it so she didn't accidentally let my little brother have it or eat it herself." Bonnie explained, putting the cap back on the pen and dropping it in her lap. "You're mine to eat. Wait. No – kiss."

Marceline snorted with laughter, "Nice euphemism. _You're mine to eat._ Amazing."

"Take a picture of that and send it to Tuff so he knows not to take you out of the refrigerator." Bonnie folded her arms across her chest. "I'm not going to take you out of the refrigerator yet because you're not ready to leave it. But I'm reserving you."

Marceline looked down at the writing, a shaky _Bonnibel Butler_ on her forearm. "You didn't need to do that, you know. You already reserved me."

Bonnie frowned, "How? You don't even love me anymore."

"Who said I didn't love you?" Marceline raised an eyebrow, starting the car, "Of course I love you."

Bonnie pouted, looking down at her feet. "You never tell me and you don't want to be my girlfriend anymore."

"I never said I didn't want to be your girlfriend anymore." Marceline reached over and grabbed hold of Bonnie's hand, squeezing it in comfort. "I just said that I wasn't ready to be your girlfriend _again_. And I'm not, not yet."

"Can I try and persuade you?" Bonnie asked, "I'll be like a sales person trying to sell something to you. Except the thing is me. But can you break up with Tuff first? Now?"

"I'm not – that's not a thing." Marceline told her, shaking her head, "I'm not dating him. I'm not dating anyone."

Bonnie blinked, her face breaking out into a smile, "Oh. Alright, then. Um -" She paused, clearing her throat, "Bonnibel Butler is -"

Marceline laughed, "You're going to try advertise yourself to me in third person?"

"Uh…yes." Bonnie replied with a hesitant nod, "If you want me to. If you think it'd work."

Marceline knew for a fact that it wouldn't work. Nothing Bonnie could say would make her remotely less untrusting, but she decided to let her drunken friend do what she wanted.

"Alright then. Try me." Marceline finally responded as they pulled up outside of Bonnie's house.

"Okay. Bonnibel Butler is a really nerdy girl who can do your homework for you and kiss you a lot. Um…she likes a lot of TV shows and ships a lot of things but ships you with her most of all. There's certain things that she can't give you unless it's really serious but other than that she's a really solid pick. She also thinks you're really pretty. Like… _really_ pretty." Bonnie rambled, glancing out of the window. "Oh, whoa, we're at my house."

"We are. Do you have your key?" Marceline asked, "The lights are out so I'm guessing your Dad is in bed."

"I think so." Bonnie patted her torso down, "It's empty."

"What a surprise," Marceline sarcastically replied, "Your _pocketless_ shirt is empty. Check your jeans."

Bonnibel stuck her hands in her jean pockets and produced a silver key from the left one. She lightly poked Marceline in the arm with it. "Magical. You're like, a magician. An actual _genius_."

"Bonnie, you're really drunk." Marceline climbed out of the car and helped Bonnie out.

"Yeah, I am, aren't I?" Bonnie let out a laugh, "Mom's not making me sad. Drunk is great. You were right when you said it gives you false happiness. First time I've smiled in ages."

Marceline led Bonnie to the front door and unlocked it for her. She didn't comment on Bonnie's last words. Not a good idea. "It's really late so your Dad is probably asleep. We don't want to wake him up. We're going to have to act like ninjas until we're up in your room, alright?"

Bonnibel bobbed her head in agreement. "Alright. Ninjas."

Marceline watched with a smile as Bonnie karate chopped thin air on their way up the stairs and made a hand gun when she walked into her room, bursting in and immediately toppling onto her bed.

"Whoa there, nerd. Don't want to hurt yourself," Marceline sat down on the bed next to her, "Good ninjas don't get injured in battle."

Bonnibel's eyes widened and she looked so terrified, "I'm a bad ninja!"

Marceline shook her head, "Nah, you're the _best_ ninja."

"I am?" Bonnibel titled her head to the side, laying down on her bed. "Thank you! You're like, the sweetest ninja in the world."

Marceline smiled at her, standing up and searching around Bonnie's drawers, "I'm going to get you some sweats that you can wear to sleep. Can you get your jeans off for me?"

Bonnie shook her head, but let out a little squeak in shock when Marceline popped open the button. She pulled away, holding her hands over it. "What're you doing?"

"You said you couldn't take your jeans off." Marceline held up the pair of sweatpants in her hand, "I'm going to help you get into your PJs since you're apparently too pissed to do it yourself."

"Oh…" Bonnibel glanced down at Marceline's hand, hovering above her button, "Alright then. Sorry. Go ahead."

"I'm sorry if you're a little freaked out about earlier. You know, with Ash." Marceline trailed off, sitting down, "I'm really sorry. I didn't know he'd be there. Honestly, if I'd known I would've probably spent the night watching Netflix."

Bonnie shuffled out of her jeans, pulling on the sweatpants Marceline had gotten for her. "Netflix sounds good. Can we watch Orange is the New Black?"

Marceline blinked in confusion at the sudden subject change. "Um…tomorrow, maybe. I'll come over and we can -"

"Come over?" Bonnie interrupted her, "Aren't you going to stay with me?"

"I…do you want me to stay with you?" Marceline's eyebrows dipped into a frown at Bonnie's nod, but she got under the sheets anyway. "Okay then. Get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night," Bonnie leaned over and pushed a kiss to Marceline's cheek and weaved her fingers through the other girl's, giving it a gentle squeeze before closing her eyes.

Marceline waited until she heard Bonnie's soft snores to unlink their hands.

* * *

** Sunday 5th July 2015 **

The first thing Bonnie registered when she woke up was the pounding in her head. She felt hazy, like she was still in some sort of weird half-sleep, and her headache was preventing her from coherent thought.

She sat up, the covers falling from her chin down to her lap, her eyes widening to the point where they were about to pop out of her skull when she saw Marceline sleeping next to her. Had something happened between them last night? She couldn't remember. Any memories she had were fuzzy and dreamlike, and the last thing she could remember was seeing Marceline with _Tuff_.

At the thought of Marceline's boyfriend, Bonnie's mood soured. Yes, she remembered now – she'd been ditched. Marceline had favoured hanging out with Tuff over hanging out with _her_. Naturally, Bonnie sent a sleeping Marceline a scowl. How could she just let Bonnie get herself drunk? Wasn't Marceline supposed to stay with her last night?

"Why do you look so angry?" Marceline's voice was muffled by the covers and Bonnie's scowl immediately dropped back into the neutral and empty expression she'd been wearing a lot lately. "Are you mad or just hungover?"

Although voicing her feelings never really went well and she didn't want to drive Marceline away, Bonnie just shrugged, "A little bit of both."

Marceline frowned, stretching out in the bed and rolling onto her side. "Alright, what'd I do?"

"I – why did you let me get drunk?" Bonnie asked, flinching away from the light as Marceline switched her lamp on. "Why didn't you stop me?"

Marceline frowned at her. "Do you not remember anything?"

Bonnibel half-shrugged. She didn't remember all that much – just a few hazy impressions of Marceline talking to Tuff – and if she strained in an effort to think, it gave her a headache. "Not really. Just you talking to your boyfriend."

"Clearly you don't remember the part where I told you _he isn't my boyfriend_." Marceline sat up and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hands. She stretched out her arms, smiling at shaky handwriting on her forearm. "It was around the time you did this."

Bonnibel leaned forward, frowning when she recognised a much wobblier version of her usual loopy handwriting. "What? Why'd I write my name on you?"

"You said it was because you were 'reserving' me." Marceline laughed when Bonnibel cringed in response, "Apparently you didn't want Tuff to take me out of the refrigerator? I don't know, you said stuff about how your Mom told you to write your name on things you want to reserve in the fridge so she didn't give them to your brother."

Bonnie felt a pang of hurt in her chest at the mention of Neddy, and an even bigger pang that felt like something along the lines of a giant boulder crushing her completely at the thought of her Mom. Half of her family. Gone. She'd never play teddies with her little brother again – she'd accepted that a long time ago, but could hardly remember how. The thought of never being able to talk to her mother about med school and becoming a doctor, or just trivial gossip like girls Bonnie liked was heartbreaking.

It was like Bonnie had two holes in her chest. One was small, scabbed over and patched up but still hurt tremendously if someone pushed too hard on it. The second was an open, gaping gash, sucking all the smiles and happiness and _life_ out of her until there was nothing left but a broken and battered shell filled with sadness, despair, anguish and pain. Bonnie didn't even have to touch it to make it hurt. It _ached_ , every second of every day, sucking the life out of her as she tried to go about her daily tasks.

She tried to push her family from her mind and keep the thought of them locked in a safe at the back of it. It wasn't the time to talk about that.

So, Bonnibel smacked herself in an effort at an amusing response to Marceline's statement, squeezing her eyes shut tightly and looking anywhere but the raven haired beauty beside her. "You're kidding."

"Nope. It gets better-" Marceline's definition of 'better' was probably the equivalent of Bonnie's definition of _worse_ , "-you tried to sell yourself to me in third person."

"I'm so – I probably really weirded you out, didn't I?" Bonnibel huffed as she threw the blanket off herself, "I'm sorry, Marceline. I didn't mean to ruin your night. I know that you probably wanted to stay at the party with your friends."

"You didn't ruin it," Marceline squeezed Bonnie's upper arm, startling her – she really hadn't expected the sudden initiation of contact. "I kind of wanted to get out of there too. Tuff was trying to convince me to do shots with him. That wouldn't have gone down well."

Bonnibel's expression soured at the mention of Tuff and Marceline so obviously noticed it. "I don't like him. He's an asshole if he's encouraging you to drink when you're trying to stay sober."

"He's not a bad guy. He's just – I don't know. He was kind of drunk." Marceline shrugged her off, "Sober, he's cool as fuck. He was up to coming with me to Jake's birthday meal."

"Yeah, as your _date_." Bonnibel muttered.

Apparently, Marceline had caught that. "He came because I knew you were going to be there and I wanted to prove to you that I didn't need you. That you could be replaced."

Bonnibel's breath caught in her throat and she glanced down at her feet, her eyes stinging. She knew what that meant – crying had become a familiar occurrence for her, usually when she was alone and in her room. She'd sob into the dark fabric of Marceline's shirt that had long stopped smelling like her and hope that the horrible emptiness she was feeling could go away.

"Obviously, I was being stupid," Marceline let out a soft smile and nudged her, "You couldn't be replaced. I guess I just wanted to see if you missed me. If he made you jealous."

Bonnibel barked out her attempt at a laugh. "Yeah, it worked. A lot."

Marceline shrugged, "It was immature of me. Either way, we both had opportunities to make each other jealous."

"I never…" Bonnie trailed off, her eyebrows dipping into a frown, "Did my spending time with Bea make you envious?"

Marceline let out a bitter laugh. "A bit _too_ envious. I just – when I saw you with her I wanted to strangle you for being such an idiot but at the same time I was too angry to do anything. And when you agreed with her when she said those things…"

Marceline trailed off and dropped her head into her hands, sighing again, heavier this time. Bonnie felt a heavy sense of guilt at the bottom of her stomach. She hadn't realised how much those words might've affected Marceline, and the fact that Bonnie hadn't argued with Bea and opposed it...it was official. Bonnie was an idiot.

"Hey," Carefully, Bonnie put a hand on the centre of Marceline's back and began rubbing small circles, "I didn't agree with her. I'm aware that I didn't argue with her either, but I was just so…upset. Empty. Nowhere near as empty as I feel now, but it was still horrible. I thought maybe letting her bitch about you would make me feel better about myself, when in reality all it did was remind me how wrong she was and how much you've changed me and how much I missed you."

Marceline glanced up at her through her fingers. "I didn't – it hurt me. A lot. That was kind of the moment when I realised I didn't want to have anything to do with you anymore. I deleted your number and deleted you off Facebook in the hopes that it'd delete you out of my life."

Bonnibel wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. That was like a kick in the teeth. Marceline didn't want anything to do with her, and it hurt. "Then why are you still here? Why are you talking to me and spending the night at my house and inviting me to parties? If you don't want to be around me, don't be so nice to me and don't confuse me. Don't get my hopes up about us getting back together. I'm not stupid; I know it's not going to happen. So _why_ are you still here, Marceline? Why are still you messing with my head?"

"Because it didn't fucking work," Marceline snapped at her, "No matter what I did, you'd always come back like some sort of annoying ex-girlfriend boomerang. And I started thinking that maybe I shouldn't try to cut you out of my life. Then the whole thing with your Mom happened-" Marceline picked up on the way Bonnibel squeezed her eyes shut as lightly as she could and her hands curled into fists, "-and I thought that maybe if I just hung around you for a little while until you felt better, I could get rid of you later. But being around you…I couldn't stick to that plan even if I tried. I missed you so much. I couldn't deny that. _Yeah_ , you hurt me, a lot. But that doesn't change how I feel about you and although I was angry about that before, I'm not anymore."

Bonnie swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to speak, her voice coming out crackly and murmured. "You're here because you want to be?"

Bonnie nearly jumped out of her skin when Marceline slowly slid her fingers through hers. "Yes. Although initially there was a bit of reluctance, yeah. I want to be here. I told you that last night when you were drunk."

"You did?" Bonnibel frowned, looking down at her lap. She wanted to be able to remember that. "I don't recall. I don't recall doing that either," she nodded down at the writing on Marceline's arm, "you probably thought that I was being a creepily possessive ex. I don't want to be like that."

"I didn't think that at all." Marceline assured her, "I know that you want to get back together with me and you were pretty hammered. It's understandable."

Bonnibel wanted to ask if she'd said anything about them getting back together while she was drunk, but she didn't think that would be a very good idea. It could make things awkward and Bonnie didn't want to ruin things more than she already had.

"Right. Well, um, I guess I'm going to get some more sleep to get rid of my headache?" It came out more like a question, "I'm not familiar with how to get over hangovers, so I'm going to try and sleep through it."

Marceline nodded, "Yeah, I'll go get you a glass of water before you try to sleep. It should help."

"Alright," Bonnie settled back down in her bed, "And Marceline? Thanks for staying the night and looking after me."

"No worries, Bon," Marceline flashed her a grin, "I'll be two seconds."

Bonnibel yawned and bobbed her head in confirmation, sending Marceline a soft smile as she slipped out of the room.

By the time Marceline came back, the gentle embrace of sleep had already snatched her away.


	91. ninety-one.

** Tuesday 7th July 2015 **

The car was silent as it drove down the road, no cheery conversation or even quiet whispers. Just emptiness. Bonnibel had never seen her family so quiet. Her Dad wasn't cracking jokes or even smiling, her grandparents weren't their usual happy selves; even Gracie was sat in silence, staring off into space and gripping onto Bonnie's hand as they followed the other car.

Bonnie looked out of the back window at the other three cars following them. She could see Marceline's faint outline, and was still bitter about the fact that she couldn't go in with her. She needed someone to hold her hand like she was holding Gracie's. She wanted protection.

She was even bitterer about how Marceline's car had been taken over by one of her aunts and uncles with her weird cousin who had made an irritating remark about them at the wedding. It wasn't exactly homophobic and everyone had told Bonnie that it was just a joke and she shouldn't get worked up about it, but it was very annoying when her fourteen year old _cousin_ asked to watch her and her then-girlfriend make out. Her Mom was the only person who had understood why she was angry; even her Dad hadn't agreed that her resentment was justified.

Bonnie wiped at her eyes again, trying to swallow the growing lump in her throat. She knew she shouldn't think about her mother. Not until they arrived at the funeral. She hated it, but she _still_ kept forgetting, and she liked that. She liked not thinking about how she'd never see her Mom again. She loved the blissful ignorance of having it slip her mind for a moment.

But a funeral? No, a funeral was far too final for Bonnie's liking. She was actually saying goodbye. She had to let go and then everything was over. They'd go to the hotel they'd booked to eat at and then that would be it. That made everything final.

Bonnie had been hoping all week that she'd just wake up and everything would've been a bad dream. That she'd open her eyes to her Mom shaking her awake, telling her that she needed to get ready for her first day at a new school. That the past year and a half hadn't been real. Maybe she'd wake up in New York, not even having moved yet. _God_ , she wished everything had been a dream.

Except she didn't. If it was, her friends wouldn't be her friends. Marceline wouldn't have been her girlfriend for a while. She wouldn't have been to England. Everything would be different. _Bonnie_ would be different.

The car came to a stop and Bonnie let go of Gracie's hand to climb out, taking a deep breath of air as she looked over to the building. She felt someone squeeze her shoulder and she looked up, her Dad sending her a comforting smile. She attempted one back, but it came out as weak and false.

Cold fingers slipped through hers and she looked to her left to see Marceline. In an attempt to ignore how the building was closely looming, Bonnie decided to make conversation. "Um…how was the ride here? My family didn't make you uncomfortable, did they?"

"No. I just stuck my earbuds in," Marceline shrugged and sent her a smile, "How're you feeling?"

"Heavy and hollow at the exact same time." Bonnie sighed, her forefinger running over the ring on Marceline's middle finger, "Like I'm completely empty but someone is crushing me with a great big weight. Do you know what I mean?"

Marceline squeezed her hand, "I know exactly what you mean."

They walked through the door of the building together and Bonnie glanced into the room. There were a lot of people in there, only the first three rows of seats on each sides vacant for everyone with her.

Bonnie looked behind her as the funeral service workers readied the coffin. "I don't know if I can do this."

Marceline's arm fell around her shoulders and Bonnie buried her face in her ex-girlfriend's neck. "You can. Come on, you're tough as nails. Your Mom would be so proud of you for doing this."

"You know, I barely made it through my little brother's funeral." Bonnie mumbled into her shoulder, "Mom let me leave straight after the service so I could go home and try to think about other things. She held me the whole time and assured me that we'd get through things. She lost her son and she kept it together for me. Who's going to do things like that for me now?"

"Didn't I offer to come with you for that exact same reason?" Marceline's fingers ran through Bonnie's hair, grazing past her ear and sending shivers down the pink haired girl's spine. "I'll be there for you. I'm on demand for instant cuddles, and once we've been at the repass for a decent amount of time, I can drive you home so you can get some alone time."

Bonnibel resurfaced and shook her head, "No. I don't want to be left alone."

"I can stay with you and play some music to distract you. How does that sound?" Marceline asked, "We can talk about…I don't know – all sorts. Deep things or trivial things. I don't mind."

"Yes. That sounds wonderful." Bonnie nodded, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. She opened her mouth to continue, but music – the songs her _Mom_ had chosen – started and her stomach turned into led.

A hand pushed on the small of her back, and she fell into step with Peter, who held onto her free hand. She looked back up at Marceline with watery eyes, her friend's image smudged and distorted, and she felt Marceline squeeze her hand three times. _I love you_. She sucked in a deep breath and squeezed back four times, before walking down the aisle behind the coffin, keeping her gaze firmly directed at the floor.

She felt herself being sat down, and she hid her face in Marceline's shoulder, her hands grasping onto her friend's black dress. She surfaced only once to take a glance at the coffin before burying her head in the bend of Marceline's neck, stifling her sobs so she didn't ruin the service for anyone else.

The eulogies were painful to listen to, so painful that Bonnie didn't even notice when Marceline kissed the top of her head and started to trace patterns on the back of her neck with the calloused pads of her fingers. Her head was pounding when her Dad let go of her free hand to speak.

They'd only been there for ten minutes; it felt like a decade. Bonnie didn't think she could get through twenty more. No _way_. Every second dragged out, as if the world was savouring the moment it finally broke her.

Bonnie wished she was one of those people that didn't find it hard to shut themselves off. She wished she could just bottle everything up and pretend that it didn't affect her, pretend that she was perfectly fine. But no, Bonnie didn't know how anyone could do that. It seemed impossible. She didn't know how Marceline managed to be so strong. She lost her mother and had it ten times worse than Bonnie did, and she still managed to smile and joke around in an effort to make Bonnie feel better. Bonnie found it hard to even get out of bed lately.

She let out a shaky breath when the service ended and Marceline walked her out of the door with a firm hand on the small of her back.

Bonnibel wiped at her eyes and glanced up at Marceline's blurred image. "That was horrible."

Marceline was sending her a soft smile. "Do you want to go look at the flowers?"

Bonnibel shook her head, using the back of her hand to make her eyesight a little clearer. "No, I just – can we go to your car? I'd like time to clear my head before the repass. I don't want to be set off by some annoying family member."

"Sure." Marceline pressed the keys into her palm, "You go. I'll tell your Dad where we're going."

"You'll be quick?" Bonnie looked over to her family, who were looking at the flowers – her grandmother looked like she was about to make a beeline for them. "What if my family try taking you into conversation?"

"Then I'll tell them that I'm coming to talk to you. I'm sure they'll understand." Marceline gave her a soft squeeze. "Go. I'll be two seconds."

Bonnie fiddled with the keys in an attempt to distract herself as she made her way to Marceline's car. She glanced back a few times to see Marceline talking to Peter – just to make sure that her friend wasn't being pulled into a long-winded conversation with one of her grandparents. She knew that her grandmother had been disappointed by how little she was able to fuss over Marceline at the wedding. Bonnie didn't have it in her to break the news that they'd split up.

She unlocked Marceline's car and collapsed into the passenger seat, her eyes stinging and threatening to send another tidal wave of tears. She brought her knees up to her chest and tried to think about happy things. Her friends. The long summer ahead of her. College. Marceline.

It didn't work. Sure, her friends and summer were good things, _amazing_ things, and she was so lucky to have people like Finn and Jake and Lady, but college? College was the thing that made everything go so sideways. College was the reason she didn't have Marceline anymore. Her dream of going to college with her girlfriend was shattered because she worked so hard on just going to college.

"Hey, nerd," Marceline sat in the driver's seat, putting the key into the ignition, "Miss me?"

Marceline had no idea how much Bonnie missed her, how much Bonnie wanted to grab her and kiss her senseless, how she hated this 'just friends' thing. But she couldn't say all that. She couldn't speak her mind at the risk of losing Marceline again. If just friends was how Marceline felt comfortable, Bonnie would deal. She owed her that much.

"What did my Dad say?" Bonnibel asked as Marceline reached over to do up her seatbelt. "Why are you getting ready to drive me off somewhere?"

"He said that if you needed to go home at any time, you can." Marceline recounted, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, "We're going to take the long way to the repass and I'm going to try to make you smile. You haven't since the accident and I really miss seeing you smile."

"I smiled when -" Bonnie started, trying to think of an example to prove Marceline wrong. She couldn't. She put on a false smile, "There. Smiling. Let's go home."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "You're a big faker, Butler. I'm going to buy you some ice cream. You know how much you love the bubblegum flavour."

"I'm not hungry." Bonnie muttered. "Take me home."

"I will. _After_ I buy you ice cream." Marceline pulled out of the parking space they were in. "No arguments or I'll tickle you to death. That'll get a laugh out of you."

"I'll only have an ice cream if you get one for yourself, too. Strawberry." Bonnie folded her arms across her chest, "That's my condition. Or I'll tickle _you_ to death."

Marceline's smile faded for a moment and Bonnie felt a pang of guilt in her chest. Was she overstepping any boundaries? It had been fine for Bonnie to ask about Marceline's eating problems before, but what if Marceline wasn't comfortable talking to her about things like that anymore?

"Alright, fine. Deal." Marceline finally responded, "I'm still mad at myself for telling you where I'm ticklish. Drunk Marcy is an idiot."

"Drunk Marceline is sweet. I find it rather endearing," Bonnie admitted, drumming her fingers against her lap, "To be fair, I find most things about you endearing. I'm in love with you, so…"

(Bonnie left the ' _you should be my girlfriend'_ unspoken.)

"You can't just…tell me that you're in love with me." Marceline let out a long sigh, "It's…I don't like it."

"What? You want me to move on? You want me to completely lose you?" Bonnibel sat up, her neutral expression replaced by an angry scowl. "I've lost so much in the past few months. There's no way in _hell_ that I'm going to just give up on you. I love you. I want to hold you and kiss you and fall asleep in your arms. I want to be able to be affectionate with you just because.

"I _know_ that you're not ready. I know that you probably never will be ready and just said that to make me feel less upset about losing my mother. But _honestly_ , Marceline? You did nothing but get my hopes up and that is _so_ unfair. I shouldn't have let you convince me that I had a chance. I screwed up and hurt you and it's all my fault that we're in this mess. You're _never_ going to trust me again.

"I don't want to annoy you. I don't want to make you hate me like you hate Ash. All I want is my girlfriend back. But by the looks of it, I'm not going to get that. I want to fight for you, but at the same time I don't. I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable." Bonnie leaned her head against the headrest of the seat, staring up at the car's roof. "I need an answer. A completely honest answer. I don't have time for maybes or someday. Just be honest with me. I can take it. Am I _ever_ going to get you back? Are we ever going to date again?"

"I don't…." Marceline huffed, "I can't give you that. I can't give you a straight answer right now. I don't know if we're ever going to get back together."

Bonnibel blinked at her, "I can't deal with uncertainty right now."

"I know." Marceline ran her hands through her hair, "I'm sorry, Bon. I'm not – you're right. I don't trust you, but that doesn't mean I'll never trust you again."

"I don't want to push you, but I also don't want to get my hopes up for something that isn't going to happen," Bonnie admitted, "On a scale of one to ten, how likely is it that we'll date again?"

Marceline's face sunk into a frown. "I don't know. Four?"

Bonnie's face fell even more, if that was possible. "Oh. Right. Um, okay then. That's – thanks for telling me the truth."

 _Four_? That wasn't good at all. Bonnie had been hoping for a six or a seven – five at the least – but a _four_? That was less than half of a chance that she and Marceline would get back together. Naturally, her stomach felt like someone had just dropped an anchor in it and the empty feeling that was already in her chest did nothing to make it feel any better.

"It's alright, I guess." Marceline cleared her throat and worked on changing the subject, "So…ice cream. Want to get it from the closest one or go to the mall and get it from that little stand you really like?"

After a long pause, Bonnie finally replied, "Stand. I think I deserve it for getting through today."

Marceline nodded, her grip on the steering wheel tightening. "Yeah. Sure."

Bonnibel opened her mouth to continue. "I'll pay you for the extra gas, I -"

"You don't need to pay me, idiot." Marceline turned to her and rolled her eyes, "I'm paying for the ice cream too, and I don't want any arguments on that. Got it?"

Bonnie didn't have it in her to argue. "Yeah. Got it."

"You never told me about your plans." Marceline sat down on the edge of Bonnibel's bed. The room was dimly lit by Bonnie's desk lamp – all of the bulbs in her main light had broken and apparently Bonnie hadn't decided to fix them yet. "You know? For after summer?"

Although college was the last thing Bonnie wanted to talk about, it was getting her mind off her Mom. _That_ she could appreciate. "Well…I'm flying back to New York at the end of August. You know that I'm going to NYU. I have no idea what I'm going to do accommodation wise – Bea told me that I could share an on-campus room with her, since she's going to NYU as well, but I don't know. I'm not in a rush to move in with her and be 'BFFs'. Not after what happened."

Marceline frowned at her. "You're ditching me for _Bea_? Fuck."

Bonnie's eyes widened and she leaned forward, hoping that she wasn't misinterpreting that. "Wait…you still want to live with me? After everything that's – _really_?"

"I'm just thinking about what's best for me in the long run." Marceline tried to shrug her off. It didn't work very well. "You and I both know that I'd probably die after about a month of living alone. I don't want to die. Living with you is the -"

"Lesser of two evils?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow. She didn't believe _that_ at all. "Yeah, _right_. If you're going to use me, maybe I will move in with Bea."

Marceline huffed, " _God_ , you know that's not the only reason. You're annoying, but I could be stuck with someone much worse at college."

"Getting there with the real reason, I see," Bonnie teased, stunning herself at the light tone of her voice. She hadn't really joked around or teased anyone for months, "I'll give you a little while to change that answer and make it better. Then maybe I'll consider going ahead with the original plan and moving in with you."

Both she and Marceline knew that she'd jump at the chance to move in with her, and that moving in with Bea had been a last resort kind of thing. Either way, teasing Marceline was something she hadn't done for a while. She was going to make the most of her slightly less horrible mood and poke fun at her ex while she could.

" _Fine_ ," Marceline sent her a stoic, unimpressed look, "I want to move in with you because I like spending time with you. Happy?"

"Didn't appreciate the monotone, but that was fine." Bonnie bobbed her head in concurrence. "Yes. We can do what we initially planned and find an apartment."

Marceline opened her mouth to respond, but was taken aback when Bonnie virtually launched herself into her arms and squeezed her as tightly as she could. "Uh, Bonnie? Why are you trying to crush me?"

Bonnie's grip noticeably slackened, "I'm hugging you. To say thanks. I know that you might only be moving in with me because you feel bad for me or something, but I'm going to take it. I really want to live with you next year."

"I meant what I said before, nerd," Marceline's left arm fell around Bonnie's waist, hugging her in the most awkward way imaginable. "I don't want to die just because I don't know how to cook or fend for myself in any way. I kind of need you so I don't end up getting McDonald's all the time. Freshman fifteen isn't a road I want to go down. Besides, living with you doesn't sound all that bad. We like the same TV shows, so there won't be any arguments over the remote, and we've both already spent an extended period of time together to know that we're not going to drive each other crazy. It'd work."

Bonnibel looked up, a foreign feeling in her chest. It was light, like someone had raised the anchor and sailed away. Finally she flashed a wobbly, awkward smile. "Yeah. It would work."

Marceline wanted to clarify that it didn't mean they'd be getting back together, but Bonnie was finally smiling, for the first time in months, and Marceline couldn't bring herself to ruin that.

Instead, she just slung an arm around her friend and played with her hair until Bonnie finally fell asleep.


	92. ninety-two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for no update last week, I literally just forgot it was Friday and didn't realise until Wednesday this week that I hadn't updated. Oops.

** Sunday 19th July 2015 **

Bonnie pulled her blanket around her and picked up the tub of Ben and Jerry's from where she'd left it on the coffee table. She dug the spoon into the ice cream and pressed play on the TV remote, starting up her show again.

This was how she'd been spending most of her days, lately. Lady, Finn, Jake and everyone had come round a few times to comfort her but hadn't stayed too long – she'd assured them that big groups of people weren't what she needed right now – and then she'd pull out her ice cream and blanket and watch a movie or marathon a TV show.

She was re-watching the fifth season of Criminal Minds and trying not to think about all the things that her Mom loved about the show, but failing completely. She picked up on little things, like scenes between JJ and Emily that she used drop little comments about like 'oh, don't you think they'd be a cute couple?', and her Mom would usually say something along the lines of 'yes, that'd be sweet'. After Bonnie came out, there was a lot of teasing about how she was going to find the 'Emily to her JJ' when she grew up.

She put her ice cream down again and fiddled with the top button of her onesie. She hated being home alone on Sundays – her Dad was working and usually her Mom would've had Sundays off. The house felt so empty without her.

She was tempted to call her friends, but she knew that they'd all want to come round at once, and Bonnie knew she'd get worn out easily with seven people around. And she'd have to get out of her onesie, which she'd not done for at least three days and wasn't prepared to do just yet.

Her eyes narrowed when she heard a knock on the front door. The person tried the handle, but Bonnie had thought in advance and locked the door. She looked over at her phone – if it was her friends, she would have had a text at least ten minutes ago announcing their plan to come over. If it was her Dad, he had a key so he'd just walk straight in.

Assuming that it was just a cold caller, Bonnibel shrugged and turned back to the television, wrapping herself up again.

Her face sunk into a frown when there was another knock, louder this time. She scowled, but stood up and walked out of the living room, keeping the scowl on her face to perfectly convey how irritated she was to whoever it was at the door.

She grabbed the key and unlocked it, but kept the chain on, frowning when she saw Marceline. That was odd. Usually she would've texted.

"Hey, Bonnie," Marceline flashed her a grin as she opened the door, "Is it cool if I come in?"

"One second," Bonnie closed the door again and took the chain off, opening it again so Marceline could come in. Bonnie watched as Marceline sat on the stairs to until her boots. "Why didn't you text and let me know you were coming."

"My phone's dead," Marceline shrugged, "Figured you weren't doing anything anyway, and judging by the onesie and the unwashed hair, I was right."

Bonnibel blushed, running her fingers through her hair in an effort to unknot it. She cast a sideways glance to the mirror, flushing even more when she realised just how little she'd been taking care of herself. Bags under her eyes, hair greasy and tangled, and most embarrassingly, the chocolate ice cream stains around her mouth.

She did all she could for her appearance as she followed Marceline into the sitting room, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. "Um, some warning might've been nice. Couldn't you have gotten my phone number from your brother or something? I would've showered and put makeup on."

"No need to worry about that kind of thing, nerd," Marceline sat down on the couch and sent her a smile, "I don't care if you haven't showered or aren't wearing makeup. A little deodorant might be nice, but still."

Bonnibel scoffed indignantly. "Are you saying I smell?"

Marceline sent her a smirk that roughly translated into _yes_. "No, I'm just saying that the way you smell right now could be improved slightly by a little deodorant."

Bonnie sat down on the couch, "Well, maybe if you _warned me_ that you were coming over, I would've put some deodorant on."

Marceline hummed, "So, I'm going to guess that you've spent the last few days in that onesie, eating ice cream and binge watching TV shows. Yes?"

Bonnibel's cheeks flushed pink to match the colour of her onesie. "Maybe. I had nothing else to do and ice cream is comforting. Besides, I didn't want to be alone, and fictional friends are a lot less draining than my real ones."

She felt incredibly guilty admitting that – she loved Lady and everyone, but lately it felt like they'd been sucking the energy out of her. She missed them, _yes_ , but she couldn't spend more than two hours with them without wanting to leave and take a nap.

Marceline jabbed her thumb towards the door. "You want me to leave?"

"No, that's alright," Bonnie assured, "It might be good for me to see someone real and not hang out with fictional people through a TV screen."

"Good," Marceline smiled, nudging her, "I'm going to get you out of the house. Maybe take you to the mall for your favourite ice cream. That always cheers you up."

Bonnie hummed in thought, "Yes. Okay."

"Rad," Marceline nudged her, "Go and take a shower, alright? I'll chill here until you're done and then we'll set off. Maybe we'll get you an actual _meal_ rather than just ice cream."

Bonnie stood up and stretched, sending Marceline an awkward look. "I'm sorry for, um," she gestured over herself, "I've kind of been relaxed about…uh, hygiene for the past few days. I know I look kind of gross."

"You don't look gross," Marceline cracked her knuckles and stretched out on the couch, "but seriously. Shower. We can go and get bubblegum flavour ice cream sooner the quicker you're ready."

"Right," Bonnibel nodded and looked towards the door, before awkwardly fiddling with her fingers. "I'm going to hug you. Is that okay?"

Marceline raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because I smell." Bonnie replied with an eye roll. Marceline had said it herself, not that Bonnie was going to deny that.

Marceline laughed, outstretching her arms and wiggling her fingers. "Come here. I can hold my breath for ten seconds."

It almost made Bonnibel smile when Marceline wrapped her arms around her and gave her a gentle squeeze, not afraid to run her fingers through her tangled and unwashed hair.

Almost.

* * *

 

Bonnibel was fascinated by how things she used to enjoy suddenly seemed so bleak. It was like some sort of change had happened, a shift in her interests, except she had yet to find what her interests had shifted to, exactly. The world seemed so…dull, all of a sudden. Like all of the bright and colourful things she used to love had turned to a horrible and emotionless shade of grey.

Marceline sent her a soft smile, pulling her out of her mental reverie. "Hey. What're you thinking about?"

Bonnie just threw one shoulder back in a shrug. She shouldn't worry Marceline more than she already had. Marceline had her own problems and Bonnibel didn't want to put a strain on her. "Nothing, really. Just…irrelevant things."

"If it's making you look so upset, I doubt it's irrelevant." Marceline nudged her with her arm and Bonnie tried to ignore the way her stomach leapt. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I don't want to put a strain on you," Bonnie assured her, "You don't need to be worrying about me. Just worry about yourself. Your problems are greater than mine."

"Nobody's problems are greater than anyone else's," Marceline argued, folding her arms across her chest. She leaned back on the bench they were sat on, nodding down on Bonnie's bubblegum ice cream, "Aren't you going to have your ice cream? It's melting."

"That's another thing," Bonnie indirectly answered her by licking it, "You shouldn't worry about getting me food. I haven't stopped eating – in fact, I've been eating _more_. It should be the other way around. _I_ should be looking after _you_."

"It goes two ways, Bon," Marceline told her, "We're friends. We're supposed to look after each other. But I'm not expecting you to be thinking about that right now. I'm _fine_ , and you just went through a _huge_ loss. I'm not going to do that to you."

"You're not – I want _normalcy_." Bonnie knew that it wouldn't work. All of her other pleas for normalcy hadn't. The only thing that was even the slightest bit normal lately was how her Dad had started cracking horrible jokes in an effort to cheer her up. They never worked. "Looking out for you was normal for me. Protecting you was normal. I want that. I want you to tell me how you are."

Marceline shook her head, "No, Bonnie. This outing is about cheering you up. Not about that. _That_ would put a strain on _you,_ and I can't in good conscience do that."

Bonnie read into that. Who wouldn't? "If it'd put stress on, then that doesn't mean you're fine."

" _Bonnie_ ," Marceline closed her mouth as though she was stopping herself from saying something idiotic, "Just stop, okay? I don't want to talk about it."

Bonnibel scowled down at her feet. "You're just saying that because you know I won't push you."

"No, I'm saying that because I'm not going to be the person that makes you feel worse." Marceline cleared her throat and tried changing the subject, "Shut up and eat your ice cream."

"If it'd make me feel worse, you're not fine and you need to talk about it," Bonnie folded her arms across her chest, "Is it your anxiety? Depression? Eating…" Bonnie trailed off at Marceline's scathing look, "…problems? Or all three?"

"It's _nothing_." Marceline insisted, "If I wanted to talk about it, I'd go to Keila. She knows about everything. Besides, the last time I tried talking to you about things, you dumped me. Not taking that risk again."

Bonnie knew she didn't exactly have the right to be _offended_ by that. Marceline would rather talk to someone else about her problems and that hurt. It wasn't like Bonnie was blaming Keila for it, either. She knew that it was entirely her fault that Marceline didn't want to talk to her about things.

(That just made it worse.)

"I'd never force you to tell me things, and you know that, right?" At Marceline's nod, Bonnie continued, "And I _am_ worried about you. Not telling me just -" she stopped herself, shaking her head. Making Marceline feel guilty for not telling her wasn't what she wanted to do, "I want you to know that you can talk to me. I won't just shove you away like I did before. I'm not – I love you and care about you and I like being able to help you. Losing my mother doesn't mean it's going to break me to hear about how you're feeling."

"You know what's interesting? People watching. We should do that." Marceline was trying to change the subject and Bonnie _knew_ it. "Like that guy over there with his wife. I wonder what they're talking about. If they're even _married_."

"Marceline," Bonnie murmured, taking a risk and curling her fingers around her ex-girlfriend's, "Talk to me. If you're avoiding it, I know it isn't good. You're forgetting how well I know you."

Marceline huffed, turning to her with a glare. "Fine. I'm okay."

Bonnibel frowned, "Really?"

Marceline just shrugged and muttered, "It's nothing I can't handle."

"That doesn't really make me feel very assured." Bonnie squeezed Marceline's hand, "And I don't think that equates to 'okay', either. Be honest. You know you can trust me."

Marceline scowled, "Yeah, well that's reality. Nothing about mental illness will make you feel ' _assured'_. One day – scratch that, one _minute_ – I might be fine and then next I might want to launch myself off the cliff. I'm not going to just be 'okay' all of a sudden. _Yes,_ I go to therapy, have medication, but talking to some random woman and popping pills isn't going to make me _happy_ very quickly, is it?"

Bonnibel blinked back the tears and swallowed the lump in her throat. That _stung_. She didn't understand how she'd made Marceline so angry – she'd never say things like that to her before – but she didn't want to upset her further.

Naturally, when she opened her mouth, she couldn't stop talking. "Marceline, I'm really sorry that I – I guess pushed you, but I need to know. And the way you're talking, you don't seem to be very happy and I don't want to offend you by saying things because of clouded judgement and I'm not – I'm pretty horrible, aren't I? I can understand why you don't want to tell me things but I like being in the know so I can do what's right for you and -"

"Oh my god, shut up," Marceline shook her head, "Telling you things _won't_ make you feel better. It'll make you feel worse. I learned my lesson from earlier this year when you told me that I was 'putting a strain' on you. That I was a problem."

"I didn't _mean_ that!" Bonnie exclaimed, "I was tired and stressed and I hadn't slept for two days when I said that. If I was in my right mind, I never would've said those things to you, and you know it. Making me feel guilty about things I said _months_ ago is making me feel ten times worse."

"Yeah? Well trying to make me talk about my mental illnesses just so you can be 'assured' really isn't much better, is it?" Marceline snapped, standing up, "You know what? This was a mistake. I can't do this again. I can't be around you."

Bonnibel's heart stopped working and when it started again, it tried too hard to make up for the time it'd lost. A horrible cold sensation trickled down her spine and her head suddenly felt a lot lighter, but not in a good way. No, in a _terrible_ way.

She tried to speak but her throat had knotted, making her voice scratchy. "You can't leave me."

"I can do what I want," Marceline folded her arms across her chest, "If you're going to -"

Bonnie cut her off, grabbing her wrist, "No. I won't let you leave me. I can't lose you again."

The thing that struck Bonnie the most was how calm she sounded. Although she was terrified at the thought of losing Marceline again, although she broke at the mere _thought_ , she knew that shouting and crying wasn't the way to get through this.

Marceline pulled her wrist from Bonnie's grip, "Just _stop_ , okay? Stop -"

Bonnie couldn't hear what Marceline had to say. She couldn't let her leave. "Please don't do this to me. I don't want you to stay out of guilt or pity, but the thought of losing you again kills me. You told me that I had a chance to get back together with you. You told me that we were definitely friends again and I – just _can't_ lose my Mom _and_ you in the space of a month. You can't make me hope and then do that to me. That would be worse than if you'd never come back at all."

Marceline sighed and muttered something Bonnie didn't quite catch, but sat down on the bench again. Relief washed over Bonnie, but she didn't want to let herself relax too soon. For all she knew, the next words Marceline spoke were parting ones.

Eventually, Marceline sighed again, "You can relax. I'm not going anywhere."

Bonnibel blinked in confusion, "You're not?"

"Of course I'm not." Marceline replied. She glanced down at her feet and then up at Bonnie, "You're right. I'd be extremely unfair of me to make you think that we were friends again or that we had a chance to get back together and then just leave. I'm not going to do that to you."

Bonnibel flung her arms around Marceline and hid her face in her neck. Her voice came out muffled, "Thank you, Marcy. And I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you for answers."

One of Marceline's hands rested on the small of her back. "That's alright. And I'm not – I'm sorry for snapping at you, but that's the reality of it. I'm not just going to get better by talking about it or taking medication. It's a gradual thing, and it's not like it's always an upwards streak. Recovery is like a rollercoaster. There's lots of dips and upside-downs."

Bonnie had always been someone who looked for optimism and a silver lining in everything, and nothing about that sounded optimistic. Nothing at all. "But you'll get there eventually?"

Marceline gave her a soft squeeze. "Yeah. I'll get there eventually."


	93. ninety-three.

**Wednesday 22nd July 2015**

Bonnie glanced over at the clock, her fingers kneading her lower thighs through her jeans in nervous habit. It was already five past six, and although that wasn't exactly that _late_ , it was enough to make her nervous. Bonnie was a worrier, after all.

She wasn't expecting Marceline to be on time – honestly, she never was – but it still made her stress. She just wanted one perfect night with her friend. One that didn't end in an argument or her crying or both. She'd talked to her Dad before he'd gone out to work, and he'd allowed her to cook spaghetti for herself and Marceline. Apparently he thought it was a good idea for her to be productive and social; he said it would 'take her mind off things'. If that meant her Mom, then she knew it wouldn't. The thought of her mother was always there in the back of her mind. Nothing could change that.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard a knock on the front door, and jumped up to answer it.

"Marceline," She opened the door and looked to her friend, "You're right on time."

Marceline rolled her eyes as she slipped past her. "You've got your worry face on. I know you were stressing because of my five minute tardiness."

Bonnie frowned. She had a worry face? She hadn't been aware of that. "Oh. Um, well I might have been a little concerned, but I certainly wasn't -"

Marceline sent her a look that roughly translated into ' _stop kidding yourself, Bonnie_ '. "Yeah, yeah, alright. So, what's the plan for the night?"

"I've made us spaghetti for dinner, which is pretty much ready to be served right now," Bonnie said, fiddling with her fingers, "and after we've eaten I guess we'll just hang out? Maybe watch a couple of movies or play a video game or…something. I don't know. I didn't really make a detailed plan. Did you want me to?"

Marceline laughed, "Don't stress yourself out, nerd. No details is fine."

"Alright," Bonnie felt her stomach flip at the fond way Marceline was smiling at her, "You can go and sit down and I'll grab our food? Then we can maybe pick a few movies to watch and relax. Sound good?"

"Yeah, alright," Marceline nodded and skirted around Bonnie to head into the sitting room. She poked her head around the door, "Hopefully your spaghetti is as good as it was the last time I had it."

"Oh, this will be much better than that," Bonnie assured her, "That was just a kind of thrown together meal at the last minute because you were sad. I've spent most of today working on this. Think of this as a sort of…taster of the things I'll make you in New York. The things you might help me with."

Marceline hummed in thought, "Okay then. It better be up to scratch, though. Otherwise I might find a better chef to live with."

"Yeah, yeah, very funny." Bonnie just rolled her eyes and spun on her heels to make her way into the kitchen.

She put the spaghetti in two bowls, giving Marceline a slightly smaller portion than she gave herself, and then grabbed the necessary cutlery, walking into the room. She passed Marceline her bowl, and then placed her own dinner on the coffee table.

"Do you want a drink?" Bonnie asked, watching with slight amusement as Marceline stabbed at her food with the fork. "I could maybe get you a beer from the garage, if you'd like."

Marceline shook her head, "Nah, I'll just stick with coke."

Admittedly, that was kind of a surprise, but Bonnie just brushed it off and chalked it up to Marceline getting better. With a soft "Okay," she left the room and grabbed a can of coke from the fridge – lemonade for herself – and then made her way to the front room again, setting the drinks down.

She settled down on the couch next to Marceline, twirling her spaghetti around her fork. "Do you like it?"

Marceline swallowed her mouthful of food with a nod. "Yeah. You've got pretty mad cooking skills, Bonnie. Of course, I already knew that, but this just reaffirms it. I'm definitely living with you in New York."

Although Bonnie knew that was already happening for definite – she'd started looking at apartments – it was nice to hear it from Marceline. It was a sweet little reminder that at least her plans from last year of living with Marceline in college – although distorted slightly – were still going ahead. It was comforting.

"That's good to know," Bonnie felt a soft warmth in her chest and her diaphragm fluttered when Marceline sent her another one of those reserved smiles of hers, "but like you said before, we like the same television shows and don't get sick of one another after an extended period of time, and I'd probably be hard to find someone else in New York like that."

Marceline just shrugged, "You never know. I could put out an ad – 'roommate wanted, must watch certain TV shows and not be annoying'. Total seller, right there."

Bonnie let out a soft laugh, the sound surprising her. She hadn't done that for what felt like a decade. "Yeah, totally. I'd go for that if I saw it."

"Exactly. I'd be great at finding a roommate." Marceline told her, "But honestly, I'd rather be with you than some random person. I'm not exactly the best at making friends. You know from experience."

Bonnibel hummed in thought, "If you tell the girl you have a crush on that you're going to break her jaw, I find it hard to imagine what kind of things you'd say to someone you liked platonically."

Marceline just rolled her eyes. "Oh, _shush_. Don't make fun of me. It's not my fault that I'm awkward and don't know how to express my feelings. I blame my Dad for being an asshole."

"You're blaming your _Dad_ for your amazing ability to pretend you don't like someone?" Bonnie repeated, "Wow, Marceline. I mean, I guess you could say it's a valid excuse. His harsh – to put it lightly – way of handling things with you could've confused you about how to properly express feelings. Your upbringing and things like relationships with parents can have a big effect on you later in life. I'm pretty sure that's a thing that can happen."

Marceline blinked at her. "Did you just back me up using _social science_?"

Bonnie shrugged, "I might've."

"You're – do you just have the secrets to the entire universe stuffed in here?" Marceline lightly tapped her on the head with her fist for emphasis, "Because you know way too much. Probably more than you should. I'm surprised the government aren't after you."

"What would the government want with _me_?" Bonnibel raised an eyebrow, "I'm a pudgy science gnome who's a little bit too attached to certain fictional characters. They'd probably want someone who isn't a giant nerd. I'm hardly a threat to them."

Marceline snorted with laughter, "Well, I meant like, after you as in for a _job_ or something. Maybe you could be their resident science nerd. I don't know."

Bonnie took a sip from her lemonade can, "I don't think I'd ever be able to work in government. I wouldn't be able to keep their secrets. Especially if it was to do with violence. Besides, they're too conservative for me."

Marceline nodded, "Yeah, you're right. Unless we had a left wing government, I wouldn't work for them either. You know," she stopped herself with a laugh, "my Dad called me a communist a few weeks ago."

Bonnie frowned, "Why, exactly?"

"Well, you know how he's kind of like… _super_ conservative?" At Bonnie's nod, Marceline continued, "I was talking about how I believed in equal rights for everyone and stuff when I was staying over at his house a few months ago, and he just looked at me and said 'Marceline, I didn't raise you to become a communist'. I was like – I don't even think he knows what communism is, to be honest. All I said in response to that was 'you didn't raise me at all', and that shut him up."

Bonnibel let out another soft laugh – surprise number two. "Wow. Your Dad is so…wow. You mentioned that he knew about your, um…eating problems? A few months back, I mean."

Marceline's demeanour shifted from happy to uncomfortable in seconds. "Um, yeah. He harassed Simon because he wanted to know my 'medical history' or something and Simon had to tell him since he's my Dad and all, and he shouted at me quite a bit about it. He said things like it was my fault and that I shouldn't be 'doing this to myself' and that he wasn't going to pay out any more money for medication if I didn't 'get my act together'. He made it out like I fucking _chose_ to – _ugh_."

Bonnie tried to ignore how this conversation should've happened months ago. "How has he been since then?"

"Well, when I got home after we – um…when I got home, he was still there, and he told me that he was sorry for shouting and that he'd talked to Simon about it, and he said he was going to 'help'. He basically kept telling me to just eat whenever he came over and he didn't understand why I couldn't and it didn't really help at all. He hasn't really spoken about it since around early June, but sometimes when Simon tells me to go over to his to spend time with Marshall, I can see him kind of… _monitoring_ me when we have dinner." Marceline shrugged, "I don't know. He probably thinks I'm a lost cause or something."

Bonnie squeezed Marceline's thigh, "At least he isn't really horrible about it." She glanced down at Marceline's spaghetti bowl, which was about a quarter full, "You don't need to finish that if you don't want to. I won't think you're rude if you don't."

Marceline flashed her a grateful smile and put the bowl down. Bonnie took it as a sign of improvement; Marceline had eaten more than half. That was a good thing.

Marceline coughed, "So, uh, you said something about movies?"

"Ah, yes," Bonnie nodded, getting up from the couch to pick up a few DVDs. "I've picked out a few franchises I thought you might like. I figured we could watch them together. Obviously we won't finish them all today, but I thought it'd be a good idea for us to get started on something. Knowing that I have something to finish might make me feel a little better."

"Okay, tell me what you have there," Marceline prompted her.

Bonnie flopped down on the couch, "Ice Age, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones."

Marceline hummed in thought, picking up Bonnie's _Jurassic Park_ box set. Her DVD of _Jurassic World_ was left on the couch. "I think we should go for these."

Bonnie nodded, "Sure. Any particular reason?"

"Well, aside from them all being really rad movies, I know for a fact that they're science-y, which means they get auto Bonnie love, _and_ there's a guy who looks like Alex Gaskarth in the third one, which means auto Marcy love." Marceline replied, "I mean, even though the third one is definitely the worst-"

"Oh, yeah, no arguments there," Bonnie agreed with her, "The talking velociraptor on the plane in Alan's dream was probably the dumbest moment of the entire series."

"Exactly," Marceline nodded, "but even if it was the worst and Alex Gaskarth guy is stupid because he steals raptor eggs, he's still nice to look at, so it pays off."

"You know what's even worse than the raptor in Alan's dream, though?" Bonnie said, looking over at Marceline, "The moment when the cell phone goes off in the Spinosaurus' stomach and then when they realise that the cell phone isn't on the other people when they meet up with them, it's suddenly behind them? It was established that the Spinosaurus was bigger than a T-Rex, and in the first movie, they could hear the T-Rex's footsteps when it was like, at _least_ a mile away. A bigger dinosaur would have a bigger mass and would therefore make louder footsteps. It's _basic_ science! Yet somehow the dinosaur was able to sneak up on them? Not possible."

Marceline laughed at her. "You're cute when you rant about science."

"It's _true_ , though!" Bonnie folded her arms across her chest, her cheeks flooding with warmth at Marceline's compliment, "There are a lot of scientific inaccuracies in the entirety of the trilogy. The book is so much more scientific. It can get a little bit annoying when Malcolm doesn't shut up about chaos theory, but aside from that, it's really interesting."

"I mean, basically the entire plot of _Jurassic Park III_ is stupid, though," Marceline pointed out, "Some random couple's kid goes missing on an island full of dinosaurs and he's _still_ alive by the time they get there? _No_ , realistically he'd have been eaten by dinosaurs in the span of ten minutes. Maybe twenty, if he's lucky."

"And that doesn't count Alex Gaskarth dude taking the raptor eggs and inevitably putting everyone in danger," Bonnie added, "You're right. Definitely the worst instalment."

"The technology is hilarious too, though," Marceline let out a soft laugh, "Not like, the dinosaurs and stuff, I mean the computer systems. Considering the first movie was only released three years before we were born, which isn't too long ago, it's still so outdated."

"Remember the gymnastics scene in _The Lost World_?" Bonnie laughed, "Malcolm's ten year old daughter kills a velociraptor by doing _gymnastics_. That was hilarious. Let's not forget the fact that all of her complicated flips and twirling motions took a pretty long time to complete and the raptor probably could've killed both her _and_ Malcolm in the time it took her to stop showing off."

"One character from the first movie's sole purpose was literally just to be eaten off of a toilet," Marceline pointed out to her, "Imagine if your sole purpose was just to be _eaten_. What a sad existence."

"And a sad _death_ ," Bonnie added, "Getting eaten alive sounds horrible. Not how I want to go at all."

Marceline smiled at her, "Are we going to actually watch the movies now, or just sit and laugh at all of the stupid stuff in them?"

Bonnie hummed in thought. "There _is_ a lot of stupid stuff, though. I don't know. The good definitely outweighs the stupid, though. At least, in _Jurassic Park, The Lost World_ and _Jurassic World_. There's definitely stupid overload in _Jurassic Park III_."

In fact, those were her exact words when she'd watched the film for the first time with her parents. They'd watched the first two and although Bonnie knew that most of it was inaccurate in the science department, she still found them enjoyable. While watching the third one, though, Bonnie was rolling her eyes almost every other line.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Marceline concurred, "You have to admit that there were pros and cons to the ending of _The Lost World_. T-Rex in San Diego. It was hilarious because of how unrealistic it was, but it was bound to happen at some point in the series."

"The end of the first one is the best. The original is always the best one, though," Bonnie said, "The raptors in the kitchen are my favourite part for sure. I'd probably just sit on the floor and cry if I was those kids, to be honest."

Actually, if she was being honest, Bonnie might've pointed out that the two kids who were actually in the film probably wouldn't have made it through that alive. Realistically speaking.

(Maybe that was a bit _too_ nit-picky.)

Marceline nodded, "Oh, yeah, I'd be hopeless in that situation."

Bonnie looked through her DVDs, holding up _Jurassic World_. "We still haven't made fun of this one, yet."

"Actually, I think this one is the best sequel," Marceline turned the case over to look at the back, "Plus, it has Chris Pratt in. That's always a win."

"The raptor squad are both a good thing and a bad thing," Bonnie commented, "I don't think that one guy would be able to tame velociraptors, even if they imprinted on him at birth. Although, that _is_ rectified in the end when they turn against him."

"Blue is the real MVP." Marceline commented, "She's definitely my favourite character."

"A velociraptor is your favourite character in a _Jurassic Park_ movie?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, "Blue is pretty cool. I find it hard to believe that Claire managed to outrun a T-Rex in high heels, though."

"That was pretty unrealistic. I can't even _walk_ in heels." Marceline laughed, "But the little things they screwed up on don't make the movie bad. I liked the references to the original that were thrown in there."

"Like when the two kids find the original visitor's centre?" At Marceline's nod, Bonnie continued, standing up with the DVDs in her hand. "Yeah, I liked that."

Marceline watched as Bonnie fiddled with the DVD player, "I think the death of the assistant lady was a little harsh, though."

"Oh, definitely." Bonnie pushed play on the remote and flopped back down on the couch next to Marceline, "They dragged it out for a bit too long. And she was cute, I liked her."

Marceline laughed, "Ooh, does Bonnie have a little crush?"

"Whatever," Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Just you wait until _Jurassic Park III_. I'll be teasing you for your little crush there."

Marceline rested her head on Bonnie's shoulder and squeezed her upper arm. "It's nice to see you happy, Bonnie."

Bonnibel blinked in surprise when she noticed the light feeling in her chest and the soft smile that had been on her face. She hadn't noticed either, not until Marceline had mentioned it. Bonnie let her arm relax around Marceline, the small smile tugging in an attempt to become wider. She was happy. She'd been laughing and smiling, and it was all thanks to Marceline.

Maybe she was starting to feel better, after all.


	94. ninety-four.

** Thursday 30th July **

Bonnie's thumb hovered over the contact name in her phone, but no matter how many times she tried to push down on it, her brain wouldn't let her. The words _you're overstepping about a million boundaries_ started ringing around in her mind and almost turning her against the idea. Overstepping boundaries wasn't something she wanted to do. Especially with Marceline.

She screwed her eyes shut and pushed down, opening them and allowing herself a proud smile when she looked at the screen and saw the words _calling Marceline Abadeer_ across it. She put the phone against her ear, tapping her foot and looking up at the picture of her Mom on her dresser. She was smiling, almost as if she was encouraging Bonnie to go ahead with what she was trying to do. That was enough for her not to hang up.

" _Sup, dork? To what do I owe the pleasure?"_ Marceline finally answered her call, " _Need help in updating your wardrobe to something less pink for college_?"

Bonnibel huffed, but didn't let Marceline's words get to her. She was only teasing. "I own _plenty_ of things that aren't pink. In fact, I'm not wearing any pink at all right now."

Marceline hummed, " _So I'm guessing you're in your birthday suit_?"

Bonnie let out an indignant scoff, "You are unbelievably distasteful. You know what? Forget I called."

She didn't even make a move to hang up as Marceline cackled down the phone. " _Distasteful. Wow, I'm having flashbacks to last year. Great memories, right? Anyway, what's the real reason you called?"_

"Well," Bonnibel twizzled a strand of her pink hair around her finger in apprehension, "I woke up and realised I had a free day. I can't stand being unproductive for a full day and the house is so quiet and empty, so I was wondering if you wanted to come over. We could have a movie day like we used to? It'd be fun, right?"

" _Netflix and chill, huh?"_ Marceline barked out a laugh, and judging by her tone, there was going to be a distasteful joke tumbling out of her mouth, _"Alright, sure. You know, I'm not surprised you want to get in my pants, Butler."_

"If you're going to make fun of me, I'm going to hang up." Bonnie threatened, "I just want to watch a few movies with you. I can call someone else if you're going to be so rude about it."

" _Alright, fine_ ," Bonnie could practically hear Marceline's eye roll, " _I'll be over in fifteen. Anything you want me to bring?"_

Bonnibel's forehead creased in thought, "Not that I can think of. Just bring yourself."

" _Okay,"_ Marceline replied, " _I'm going to bring some movies for you to watch, though. It'll be a surprise."_

Naturally, Marceline hung up before Bonnie could object or tell her that she wasn't watching any horror movies, so she decided to send her a quick text.

_**Bonnie (10:46AM): NO SCARY MOVIES! I'll have nightmares or cry or something. You don't want to traumatise me, do you?** _

Bonnie dropped her phone on her bed with a sigh, standing up and crossing over to her mirror. Usually, she put on her best clothes when she knew she'd be seeing Marceline – she wanted to impress her – but today everything she loved wearing was in the laundry, and when she'd woken up, she'd just pulled on a pair of jeans and one of her Dad's old polo shirts, and her pink hair was still messy and unbrushed.

She pulled her hair into a ponytail and looked at her reflection with a sigh. She couldn't be bothered with putting her makeup on. The only assurance she had about her appearance was that Marceline had seen her at her worst, and this _definitely_ wasn't it. At least she'd had some sleep.

She made her way downstairs and rooted through the drawer where her Dad kept the DVDs, pulling out all of the films Marceline would approve of – naturally, none of them were romantic comedies. Just comedies; her mother had never approved of there being R rated violent movies laying around the house, particularly when Neddy was around. She'd been a little more lenient with R rated comedies, but Bonnie had only been allowed to watch them if one of her parents had seen it and approved.

She picked up a few of the movies she'd already seen and stuck them in a 'maybe' pile, leaving them by the television. Of course, she'd have to get Marceline's opinion on things. Then she made her way into the kitchen and worked on getting drinks and snacks ready.

She was halfway through popping the popcorn when cold fingers dug into her sides and she let out an embarrassingly loud scream.

She spun on her heels, sending Marceline her best scowl. "I hate you sometimes."

Marceline smirked back, "You and I both know that you're lying through your teeth there, Bonnie. You _love_ me."

Bonnibel didn't deny that as she huffed and folded her arms across her chest, "You could've given me a heart attack or something! How did you even get in here?"

"You left the front door unlocked." Marceline shrugged, "Probably a bad move on your part. You know what I'm like."

Bonnie's face finally settled into a soft smile. "Yeah. Good point. What movies did you bring, anyway?"

Marceline shook her head, darting into the living room and calling behind her, "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Bonnie just rolled her eyes after her friend, grabbing as many snacks as she could carry and taking them into the room, dumping them on the coffee table. She had to take three trips – one for the remaining snacks, the other for the drinks – and then finally collapsed onto the sofa next to Marceline, the television screen paused on an image of the stars.

"Sci-fi?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow. She had to admit that she liked the science fiction genre. Of course sometimes there were errors where script writers hadn't done their research properly, but she could overlook that if the rest of the movie was good. "It surprises me that your interest in sci-fi doesn't end with Star Wars."

"I like the whole hyper-reality aspect. Different narratives make things a lot more interesting." Marceline shrugged, delving her hand into the popcorn bowl on Bonnibel's lap, "This isn't really sci-fi, though. You'll see."

"What's it rated?" Bonnibel asked through a mouthful of popcorn, "I'm not allowed to watch R rated things without my parents' permission. Mom set that rule and I'd like to stick to it."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "You're eighteen. I think it's fine for you to watch an R rated movie. Besides, it's an eighties thing. Compared to R rated things nowadays, it's really nothing much."

Bonnibel wasn't sure if she believed her. Either way, she rested her head on Marceline's shoulder as she pressed play, frowning at the intense introductory music. "Seriously, what movie is this?"

Marceline huffed, like telling her was some sort of chore. "It's _Predator_."

"I've heard of that." Bonnie supplies, "Isn't it about some alien that comes down to Earth and its task is to kill humans? Like, so it can go back home?"

"Yeah, basically," Marceline nodded in response, "I prefer the Predator to most of the human characters to be honest. He doesn't kill undefended people. He can only see body heat as well, which is how he tracks the humans. And his blood is green, which is kind of cool."

"Green blood? That's a main factor in your liking him?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, shaking her head, "Honestly, I'd expect you to like any female characters more than him. You _are_ always talking about how you mostly prefer characters who are women."

"There's only one female character in this and she's basically useless." Marceline complained as she rested her head on Bonnie's shoulder. Bonnibel jumped in shock, surprised by the sudden initiation of physical contact, but took a risk and carefully draped an arm around her friend. "The only good thing about her is that she isn't used as a mindless love interest for the main male protagonist. But there's still no depth to her character."

"I hate underdeveloped characters," Bonnie concurred, bravely running her fingers through Marceline's hair, "Especially when they have so much wasted potential."

She felt Marceline wriggle next to her, and she wasn't sure if her friend was uncomfortable or not. She tried to ignore how her heart stopped and she immediately stopped tracing patterns on Marceline's neck with her fingers.

"Yeah, you make a good point," Marceline didn't make a move to get away from her, so Bonnie took that as a good sign and resumed what she was doing. "I really love the type of female characters that are so badass that they'll kill you with a fucking stiletto while perfecting their makeup. Feminine but hardcore girls are awesome."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes, "Like Buffy Summers?"

" _Exactly_ like Buffy Summers," Marceline stretched out on the couch, "How did you know?"

Bonnie smiled, "I might know you a little too well."

* * *

Bonnibel yawned, her toes curling as she stretched down the couch. She rubbed her eyes, finally looking away from the screen as the end credits started to roll. "That was good. A lot less gory than I thought I'd be. You were right – eighties horror is nothing in comparison to today. Still tense enough to make me a little frightened, though."

"I guess you're just lucky you had my arm for comfort," Marceline shifted onto her side so they were nose to nose, "But you liked it, yeah?"

"Yes." Bonnie confirmed, "We could finish the trilogy some other time if you'd like?"

Marceline smiled and Bonnie's stomach clenched and rolled. "I'd like that a lot. I can introduce you to _Alien vs Predator_ after. They're significantly scarier but it's still not too bad."

Bonnibel hummed in thought. _Significantly scarier_ really wasn't a selling point, but more movie dates with Marceline? That part she liked a _lot_.

Wait, _date_? Bonnibel frowned as her train of thought casually chugged around her mind. She hadn't really thought that this was a date, had she? When she'd called Marceline, the thought of the word 'date' hadn't cropped up.

Except they were pressed up against one another on the sofa, cuddled under a blanket. The tip of Marceline's nose was touching Bonnie's and she was looking at her like she always used to and her cold fingers were skittering unconsciously across the exposed strip of skin above the waistline of Bonnie's jeans.

(The way Bonnie's stomach had been flipping whenever Marceline so much as smiled at her was a good indication that their meeting wasn't exactly _platonic_.)

So what was it? Bonnie couldn't tell. She still found it hard to identify what their relationship was. _Yes_ , they were exes, but she didn't think that was the definition. Friends? Except what kind of friends were in love with one another? It wasn't like Marceline made things any easier, either. She still liked to tease Bonnie about little things and she had been sending a lot of mixed signals as of late.

Bonnibel closed her eyes and let out a sigh, closing the space between them. Her fingers locked at the nape of Marceline's neck as she kissed her, made completely aware of how much she missed Marceline's lips, how much she _ached_ for them. Marceline tasted like faded vanilla and the chocolate chip cookie they'd shared earlier. Every single scent that Bonnie picked up on was like a punch in the gut but also the sweetest relief she'd ever felt. Pavements after rain. Earth. Dusk. Winter nights. Strawberries. Marceline. Bonnie felt her throat knot when she remembered what she'd been living without for the past six months.

It was then when she realised that Marceline wasn't kissing her back.

She pulled away as abruptly as she could, trying to shuffle away from Marceline on the couch that seemed a lot smaller than it had a few minutes ago. "I'm sorry, I… totally just messed everything up – it's okay if…you can leave, if you want. I'm so sorry."

Marceline looked so calm that it was terrifying. "Bonnie, everything is fine. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"I just _kissed you_." Nothing Marceline could say would stop Bonnie from feeling as mortified as she did. "I'm such an _idiot_. Things were slowly turning relatively normal again and now I went and ruined that. I screwed everything up."

"You didn't," Marceline assured her, threading her fingers through Bonnie's. Bonnie jerked her hand away, as though Marceline's hand was hot enough to burn through skin, "Honestly, you didn't mess anything up. It's fine. I promise."

Bonnibel closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm sorry."

It came out breathy and mumbled, but Marceline heard it. "It's alright. You weren't thinking and that's fine."

"I'm so _stupid_." Bonnibel scolded herself, "I don't – just, are you sure that – did I make you uncomfortable?"

(That probably scored in the top ten of the most incoherent sentences she'd ever tried to say.)

Marceline shook her head, "No. I told you, it's alright. No harm done."

"Are you _sure_?" Bonnibel persisted. She knew she wouldn't forgive herself – Marceline was probably just lying to protect her feelings. "Don't lie. I _am_ really sorry and I'll understand if you…wanted to distance yourself."

"I'm not lying." Marceline easily replied. She sent Bonnie a soft smile and squeezed her shoulder. "I told you, you didn't do any harm. We're fine, so try not to worry about it. I know that asking you not to worry is like asking…I don't know, a goose to do a triple backflip, but just _try_."

Bonnie nodded, "Yes, that's – okay. I won't worry. Sorry."

"If you say the word 'sorry' one more time, I'll slap you." Marceline threatened, but she was only half serious. The threat was mitigated by her comforting smile. "Seriously. I won't hold back."

Bonnie let out an awkward laugh, "Okay. Sorry."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "Are you fucking kidding me? _Stop. Saying. Sorry._ "

"Alright." Bonnie had to bite her tongue to stop herself from apologising again. "But I really don't want to make you uncomfortable. I want to make sure that we're…that there's at least a little normalcy. Even though I want more, I'm happy to be friends. Just because I don't get to kiss you doesn't mean that the value of your friendship is less than that of a romantic relationship with you."

The latter part was mostly intended for herself. She needed to remind herself that having Marceline in her life as a friend was equally as good as being in a relationship with her. Also, voicing her intentions to Marceline seemed like a good idea.

Marceline beamed at her. "You're amazing."

Bonnibel's cheeks turned bright red at the unexpected compliment, her stomach clenching and turning over, her breath catching in her throat. "Thank you. You're even more amazing, though. Don't argue with me."

Marceline smirked. "Fine. You're…fabulous."

"I never thought I'd ever hear you say the word _fabulous_." Bonnie commented, shrugging, "You're ineffable."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "If you think I'm going to start a vocabulary war with you, you're wrong. Either way, I'm sure I'd win."

Bonnibel scoffed, "In your dreams. I'd vocabulary you under the table."

Marceline shook her head, "Nah, in _your_ dreams. I was speaking at seven months old. I'm sure I've had more time to build my vocabulary than you."

Bonnie just smiled in response.


	95. ninety-five.

** Thursday 6th August 2015 **

“Hey, Bonnibel?” Finn sat down next to her on the couch and sent her a comforting smile. “You feeling okay?”

Bonnie nodded, “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m sorry I haven’t been around as much, lately. I’ve only just started feeling relatively _okay_ with everything.”

“We get why you didn’t really want to come out with us and stuff,” Finn assured her, “Lady said she didn’t think it was healthy that you were keeping yourself cooped up, but Jake and I told her it was how you were coping.”

Bonnibel allowed herself a weak smile. “Yeah. I don’t think being around big crowds of people would’ve been very good for me. Marceline came round a few times and got me out of the house, and she managed to make me feel better. I think that’s because she understands. I needed empathy rather than sympathy.”

Finn shrugged, “Yeah. It’s good that you two are talking again.”                             

“Yes, it is,” Bonnie agreed with him. Although she wanted more, things weren’t as horrible as they had been and she liked that. Everything was slowly starting to go back to normality, “Did I miss anything with you guys?”

Finn’s face broke out into one of his enthusiastic grins, “Phoebe and I are together now.”

“Really? That’s amazing, Finn! I can’t believe you actually asked her out,” Bonnie smiled properly, this time. She knew how much he liked her. “I never thought you would.”

He let out an awkward laugh, “Yeah, if you call stuttering and messing up until she rolled her eyes and kissed me as ‘asking her out’. I don’t think she’s ever going to let it go. She teases me about it a bit too much.”

“It’s because it’s sweet,” Bonnie told him, “But hey, your first girlfriend? That’s a big deal. I’m proud of you. Asking girls out can be scary.”

“You asked _Marceline_ out. I’m pretty sure you win in the scary department,” Finn pointed, repeating her words of encouragement from last October. “You know, I probably could’ve used some tips. How to be smooth, things like that.”

Bonnibel snorted with laughter for what felt like the first time in months. “I’m probably the least smooth person on the planet. I can’t flirt. Marceline would probably tell you that, too; she experienced it firsthand.”

Bonnie’s cheeks flushed red when she heard Marceline’s familiar cackle and felt the couch dip slightly under added weight. “Oh _yeah_ , I have _tons_ of examples of this nerd trying to flirt.”

Bonnie spun around, sending Marceline her best attempt at a glare. “Let’s not go into this. I’ll have to smack you if we do.”

Marceline rolled her eyes, “Fine. I’ll just save the embarrassing stories for when I’m drunk and you can’t stop me.”

“Don’t think that intoxication is going to stop me from slapping you,” Bonnie folded her arms across her chest, “I’m freakishly strong. I could probably pin you right now.”

Marceline raised an eyebrow, “I’d like to see you try.”

Finn looked between them, smiling, “I miss you two and your friendly bickering.”

“We don’t _bicker_ ,” Bonnibel told him, sending Marceline a good attempt at a scowl, “She irritates me and I put her in her place.”

“I’m pretty sure _I’m_ the one doing the place putting.” Marceline shot back, smirking, “I’m like, queen of putting people in their place. Bonnie included.”

Finn raised an eyebrow, “See? Bickering. Point proven.”

Bonnibel sighed, but turned to Marceline with a hint of a smile on her face, “I guess he has a point. Although I _do_ put you in your place. Sometimes. When you’re being exceptionally annoying.”

Marceline hummed in thought, “Yeah, I guess so. I’d still kick your ass in a fight, though. I’ve been working out and I’m ten times stronger than I was last December.”

“Working out?” Bonnie repeated, “You mean playing a bit too much Wii Sports, probably.”

“Wii Sports?” Jake laughed as he collapsed on the adjacent couch, “Wow. You’re such a hardcore gamer, Abadeer.”

Marceline scowled, “I only play it when Simon wants to because he’s hopeless at Guitar Hero. Besides, it’s a pretty hardcore game. One time I played boxing on it and the next day when I woke up my arms were killing. It’s a total workout.”

Lady flopped down next to Jake, “You got _pains_ after playing Wii Sports? That’s…when was the last time you went to an actual P.E class?”

Marceline snorted with laughter. “Freshman year. Yeah, I’m not a fan of physical activity. Bonnie tried to convince me to go a few times last year. Never worked.”

“And she tried to convince _me_ to skip,” Bonnie sent Marceline a pointed look, “That also never worked. Sure, getting picked last and never having a partner for drills sucked, but I wasn’t going to ruin my 100% attendance.”

Marceline coughed, “Nerd.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, “Irreverent punk.”

Lady smiled, shaking her head. “Wow. I’d forgotten what it’s like to hang out with you two at the same time. Lots of childish insults are thrown around.”

Jake laughed, “Yeah, still pretty funny though. At least they’re both happy.”

Bonnie wanted to point out that happiness was the last thing she was feeling, but she didn’t want to upset her friends. No, that would be insensitive. They were trying to help her have a good time, but pointing out things she and Marceline used to do when they were dating really wasn’t helping. It just made her heart hurt more than it already was.

Bonnibel froze when Marceline slung an arm around her shoulder, “Yeah, well, Bonnie needs a pick-me-up. If ‘bickering’-” both Finn and Jake rolled their eyes as Marceline air-quoted that last part, “cheers her up, then we’ll bicker. If not, I’ll just buy her ice cream or something.”

Admittedly, ice cream _did_ appeal to her, “What’s all this about ice cream? We’re getting ice cream now?”

Marceline laughed, “Yeah, sure. If you want. Do you guys have any?”

She looked over at Jake, waiting for his response. It was his house, after all. “Yeah, in the freezer. All we have is vanilla, though.”

“Weak,” Marceline commented, pulling Bonnie up, “Come on, then. Let’s get you a bowl of frozen happiness.”

Bonnie flashed her a smile and followed Marceline out of the living room and into the kitchen. She watched as her friend dug around in the freezer, drumming her fingers against the counter until Marceline pulled out a tub of ice cream.

She leaned against the counter as Marceline put some into a bowl for her, trying to ignore the guilty feeling in her chest as she voiced her thoughts, “Marceline? I think I’d like to leave soon.”

She felt so _bad_ for not wanting to spend time with her friends, but it was starting to get draining. She’d spent a few hours with them, so they should understand, even if the only communication Bonnie had had with them over the past few weeks was through text. Interaction with more than one or two people at a time was starting to become sort of a _chore_ for her.

Marceline slid the bowl of ice cream across the counter. “Yeah, no worries. Give them another half hour or so and then you can pretend to get a text from Peter asking you to go home.”

Bonnie smiled. She loved how Marceline didn’t judge her for wanting to stay at home and relax herself by reading a book. Marceline was so sweet to her. “Thank you. I feel really bad for not wanting to hang around here, but it’s just…draining. I missed everyone, and I know it’s only Finn, Jake and Lady, but it’s still so tiring.”

“I get it. People seem to feed off energy or something.” Marceline crossed the room, lingering near the door, “Let’s sit down. You can eat your ice cream and daydream. I’ll keep the conversation going for a while.”

“That -” Bonnie stopped herself, following Marceline out of the kitchen, “Thank you, Marcy.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Marceline squeezed her hand as they sat back down on the couch, Bonnie with her bowl of ice cream on her lap. “So, Jake, you’re mocking me for playing Wii Sports? What kind of games do you like?”

“Silent Hills, Amnesia,” He began tallying them on his fingers, “Outlast -”

“I’ve played Outlast,” Marceline interrupted him, “That game is fucking creepy. I was playing it with my brother and we fucked up while hiding in a locker and ended up getting killed.”

Bonnibel frowned, grabbing hold of Marceline’s hand with her free one and continuing to eat her ice cream as if nothing had happened. She wasn’t about to get involved with the conversation – she had no idea what they were talking about. Some kind of horror game? Bonnie really wasn’t that much of a gamer. Her video game expertise started and ended with Mario Kart.

“Have you ever played Five Nights at Freddy’s?” Finn asked before Jake could get started on his rant about the other game’s chronology. “The fourth one came out recently and I think it’s better than the other three.”

“I played the first one with Keila but it didn’t really scare me.” Marceline replied, “We were just making fun of the duck character. Or is it a chicken? I don’t know. The other thing that amused me was that one of the animatronics is called Bonnie and it kept hiding in the closet.”

That was enough to make Bonnie choke on her ice cream, “Oh my god, are you serious?”

“Yep,” Marceline laughed, “It happened a few months ago and Keila just burst out laughing and said ‘looks like Bonnibel is still in the closet’.”

Bonnibel mock gasped, “It knows.”

Finn laughed, “Do you play any games?”

Bonnie tried to ignore the way Lady burst out laughing. “Bonnibel? _Video games_? I doubt it.”

“I’m good at Mario Kart,” Bonnie pointed out, dropping her spoon in her bowl, “but you’re kind of right. I don’t really know that much about gaming. I like playing casual party games on the Wii, though. Mom and I used to go against one another at tennis on it…”

Marceline squeezed her hand. “Bonnie kicks my ass at the games she’s good at, though. I think I’ve only beaten her at Mario Kart once and I had to throw her controller across the room.”

“Which is _cheating_ ,” Bonnie added for her, “so by default, I win that round too.”

Marceline rolled her eyes, “I came first. Give me my victory.”

Bonnie huffed, “ _Fine_. You won, but whatever. I probably would’ve.”

“Probably, but you _didn’t._ ” Marceline corrected her, folding her arms across her chest. She glanced down at Bonnie’s phone which was sticking out of her pocket, “Your phone screen just lit up.”

Realising that Marceline was giving her an opportunity to escape, she pulled her phone from her pocket and frowned at the clear screen. “Yeah, my Dad just texted. He wants me to come home.”

Lady frowned at her. “Really? But you just got here.”

“Yeah,” Jake said, “Can’t you stay for a bit?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t like to push him lately. He’s still…” Bonnie looked down at her feet, feeling incredibly guilty. She shouldn’t lie. She wanted to stay but at the same time she wanted to go home and curl up in her bed. “I’ll stay for longer next time we meet up. I’ll text you guys later this week?”

“Yeah, alright,” Finn sent her a bright smile, “I think we’re all meeting up sometime next week.”

“Okay,” Bonnie followed Marceline’s lead and stood up, “I’ll be there. I promise.”

Lady stood up and pulled her into a hug. “Text me if you’re feeling upset or anything. If you need literally _anything_.”

That made Bonnie feel even worse about leaving. “Yeah. Thanks, Lady.”

Bonnie sat down on her bed and let out a sigh of relief, fiddling with the top button of her shirt. “Thank you leaving early with me. You could’ve stayed. I could’ve walked home.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “You know I’d rather be with you.”

Bonnie frowned as Marceline sat down next to her, “I don’t see why. I’m not exactly the life of the party today. Or…at all, really.”

“You perked up last time we hung out.” Marceline pointed out, “You’re starting to get better and that’s okay. I know for a fact that your Mom would be happy if she saw you smiling again, because we both agree that you have a gorgeous smile.”

That was the first time Bonnie smiled at the mention of her Mom. “You really think that?”

“Of course I do,” Marceline assured her, “Trust me, it’ll get better. Don’t you feel better than you did a few months ago?”

“I guess,” Bonnie mumbled, “I don’t think I’ve been myself since February. I haven’t really felt _happy_ since then, and that’s really weird for me. I was always so happy and smiling and now I’m just empty. And you know what caused it? College. The thing I thought I wanted most was the thing that made me unhappiest.”

“You worked yourself too hard.” Marceline regretted saying that the instant it slipped out of her mouth, “I don’t mean that it’s your fault or anything, but -”

“It is. It _is_ my fault.” Bonnie cut over her, “You’re right. I just wanted to go to college and I thought that if I threw myself into my schoolwork a decent amount of time before finals everything would happen the way I wanted it. I’d definitely go to NYU in the fall, I’d live with you, and my life would be perfect. And look where that landed me. No girlfriend, no mother, no happiness.”

Marceline pulled her in for a hug the moment she heard her sniffling. “Hey, Bonnie, don’t cry. I know things are still shitty but you’ll get through. I promise.”

Bonnibel hid her face in Marceline’s shoulder, “I’ve always been told that if you work hard, you’ll get everything you worked for. So I threw myself into academia and I didn’t get anything. I _lost_ so much. All I managed to do was push everyone away. I pushed _you_ away. I lost you.”

“No, hey, stop that,” Marceline’s hand traced down the younger girl’s spine, “You didn’t lose me. I’m right here. I’m always going to be right here.”

“I’m sorry, Marceline,” Bonnibel looked up at her and wiped at her, eyes, “I’ve been a real bitch to you.”

“C’mon,” Marceline slung an arm around Bonnie’s shoulder and gave her a soft squeeze, “You don’t have to apologise. I know that you’re sorry.”

“I do have to apologise!” Bonnibel exclaimed, unable to believe that Marceline was so ready to forgive her after everything. “I pushed you away, I made you feel like your mental illnesses were an inconvenience, I made you feel like _you_ were an inconvenience, I allowed my ex-best friend to make derogatory comments about you and didn’t say _anything_ in your defence, I -”

Bonnibel let out a soft squeak in surprise when Marceline grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and kissed her.

Her arms wrapped around Marceline’s waist and she kissed her back, hard to believe that Marceline was actually kissing her. She savoured the lingering taste of chocolate on Marceline’s lips – thanks to the Kit Kat they’d split in the car – and sucked on her ex-girlfriend’s soft bottom lip, tugging it between her teeth.

Marceline’s clenched fingers slowly let go of Bonnie’s shirt and disappeared into pink hair, meeting at the nape of Bonnie’s neck and setting her nerves on fire as they traced down her spine and fiddled with the hem of her t-shirt.

Bonnibel felt Marceline’s cool hands leaving gentle touches on her underneath her shirt and her stomach clenched and twisted as Marceline pulled away, her fingers tugging at Bonnie’s shirt again. “Do you want to…?”

“With you?” Bonnibel’s fingers played with the buttons on Marceline’s plaid shirt in response. “More than anything. It'll help me be close to you and I need that.”

Marceline nodded at her and pulled Bonnibel’s shirt upwards, tossing it to the other side of the room as the other girl slowly popped the buttons on her shirt. “I know you’re asexual and I don’t want you to be doing this just because you want to get back together with me. If you don’t want to -"

“Marceline,” Bonnie cut her off, kissing her on her sharp jawline, “I’m in love with you and I’m okay with this. Like I said, it'll make me feel connected and close to you. Maybe even more so than I already do.”

Marceline sent her a nervous smile, “Positive?”

Bonnie finally finished unbuttoning Marceline’s shirt and throwing it across the room to join her own, “One hundred percent.”

It wasn’t long before their jeans ended up on the other side of the room, too.


	96. ninety-six.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day late, but whatever. Enjoy.

**Friday 7th August 2015**

Bonnibel woke up to the sound of shuffling.

She rolled over onto the other side of the bed, stretching out her fingers in an attempt to find Marceline. The bed was empty – Marceline's side wasn't cold, but it wasn't that warm, either.

She opened her eyes at sat up, stretching groggily. The duvet fell from her chin to her lap and she frowned at how cold her room was. She frowned even more when she saw Marceline pulling the shirt she gave Bonnie over her head.

"Marcy?" Bonnibel's voice was crackly and stunned both herself and Marceline, "What're you doing?"

Marceline turned around as she pulled her hair from underneath the collar of the shirt, "Just putting some underwear and a shirt on in case your Dad wakes us up in the morning. I think finding us both naked would be a little awkward to explain."

Bonnie let out a subtle sigh of relief. Marceline wasn't about to leave her. "Good idea. Can you grab me my pyjamas from over there?"

Marceline nodded and grabbed the pink nightdress that had been hanging over the back of Bonnie's desk chair. She flopped down on the bed and dropped them in her friend's lap. "There you go."

Bonnibel pulled her nightgown on as Marceline slid back under the covers, before running her fingers through her tangled hair in an effort to unknot it. "What time is it?"

"Two," Marceline held up her phone to show Bonnie the time, "We should probably get some more sleep if we don't want to wake up halfway through the afternoon."

"You're right." Bonnie nodded and shuffled over to Marceline's side of the bed. She rested her head in the bend between Marceline's neck and shoulder and threw an arm across her stomach, "Goodnight."

Marceline frowned at her, "Um, Bonnie? What're you doing?"

Bonnibel froze, shuffling away from her with wide eyes. She'd stopped worrying about boundaries – she didn't think that they could really exist anymore after what they'd done – but her fear of making Marceline uncomfortable had come back. Mostly, her fear of her first time not meaning anything was the thing that was worrying her the most.

"Uh, did you – are we not," Bonnie sighed and looked down at her feet, "I'm so sorry."

To Bonnie's surprise, Marceline just let out a soft laugh and wrapped her arms around her. "I think you're forgetting that _I'm_ always the little spoon. Remember?"

Bonnibel felt a cool sense of relief wash over her and she pulled Marceline as close to her as she could, tracing patterns on her back underneath her shirt. "You frightened me for a moment, there. I thought that…"

She trailed off, unsure how to end her sentence. Unfortunately, Marceline didn't drop it. "What'd you think?"

"That you didn't want to be with me." Bonnie murmured. She knew – _hoped_ – that she was being stupid, but once she'd said it, that didn't stop the flood of feelings from pouring out of her mouth. "I just – it was really scary when I woke up to you getting your clothes on. I thought that maybe you were leaving and that you don't want me anymore because – I don't know, I wasn't good because I was too inexperienced or maybe that there isn't really anything left for you to want and then that was just reinforced when I thought you didn't want to hold me and -"

"Bonnie," Marceline cut her off by leaning up and kissing her, "I love you."

That was all Bonnie needed to cheer up, "You do?"

"I do," Marceline repeated, curling her fingers around a worried Bonnibel's, "I love you so much. Don't ever think that I don't want you. You were amazing. Still are."

Bonnibel sniffled, except it was accompanied with a smile. Happy tears. She hadn't had any of those for a very long time. She couldn't remember the last time her chest felt so light. "Um, so – I find certain things hard to interpret, but is it safe to assume that we're…that you're my girlfriend again? Because if we're not – and after that – I'd be really upset. And I'm so in love with you and I…I'm not sure that this is a thing that's supposed to happen but I feel so much closer to you after what we did and -"

Marceline cut her rambling to an end with a soft laugh, "Oh my god, you're feeling extra ramble-y today, aren't you?"

"You didn't answer my question," Bonnie pointed out, "and I ramble when I'm nervous. It just happens sometimes."

Marceline smiled, pushing a kiss to Bonnie's cheek, " _Yes_ , Bon, you're my girlfriend again."

Bonnibel let out a small squeak in happiness and pushed her lips against Marceline's, "I promise I won't screw things up again – thank you, Marcy. I love you."

"I know you won't mess things up," Marceline squeezed her hand and shuffled – more like was _pulled_ – closer to Bonnie, "I trust you."

That tiny little phrase meant more to Bonnie than anything else. She'd won Marceline's trust back and she knew how hard and rare that kind of thing was. "When did you start – how long?"

Marceline shrugged, "When you kissed me last week it kind of made me realise a few things. The main one being how much I missed you. How it made me feel to kiss you. I needed that. I went home and thought about things for a while, like how sweet and respectful of my boundaries you'd been the past few months and how much you'd been trying to change and stop burning yourself out before we graduated – you have changed. You stuck to that and it proved to me that you really did care. You didn't want me just because you wanted a girlfriend. You wanted me because you actually wanted _me_.

"I love you. That hasn't changed. I don't love you any less than I did before we broke up. Those months without you fucking sucked and you're right, being just friends wasn't enough. But loving you wasn't enough. I couldn't just get back together with you straight away. You hurt me and that broke my trust because you assured me, _promised_ me that you never would, and you can't be in a relationship without trust. I needed to be sure that I could do that again.

"I know why you kissed me. Last week's movie day felt like a date. Everything felt like how it used to when we were together and I was kind of shocked by how much I enjoyed it. The thing that surprised me the most was that it didn't even feel awkward or weird, you know? It felt like that was how things were supposed to be and I started thinking that maybe we weren't supposed to be friends. Maybe we were always supposed to be something more and that your self-destruction from earlier in the year was just something we had to get through. A bump in the road. Because I couldn't imagine myself with anyone other than you."

Bonnibel squeezed her as tightly as she could, "You know, after graduation, my friends kept telling me to move on. Aside from Finn. He told me to spend the summer as a lone wolf and then think about romance when I got to college. And I'd go out to the mall with them and try to look at pretty girls but nothing would work out. I'd feel like I was cheating on you and we weren't even together."

"I totally get it," Marceline nodded, "I tried doing that too. I kissed a few guys at parties and some girls too but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. All I had to do was just _look_ at you and I'd feel so many different things."

Bonnie smiled. "Good things?"

"Oh," Marceline's fingers traced up Bonnie's arm, " _Definitely_ good things."

Bonnie kissed her again, that weird warm feeling flooding through her chest. "Good. Sleep? Or we can pull out my laptop and watch terrible rom coms?"

" _Terrible_?" Marceline raised both eyebrows, "You've finally realised that they're terrible? You could've mentioned that. I would've gotten back together with you _months_ ago."

Bonnie knew she was kidding as she folded her arms across her chest and scowled in annoyance, "You could've _told_ me that. And I might've changed my opinion on them after my first breakup, alright? I was going through a kind of 'love does not exist' phase for the past few months."

"Oh, wow," Marceline laughed, " _You_? Little miss 'love will prevail!'? That's shocking."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Going through a bad breakup doesn't exactly make one want to watch films where two people fall in love. Especially when your ex is ignoring you."

" _Ex_ -ex." Marceline corrected her, poking her in the side, "Either way, I could go for watching a movie. It's not like we have anywhere to be tomorrow. Who cares if it's late?"

Bonnibel beamed, leaning over her girlfriend and grabbing her laptop from her bedside table. "Movie it is. I vote lesbian rom com."

"Whoa, you never said anything about _lesbians_ ," Marceline replied as Bonnie turned her computer on, "Now I'm on board."

"Did _you_ just agree to watch a rom com without complaint?" Bonnibel looked over to her with genuine surprise, "That's the weirdest thing that's happened all year. Are you feeling alright?"

Marceline laughed, " _Lesbian_ rom coms are perfectly acceptable. It's just the stereotypical 'boy-meets-girl' ones that I can't stand."

Bonnie let out a soft giggle, "You know, Mom never used to care for rom coms until she watched a few cute lesbian ones with me. She liked teasing me the whole way through and saying things like 'that's going to be you one day'. It always made me go bright red."

Marceline beamed at her. She would've pointed it out how Bonnie had focused on a happy memory and actually _smiled_ while talking about her Mom, but she decided against it. "Cute. Maybe I'll buy you a video camera one day and we can make our own lesbian rom com."

Bonnibel snorted with laughter, "Pretty sure my old Instagram videos from last year could be put together to make a feature film."

Marceline laughed, shaking her head. "Whatever, nerd, just put the movie on."

Bonnie smiled to herself as she pressed play.


	97. ninety-seven.

**Tuesday 11th August 2015**

"You know what?" Bonnibel spun around to face Marceline, pushing herself up to sit on the kitchen counter, "I have a proposition for you, Abadeer."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Shoot."

"Well, our flight to New York is in a few weeks and although my Dad and Simon have sorted out an apartment for us, we still don't really have anything to put in it aside from the furniture it already has. We're taking your mattress since it's super soft and will probably be better than the one they provide, and it's not like we're going to have different rooms – there's only one bedroom anyway – but aside from that…" Bonnibel trailed off, stopping herself from rambling, "We need other things. Of course, we can buy a few things while we're there before college starts in mid-September, but we still need to buy the essentials."

"Like a TV?" Marceline laughed when Bonnie immediately rolled her eyes, "I'm kidding. You mean things like plates and cutlery and little things, right?"

"Yes," Bonnibel said, "Simon and Dad said they're going to help us with the bigger things when we arrive there, but I'd like to help them out a little bit by being prepared with the little things. _So_ , I propose a shopping day."

"Says the girl who complains every single time she goes near the mall," Marceline added. Eventually she just shrugged, "Sure. We can go and do a little bit of browsing. I need to grab something from the music store though. I've been reserving a lute and I'm finally taking it home."

"A _lute_?" Bonnie repeated, "I have no idea what that is. Obviously an instrument but I can't picture it in my mind."

Marceline just shrugged, "Yeah, I figured I'd learn something new. Nothing else to do."

"There's _lots_ of things to do," Bonnie corrected her, producing her little notebook from behind her back, "I have a list of things we can get for our apartment. If we can get at least… _half_ done, I'd say we've had a very productive day."

"And if not?" Marceline pressed, "Will you be moping around all night?"

"Yep," Bonnie confirmed, "So we'd better get stuff done. I have good movie plans for later tonight and I don't want to ruin them because we weren't productive enough for my liking. I want to be able to enjoy the _Jaws_ movie marathon we're going to have."

Marceline hummed in thought, "Alright. I think we can do it. Just don't let me hang around in the music store too much. I might impulse-buy another guitar or something. I just got a Fender Telecaster so I _don't_ need another one."

"Fender Telecaster…" Bonnie repeated, hopping off the counter and crossing the room to stand next to Marceline, "Is that the black one that you texted me a picture of?"

"Yeah," Marceline bobbed her head in confirmation, "Fender Classic '72 Deluxe Telecaster. She's so pretty."

"She?" Bonnibel raised an eyebrow, "Now I'm slightly worried. Should I count this guitar as competition?"

Marceline hummed in thought, "Maybe. She's probably not as good in bed as you, though."

Bonnibel snorted chamomile tea into her nose when that came out of Marceline's mouth. She elbowed her girlfriend in the side, "You are _so_ distasteful. Don't go yelling things like that! My Dad is in the living room and he doesn't want to hear about our…late night activities from last week."

Marceline burst out laughing at Bonnie's bright red cheeks, "It's true though. She probably isn't."

Bonnie huffed, "Still. Don't announce things like that when my Dad is probably in earshot."

Marceline smirked, "So you're saying I'm allowed to announce things when he isn't? Well, I guess everyone in the town centre is going to get a lovely piece of information later."

"You're _horrible_." Bonnie told her, sending her the best scowl she could muster, "I'll tape your mouth shut before we leave if you're being even _remotely_ serious."

Marceline slung an arm around her shoulders and pushed a kiss to her cheek. "Of course I'm not serious, Bon. It's a private thing. I'm not going to get 'I fucked Bonnibel Butler' tattooed on my forehead, am I?"

Bonnie cringed, "Don't call it _that_ , it's -"

"Distasteful?" Marceline finished for her, "Fine. 'I _slept with_ ' then. That good enough for you?"

"That's acceptable," Bonnie curled her fingers around Marceline's, "but if you're going to get a tattoo anywhere, please don't get it on your forehead. I really wouldn't want that beautiful face of yours to be altered in any way."

"You run a harsh regime here, Bonnie," Marceline smiled, "Where are tattoos acceptable, then?"

"Anywhere that isn't your face," Bonnie responded almost instantly, "It's your body and since you're my little rock star-"

" _Ugh_ , that makes me sound like I'm _five_ ," Marceline interrupted her with a scoff.

Bonnie rolled her eyes fondly, "Fine, my _big_ rock star-"

Marceline interjected yet again. "That's even worse."

"Would you just let me finish?" Bonnie let out an exasperated sigh, but its effect was mitigated by the soft smile it was coupled with. "I know that you're probably likely to get a tattoo when we're older – it's pretty obvious because you have piercings and all your friends do – so I'm just saying that I'm not going to have any complaints if you do."

Marceline hummed in thought, "Sometimes I think about it but I don't think I'm going to do it unless I'm one hundred percent certain. It's permanent, you know? Don't want to regret it since it's going to be there your whole life."

"Just…not your face. Promise?" Bonnie smiled when Marceline's thumb traced patterns over her knuckles.

"I promise." Marceline smiled. "What about you, eh? Planning on getting any scary tattoos or piercings when you're older?"

"Definitely not." Bonnie shook her head, "I have a very low tolerance for pain. I wouldn't be able to handle that. And, like you said, I wouldn't have any ideas."

Marceline blinked at her, tugging her into the hallway by her hand, "I'm stunned. I figured you'd say no because they're too horrible or something. Not 'proper'. I don't know."

"Of course I wouldn't say that." Bonnie assured her. She didn't add that two years ago, yes, her answer probably would've been something along those lines. In fact, she used to openly ridicule people with tattoos and piercings that she saw on the street, likening them to drug addicts. "Although I don't think that tattoos or piercings are for me, I have respect for people that go through with them since they're so painful, and it _is_ a form of art. Plus, I find your nose ring very attractive."

Marceline sat down on the stairs and pulled her boots on. "Really? I don't think you've ever told me that before."

"Well, I can't believe I neglected to." Bonnie pulled on a pair of purple sneakers, "Of course I find it attractive. I find everything about you attractive. Even your unpleasant jokes."

Marceline beamed, "You're such a little sap. I hope you know that."

"Yeah, I'm definitely aware of that," Bonnie grabbed hold of Marceline's hand as soon as she stood up. Sensing the imminent joke, she continued and defended herself before her girlfriend could poke fun at her. "And _yes_ , I am conscious of the fact that I keep holding your hand and staying close to you, but I've been without this for six months. Let me catch up on all the lost hand-holding."

Marceline snorted with laughter, "What about all of the lost kissing?"

Bonnie knew that she was teasing her, but she just rolled her eyes and pushed herself up on her tiptoes, her hands resting on Marceline's slender waist as she kissed her.

She pulled away and turned to the door. "There. I kissed you. Next time you want me to, just ask. No need for the subtle 'what about this'."

"You're – I didn't – _ugh_. Fine, let's go fucking shopping." Marceline pulled her car keys out of her pocket and stalked out of the door in front of Bonnie.

If she hadn't seen her girlfriend's face, Bonnie might've been worried by the less than happy exit. She might've followed her teasing up with a sharp apology and promised to keep her mouth shut. Only if she hadn't seen how red had stained Marceline's neck and was creeping up into her cheeks.

Instead, Bonnibel just allowed herself a proud smile as she called out to her Dad and told him where they were going, and stepped outside in a good mood.

(For once.)

* * *

"Okay, so, I have a list of little things we need to buy here on my phone," Bonnie held up her pink iPhone for emphasis. "The big list of everything that we probably can't buy today, like extra cabinets and things. Maybe wall art, I don't know. That's what we're going to do with our respective fathers or father figures."

Marceline bobbed her head in confirmation. "Alright, what's first on this list, then?"

"I have it split up into sections," Again, Bonnie flashed her phone screen at Marceline, "First section is the entrance area. I have…a rug for shoes, a coat hanger or wall hooks for things like that, and the other thing is apparently an optional potted plant to make it look a little livelier."

Marceline smiled, "Alright, next section?"

"The living room area," Bonnie read, "There's not much on here other than lamps, bookshelves – to save wall space in our room for your guitars – and throw pillows for the couch. Maybe some wall art if we're feeling artsy."

"Cool. How many other sections do you have, exactly?" Marceline asked.

"Um," Bonnie scrolled down the list, "There's five more. I say if we get…three and a half done, I'll be happy. The kitchen bit is rather long, but it's mostly things we can pick up when we get to New York."

"Okay. We'll do the two you mentioned before and then…bedroom things?" Marceline smiled as Bonnie nodded in agreement, "Then we can maybe get started on things for the bathroom. Towels and junk."

Bonnie nodded and locked her phone, "Yes. They have pretty much everything here, right?"

Marceline looked up at the IKEA store that they'd been lingering outside for the past few moments. "Uh, I think so. That's why I suggested it. If they don't, we'll have just driven for two hours for no reason."

Bonnibel smiled, "Alright then. Let's shop. How much did Simon give you?"

"My _Dad_ ," Marceline paused for a moment for emphasis, "gave me $150. He said he was 'proud of me' for not going to community college like he 'thought I would'. Real quotes, right there. I'm pretty sure that if he knew I was moving in with my lesbian lover, he'd have given me a lot less."

Bonnie snorted with laughter, "Hearing you refer to me as your lesbian lover is probably the most hilarious thing ever. Stick with girlfriend in the future, yeah?"

Marceline smiled, "Sure thing. How much have you got?"

"Two hundred," Bonnie replied, "Dad told me it was some money that Mom had put aside when I first proposed the idea of living with you. Apparently she wanted me to have enough for a 'tasteful' apartment."

Marceline squeezed her hand as she picked up a big shopping basket. "Well, hopefully your Mom will be looking down on us and giving us some spooky signs of what kind of décor to buy. I'm hopeless with this kind of stuff."

"It's a good thing I'm her daughter then, isn't it? We have relatively the same taste." Bonnie said, "I should be able to find the right décor."

"Rad," Marceline smiled at her, "I'll take your phone and read out the things we need for you, if you want?"

Bonnie pulled her phone from her pocket and held it in Marceline's direction. "You know my password. _No_ hacking my Facebook or texting people weird things. Last time I let someone on my phone, they sent a text to my Aunt Susan that said 'I am so unbelievably homosexual'. She thought it was me _and_ she thought it was one hundred percent serious."

"To be fair, you're probably the gayest person I know." Marceline told her, "You beat me, hands down."

"I know that you're bi and everything," Bonnie started as Marceline led her towards the 'home' section, "but on a scale of one to ten, how gay are you. Like, zero is completely straight and ten is like, my level. Five is like, equally bi. I know it's different for some people."

Marceline hummed in thought as she held a pillow up to Bonnie for confirmation. At Bonnie's thumbs up, she dropped it into the basket and replied, "I'm a strong six and a half. Probably pushing a seven at times, but it depends. Like, before you and I started dating – the first time, I mean – one week I'd want a girlfriend more than a boyfriend, and the next week it'd be the other way around."

Bonnie let out a sound that was half a surprised hum and half of a happy squeak, "That's cool. I never knew you liked girls more."

"Um, hello? Have you _seen_ girls?" Marceline folded her arms across her chest, "They're pretty spectacular. Having feelings for a guy is different than having feelings for a girl, too. Maybe that's just me being a weirdo, but still."

"You do hold a good point. Girls are pretty amazing," Bonnie smiled, "Other bi people probably get that too. I doubt it's just you. I mean, at one point I thought that I was weird for having a thing for girls' voices. I mean, the way they talk. Different people's talking voices are more attractive than others. But then I found out that other people – straight, gay, whatever – also get that. You know what I mean?"

"Like how I kind of have a thing for Alex Gaskarth's talking voice?" Marceline asked, "Like, obviously his singing voice is pretty up there on the attractiveness scale, but you catch my drift."

"Yes, exactly like that," Bonnie nodded as she looked through the different welcome mat options. "Like how I love both your talking voice and your singing voice. I used to think I was really weird for that, but then it turned out that a lot of other people do it. So you're probably not alone."

Marceline raised an eyebrow and put on an irritating smirk that perfectly indicated to Bonnie how she was planning on teasing her. Naturally she'd picked up on how Bonnie had slipped in the little compliment about her voice in there. Bonnie could never get away with things like that. Marceline was far too attentive.

"You like my voice, huh?" Bonnie knew that Marceline was probably revelling in how red her cheeks probably were. She was sure she looked vaguely reminiscent of the red duvet cover on display to her left. "Well, that's good to know. What's so nice about it?"

Bonnibel just shrugged and mumbled something along the lines of, "I don't know."

Marceline wasn't having any of that, "Um, nope, you're not getting out of this _that_ easily. Tell me. What's so appealing about my voice? Or is it too attractive that it's rendered you silent?"

Bonnie smacked her on the upper arm and picked up a welcome mat. "Do you like this welcome mat? I think it might look nice in the entrance area of our apartment. What do you think?"

"That's not going to get me off this topic, nerd. Nice try, though," Marceline poked her in the side, "Tell me. I won't drop it until you tell me. Seriously. I'm persistent."

" _Fine_ ," Bonnie huffed, turning on her girlfriend with a half-hearted scowl. She really found it hard to scowl at Marceline – even her irreverent teasing was making Bonnie happy. She couldn't be mad when she was back together with the girl she loved, "Are you _sure_ you want to know? I don't want you to think I'm weird."

"Uh, _duh_ , I want to know," Marceline rolled her eyes, "and obviously you won't do any harm to my opinion of you. I already think you're a weirdo."

Bonnibel sighed, "Thanks for the confidence booster, there."

"Tell me," Marceline almost _sang_ , "Stop putting it off."

"Ugh," Bonnibel scoffed, "You're so irritating. Your voice is…melodic and gentle, but it's also kind of husky and scratchy sometimes – particularly on mornings – and it's just…really nice, alright? Now lay off."

Marceline cackled, "Aw, you're cute. Your voice is nice too."

Bonnie blinked. She hadn't been expecting that. More teasing, yes, but a compliment? And about her _voice_? That was the last thing she thought would come out of Marceline's mouth. "Really? Wow…why, exactly?"

"It's just…calming." Marceline shrugged, suddenly a lot less confident and teasing. "I don't know, it's really soft and nice and it reminds me of like – a mother's. That's kind of weird and I didn't really explain that very well. Comforting and calming. That's all I'm going to say."

Bonnie beamed, "That's so sweet!"

Marceline frowned as Bonnie wrapped her arms around her waist, "You didn't think I was being weird by referring to it as _motherly_?"

"No! I think that's a huge compliment," Bonnie pulled back and dropped a welcome mat into their basket, "I always wanted to be a mother when I grew up."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Really? I figured you'd be the more 'focus on work' kind of person."

"Of course not. When I was little I always played with dolls and looked after them like I was their mother. I've always wanted kids. Specifically a little girl." Bonnie's bright smile slipped slightly when she continued, "I can't have them, but you know…"

"Just because you're dating another girl doesn't mean you can't have kids," Marceline replied, "There's adoption, sperm donors, all sorts, and who knows what technology -"

Bonnibel shook her head, "No, Marceline. I mean, I _can't_."

Marceline's face sunk into a frown, and Bonnie caught the moment it clicked in her head. " _Oh_. Wow. Um, how do you…know?"

"I never started my period. Mom took me to the doctor when I turned seventeen and after multiple tests they told me that I'm infertile. Premature ovarian failure." Bonnie allowed herself a casual shrug and looked through the different duvet cover options, "It is what it is. I've come to terms with it. I can't change things and I've accepted that I'll never raise a biological child. You know, unless I science one up in the lab."

"You could start a company. Build-a-baby." Marceline smiled when Bonnibel let out a soft laugh at the joke and squeezed her hand, "Like I said, adoption is a thing. Maybe…in the distant future."

Bonnie smiled at her, "I know how you feel about children, Marce. That doesn't stop me from wanting to date you. You don't need to pretend."

"No, seriously," Marceline surprised her by continuing, "I don't mind kids, really. As long as they're not little brats. In case you're forgetting, I helped kids learn music to make up for my P.E credits. And I play kids birthday parties sometimes."

That last part was kind of a shock, "You never told me you played music at birthday parties."

Marceline just shrugged, "Yeah, sometimes. So…yeah. When we're older. I don't want children until I'm at _least_ thirty. I still _am_ a child."

Bonnie smiled. That was a pleasant surprise. "You'll probably still be a child when you're thirty. Same, to be honest. We'll probably still be relaxing on the couch in dinosaur onesies on weekends."

"Sounds perfect to me," Marceline shrugged, "My onesie is comfortable and snuggling on the couch with you sounds great."

Bonnibel nodded, wrapping an arm around Marceline's waist, "Well, here's to a life full of snuggles and onesies."

Marceline just smiled in response.


	98. Chapter 98

**I didn't proof read this but I'm like 80% sure there's a trigger warning for eating disorders on this chapter.**

* * *

 

**Sunday 16th August 2015**

Finn threw his controller down on the floor and sent Bonnibel her best glare. " _How_ are you so good at this?"

Bonnie just shrugged and sent him a smug smile, "I don't know. Practice? Isn't that how anybody gets good at something?"

"I wanted to beat you before you went to college." Finn pouted, folding his arms across his chest, "You could've at _least_ gone easy on me. Instead you made me go on 150cc. Not fair."

"If I'd have gone easy on you, it'd wouldn't have been a real win, would it?" Bonnie raised her eyebrows, standing up and smoothing out her dress. "Besides, I'm not ready to give up my title as reigning Mario Kart champion."

Finn groaned again as Bonnie walked back over to Marceline and sat down next to her. "I'm going to beat you one day!"

Bonnie smiled to herself, murmuring to Marceline, "He won't."

Marceline smiled, "Of course not. If _I_ couldn't beat you, he couldn't."

"Don't be so super-confident, Bonnibel," Fionna warned her, "One day one of us is going to knock you off your pedestal."

Bonnibel feigned terror, "Wow, sounds horrific. Good thing you're not psychic."

"I could be," Fionna said, sitting down next to Marshall, "You don't know. You're not a mind reader."

Marceline snorted with laughter, mimicking Fionna, "She could be."

"Yeah," Bonnie reiterated as she weaved her fingers through Marceline's. "Besides, I don't think I'm getting too big for my boots. It's just that everyone else isn't as skilled as me. They don't know my tricks and techniques and that's what gives me the advantage over you all."

Marshall frowned at her, "Didn't Marce beat you one time?"

"That was because she kicked me and stole my remote. I don't think that counts since it was cheating." Bonnie looked over to Marceline for backup.

Marceline shrugged elusively. "Well, how do you cheat at a game that has no rules?"

"It has _unspoken_ rules." Bonnie said that like it was obvious and nodded back over at the TV. "Want a game? I'll still kick your butt."

Marceline hummed in thought. "Nah. I'd rather not get my ass kicked by a pink nerd. I still have _some_ dignity."

"Thought so," Bonnie smiled to herself and squeezed her girlfriend's hand, "Losing to me is embarrassing enough when we're alone, is it?"

Marceline laughed. "Something like that. Either way, I'd rather not go into competitive mode in a sort of…half-public area. We're around too many people and I get a bit…"

"Intense?" Marshall finished for her, "I would know."

Marceline nodded, jabbing her thumb in his direction. "Yeah, exactly."

Bonnie shook her head, "You're not too bad. It all depends on the game and how much the other person is beating you or catching up to you."

"Fair point," Marceline replied, her arm falling around Bonnibel's shoulders. That earned her a small frown from Lady and Gumball. "Whatever, I'm competitive and it's not something I want to display in front of people. Alone in my house with people I'm close to? That's fine. Keila's been kicked during our Guitar Hero death matches more times than she can probably count."

"You're forgetting that I lived with you for _seventeen years_." Marshall pointed out, "I'm pretty sure I have some _scars_ just from our video game tournaments. That's not including all of the times you jumped on me for the TV remote."

Fionna rolled her eyes, "Don't be such a baby. You can't help it if your sister is stronger than you."

Marceline smirked, "I _am_ nine minutes older, which means I have nine times more wisdom and strength."

Marshall scoffed, " _Please_. You're the brains, I'm the brawn."

"You have a good point. I'm pretty weak." Marceline replied, looking up at her girlfriend, "I give you permission to tell them what happened when we admitted we loved each other."

Bonnibel raised her eyebrows, "You sure?"

"Positive," Marceline smiled, "It's a funny story, so I don't see why -"

Lady interrupted her, her eyes narrowed as though she was trying to see some sort of invisible detail around them. "You're different."

Marceline pointed to herself, "Me? Weird. I don't feel different."

"Both of you," Lady jabbed her forefinger in Bonnie's direction. "You're a lot happier all of a sudden, and she's just _different_. What happened?"

Bonnie glanced at Marceline, who just shrugged. Unable to translate that properly, Bonnie took that as her go-ahead. "Nothing _happened_ , really. We're just – Marceline's my girlfriend again. That's all."

"Wait, _what_?" Phoebe looked up from her conversation with Finn. Apparently that had gathered the attention of everyone in the room. Everyone was staring at them – even LSP seemed interested. "You two are together again? Since when?"

Marceline finally looked up from her lap, shrugging, "Something like two weeks?"

Bonnie nodded, "Yeah, August 6th, to be exact. I guess you could argue that it was August 7th, though. That was when you confirmed it."

"August…" Lady trailed off, shaking her head, "No, that can't be right. You guys were with me, Finn and Jake that day. Unless you were together when…"

"You were dating the last time we hung out?" Jake walked back into the room with a water bottle in his hand, "Seriously? Cool. Good for you guys."

Bonnie shook her head, "No, not then. It was when Marceline took me home."

Lady's suspicious expression melted into a smile. "Well, I'm glad that you guys talked things over. As long as you're both happy…"

Bonnie picked up on Marceline's knowing smile. _Talking things over_ wasn't exactly how they handled things, but she wasn't about to tell her friends that.

"I'm _amazing_ ," Bonnie assured her, looking over at Marceline, "and I hope I'm not the only one that feels that way."

Her girlfriend responded by sending her a smile that was soft, fuzzy around the edges and completely different to the casual grins she usually sent to everyone else. "Yeah. I'm pretty amazing too."

Gumball shrugged, "I mean, we all knew it'd happen."

That got the attention of everyone else in the room; they turned on him with a frown. It was Cake who questioned him. "What do you mean?"

"When they made friends again," He clarified, "Was I the only one that knew they wouldn't stay 'just friends'? Come _on_. They're in love with each other."

That elicited a blush from Bonnie and an awkward throat-clearing from Marceline. Everyone else only really seemed a little confused.

Finally, Finn broke the slightly awkward silence. "Well, I guess that makes sense. I didn't know you were like, really in love, though. I thought you just liked each other a lot and just said you loved each other."

"No," Bonnie threaded her fingers through Marceline's, "I'm in love with her, Finn. Marceline means the world to me."

Marceline's awkward shuffling amplified by about ten thousand. "Right, well, on that note, I'm going to sit in my car until you all find something else to talk about."

Bonnie snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against her. "Nope, you're not going anywhere."

LSP smirked at her, "Come on, Abadeer, aren't you going to tell her you love her too? That's just basic chivalry."

Marceline rolled her eyes, and her previously neutral expression soured. She turned to Bonnie with an unimpressed look on her face. "Fine. I love you too, Bonnie."

"I know you do," Bonnie squeezed her around the midriff, "But now that we've established that Marceline is my girlfriend again, I think we can talk about something else. I'm getting the feeling that Marcy isn't too thrilled about this topic."

"Yeah, you're right," Marceline rested her head on Bonnie's shoulder and smiled when her girlfriend started tracing soft patterns at the base of her neck. "Not too thrilled at all. I don't like having attention."

Bonnibel raised an eyebrow, "You're perfectly fine when it comes to playing music in front of crowds. What's so different about this?"

Marceline shrugged, eager to get the attention off of her and onto something else. "I know music. I'm not going to mess up at doing something that I've been doing since I was five. I could play music – simple things, obviously – before I knew how to write. But with things like audience participation or answering questions at school, it's like…I'm not prepared. If I'm not prepared I'll just fuck up and be awkward and that's really no fun for anybody. Particularly the socially inept worm that is me."

"You're not a socially inept worm," Bonnie squeezed her shoulder, "You're just a little awkward sometimes, and that's okay. People can be intimidating."

Marceline shook her head, "No, it's not that, they don't _intimidate_ me. They just confuse me."

Lady frowned at her, "Did we confuse you at first? Did _Bonnibel_?"

"Yeah." Marceline admitted, "I don't know how to interact properly. Probably a result of anxiety, but whatever."

"I confused you?" Bonnibel's eyebrows dipped into a frown, "I'm easy to read. I'm an open book about virtually everything."

"Virtually everything implies that there's something you're not open about." Cake pointed out, LSP nodding in backup. "Is there some sort of deep dark secret you're hiding?"

Fionna shook her head at her friend, "Nah, it's probably just the whole gay thing. Right?"

Bonnibel shrugged her shoulders, "Well, I'm not exactly upfront about it and it's not like I look like the stereotypical lesbian. I guess you could maybe tell with Marceline -"

"I'm not gay," Marceline interrupted her, poking her in the side, "Remember? I like men too."

"I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that you wear a lot of flannel sometimes so you look slightly gay." Bonnie pointed out, "But I wasn't even talking about being gay in the first place. Considering I'm out, I'd say I'm pretty open about that."

Marceline frowned at her, "Do you mean," She leaned closer to Bonnibel's ear and whispered, "Are you talking about Neddy?"

Bonnie nodded, "Yeah. Think they can be trusted with LSP in the room?"

Marceline hummed in thought, "Well, think about it. Who's she going to tell? We've graduated, anyway. Pretty sure I could announce every single deep dark secret I have and she'd have nobody to tell it to."

Lady raised an eyebrow, "What're you two scheming about? Does this ominous secret have something to do with you?"

"Nope. I know what it is, though. She told me in January." Marceline flashed them all a mocking grin, and Bonnie rolled her eyes. "That's right. She told _me_ before you. What would your last-year-selves think about that, eh?"

"We were friends last year," Jake pointed out, "I mean, you still kind of scared me, but still."

"Yeah, we wouldn't think that was weird," Finn reinforced, "You were dating then, too. Makes sense."

Marceline rolled her eyes, "Not what I meant. I mean like, January last year selves. Or 2013 selves."

"She means when you all thought she was a terrifying hell-demon." Bonnie explained for them, "Instead of realising that she's a cute little kitten like I did."

"Don't call me that in front of people," Marceline shot back, sending her a faux glare, "I have a reputation to uphold of being that mysterious and aloof punk."

Bonnie returned Marceline's feigned glare with her own, less effective attempt. "I know that you're indirectly making fun of me and I don't appreciate it, Abadeer."

Marceline smirked at her, "You should be proud that I remembered a cute little phrase that you used such a long time ago."

"You only remember that because you use it to make fun of me." Bonnie poked her in the side, "And it's _annoying_."

Lady rolled her eyes, "Okay, before you start arguing like you always do and get off topic, what's this big thing you're not telling us?"

"If you want to tell us, that is," Fionna added, "If you didn't tell Marceline until you'd known her for a year, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't."

Marshall folded his arms across his chest, "If you told my twin sister you have to tell me. It's just mean if you give something to one sibling and not the other."

"That makes it sound like you want Bonnie to sleep with you, too." Marceline scowled at him. "Not happening."

"Yeah, Marceline's more my type," Bonnie rested her head on her girlfriend's shoulder and frowned when she noticed her friends' stunned expressions. LSP looked like she'd just seen a ghost. "What?"

"You two _slept together_?" Lady all but screeched, "Why didn't you say anything? I'm your best friend!"

Bonnie let out an awkward laugh, sending Marceline an attempt at a scowl. She didn't hold it long – obviously Marceline hadn't been paying attention to what she was saying. Naturally. "Um, well, it's a private thing. I don't know."

Gumball shrugged, "They were dating for like a year. I don't know what you're expecting."

"She's asexual." Lady said, "She said she'd pretty much _never_ …was this how you got back together?"

"Maybe," It was Marceline who answered that. Bonnie was too busy hiding in Marceline's shoulder to register the question. "But that's not the thing she was going to tell you. That just came out because I don't think before I speak."

Desperate to get off this awkward topic – and to stop LSP from looking between her and Marceline like they'd both suddenly sprouted another head – Bonnie cleared her throat and nodded towards the television. "Hey, Finn? Want another game of Mario Kart?"

"Um…maybe later," He looked over at Phoebe, his cheeks bright red. Apparently Bonnie wasn't the only one who felt uncomfortable with the sudden revelation.

Bonnie sighed and looked back up at Marceline, who was busy glaring at her brother. Judging by the way he was laughing, he'd said something that didn't make his sister very happy.

"I can't believe you finally got laid, Marce," Marshall laughed, "Took you long enough."

"I hate you." Marceline folded her arms across her chest, "You're a douche. Why do you care about my sex life, anyway? I'm your sister. It's weird."

"I don't care," Marshall assured her, "I just think that it's funny. You're no longer queen of the virgins."

"I'm pretty sure I held that title," Bonnie interjected, "being asexual and all. Marce was like…second in line for the throne."

Marceline snorted with laughter, "Alright, can we not talk about the raging lesbian sex we had and move onto another topic?"

"Don't refer to it like that," Bonnibel shot back, "It wasn't _raging_. It was…gentle."

Marceline cringed, "Yeah, we're bordering on dangerous territory here. Let's stop. Now."

"I second that motion," LSP finally spoke up, "but that would've – Bubblegum actually slept with… _wow_."

Bonnie wanted to point out that yes, it was very _wow_ , but she knew it'd make Marceline uncomfortable so she kept her mouth shut. She was still debating telling them about Neddy. She knew that they wouldn't say anything horrible to her – when Bea had found out she'd called her little brother a horrible word that Bonnie didn't like to think about – but she was still nervous about telling everyone.

They'd understand. They had to. If Marceline could understand, her friends could.

Although, that wasn't exactly very good logic, because Marceline was the sweetest person in the world, and her friends…some of them could be a little bit idiotic when it came to using slurs. One time about a year ago, Marshall had called someone a fag and that didn't exactly go down very well with his two gay friends and his bisexual sister.

Lady sent her an encouraging smile from across the room. "You look kind of down. Is it that big thing?"

Bonnie nodded, "Yeah. It's kind of upsetting to think about."

"Did someone used to hurt you or something?" Finn had finally calmed down enough to send Bonnie the same comforting smile. "Because Jake and I will -"

Bonnie shook her head and cut him off. "No, it's nothing like that."

"Trust me, if it was something like that, I'd probably be wanted for murder." Marceline admitted, "If anybody hurts my girlfriend, they pay the price."

Bonnie beamed, "You're sweet."

"I know," Marceline squeezed her, "Are you going to tell them?"

"Yeah," Bonnie sucked in a deep breath and stared at Marceline when she said it, "I had a little brother."

Phoebe frowned at her, "Had?"

Bonnie nodded, trying to ignore the stinging in her eyes, "Yes. Had. He…um, he died on a camping trip when I was thirteen."

"He _died_?" Lady jumped up and wrapped her arms around Bonnibel, "I'm so sorry, Bonnie."

Finn looked at her, a confused expression dipping his eyebrows, "Would it be incredibly rude of me to ask what happened?"

Bonnie shook her head, "No, that's okay. You guys are curious. Neddy was disabled and he didn't really understand not to wander off. I woke up in our tent and noticed he was missing and freaked out, as you would. My Dad found him – he'd wandered off and ended up falling from this clifftop. The fall killed him."

Marceline sent her a comforting smile, "Think about it like this – at least he can see your Mom again."

Surprisingly, that didn't make Bonnie upset at all. It actually elicited a soft smile. "Yeah. I'm sure he missed her a lot."

"How old was he?" Jake asked, "Older or younger?"

"Younger. He'd just turned seven." Bonnie replied. He'd deserved so much more, but thinking of her Mom and Neddy being together again made her feel a little better about things. She knew that if he'd still been around, he'd have shut down at the death of their Mom. Bonnie wasn't far off from shutting down herself. "He couldn't comprehend language very well, so it was hard to talk to him at times. He knew his name, Mom and Dad and my name, and that was about it. He knew a few other words, simple things, and he was a really good listener and could tell if I was feeling happy or upset."

Cake frowned at her, "Was he in an accident before he died? Is that why he was disabled?"

"No, he was born too early and couldn't breathe properly. Oxygen deprivation caused his disabilities." Bonnie explained, looking up at Marceline, "I miss him so much."

Marceline smiled at her, "Hey, he's with you. So is your Mom. Remember what I told you about the two lives thing? Even though they both passed away before they should've, they're still going to live on if you keep them in mind and think about them in a positive light."

Bonnie leaned up and kissed her, "You're really good at making me feel better. Thank you."

"No worries." Marceline replied, "I know what it's like to lose someone and even though I didn't handle it very well at the time, I can just…pass on experience, I guess."

"Didn't handle it very well is an understatement." Marshall shot back, "You stopped functioning and just kind of sat in bed and stared at a wall."

"Yeah, well it wasn't as bad for you, so…" Marceline shrugged, "At least you still had Dad."

"You still have Dad, you just shut him out!" Marshall argued with her, "Every time he tries you just shout at him."

"You don't get it. He just – he basically tells me I'm useless every time he comes over and he'd probably _disown_ me if he found out that I'm bi. It's just so fucking –" Marceline stopped herself, realising where she was and who she was with, "I'm not going to talk about this here. You just don't know what you're talking about."

Marshall shook his head, "No, _you_ don't know what you're talking about. Dad cares about you. He's been so worried about you since he found out that you have a fucking _eating disorder_ , and -"

Bonnie felt Marceline freeze in place, and she wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's shoulders and helped her up, "You know what? I've been having fun but I think we should -"

"You have an _eating disorder_?"

Marceline blinked, not really registering what was happening. Everything felt fuzzy and the fact that that phrase had come out in LSP's voice made her hope that this was some sort of horrific nightmare.

Bonnibel answered for her, "Um, Marceline is -"

" _Yeah_ ," Marshall cut over her, "Didn't she…? But you're all her friends…" he looked around everyone's confused expressions – even Fionna was looking at him, stunned – and finally understood why Marceline had suddenly gone so rigid. "You guys didn't know."

Lady stood up and crossed the room to Marceline and Bonnibel. "I did. Sort of. But just…Bonnibel? Can you take Marceline outside for a moment?"

Bonnie nodded, carefully escorting Marceline out of the room and towards the stairs. She sat her girlfriend down and squeezed her thigh. She cleared her throat and sent Marceline a reassuring smile, aware that it wouldn't do anything to fix things. If only she could turn back time and tape Marshall's mouth shut. Either that or slap him.

(She'd probably choose to do the latter.)

"Marceline?" Bonnie used her name as a prompt for eye contact. It didn't work. Marceline stayed staring straight ahead. "I'm going to guess that you want to get out of here. Either that or kill your brother. Except, I can't drive, so I can't take us home. Do you think you'd be able to drive without killing us both?"

She expected Marceline to stay unresponsive, but she slowly shook her head in negative. That was a nice surprise.

"Okay. Alright. I could get Jake to drive us? Or Lady." Bonnie offered, "Lady would make more sense, wouldn't she? Since she already knew…um – I should probably get off this topic."

Bonnie glanced around the corridor they were sat in, the only other objects near them being eleven different pairs of shoes. That definitely wasn't good enough to use as a subject change.

"I'm really rusty on my comforting skills. I'm sorry," Bonnie curled her fingers around Marceline's cold and rigid ones, "I just need you to answer something for me, okay?"

A nod this time. That was promising.

Bonnie sucked in a deep breath. "Do you feel like you're going to have a panic attack?"

Marceline shrugged, neither confirming nor denying it. That really wasn't good.

"Right, well…" Bonnie chewed the inside of her cheek, unsure of how to respond to that. "Okay, um, I'm going to try and get your mind off things. Is it alright if I tell you some silly anecdotes?"

Another nod. Bonnie took that as an affirmative.

"Okay. One time when I was thirteen and questioning my sexuality, this boy in my grade – he was the most popular guy as well, so I don't know why he was talking to _me_ , but he came over to me and asked me out. When I said no and he tried to kiss me I might've punched him." Bonnie let out a soft laugh which quickly evaporated into nothing when Marceline didn't even smile. "It was accompanied by a rather girlish squeal. Everyone laughed at me for a few weeks which was kind of awkward, particularly the girls that used to tease me on a regular basis anyway."

"Why did they tease you?"

Bonnibel blinked, finding it hard to believe that Marceline had even spoken. It was quiet and mumbled, but she still caught it and sent her girlfriend the brightest smile she could muster. "Oh, a number of reasons. Mainly just because I was awkward and nerdy and they'd all – as my Mom so delicately put it – 'blossomed'."

"I've seen pictures of blonde middle school Bonnie," Marceline's voice was still quiet but she met Bonnie's gaze, "I think you were adorable. I hadn't 'blossomed' then either."

"I feel like awkward blonde Bonnie and chubby Marcy would've been best friends," Bonnie's fingers played with Marceline's hair, "We would've bonded over our mutual awkwardness and queerness."

Marceline hummed in affirmative. "Did that really just happen?"

Bonnibel blinked at her, a little stunned by the sudden subject change. "Um…yeah. I'm really sorry, Marceline. I know that you're not exactly comfortable with people knowing – you didn't even tell _Keila_ until some point while we were broken up. Your brother is an idiot."

"Yeah." Marceline mumbled in agreement, "Can you tell them not to make a hassle about it? It makes me uncomfortable when people worry about it too much and bother me about it."

"I know. I'll tell them all later, I just don't want to leave you by yourself." Bonnibel squeezed Marceline's hand, "Anything could trigger a panic attack and I think you're in shock."

Marceline nodded. "I think I might be okay to drive."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. She really didn't think that was a very good idea, for two reasons – Marceline was in shock, and Bonnie had been nervous in cars ever since her Mom's accident. She didn't think that Marceline having a panic attack halfway home would go very well.

"I still don't know if that's a very good idea," Bonnie replied, her fingers tracing soft patterns across Marceline's knuckles. "I think we should get someone else to drive. Takes the strain off you, you know?"

"Don't want to be a burden," Marceline muttered, staring down at Bonnie's fingers as she carefully pried Marceline's clenched fist open and traced a soft _M + B_ onto her cold palm. "I'm sorry."

"You have absolutely nothing to apologise for, sweetie." Bonnie pushed back Marceline's side-bangs and kissed her on her forehead. "It's not your fault that your brother told everyone. I know that it's going to make you feel bad that they worry, but they're your friends. It's natural and they're-"

"LSP is _not_ my friend." Marceline finally looked up at her and showed some kind of emotion, except it wasn't relief like Bonnie had hoped. No, it was anger. "Don't fucking lie to me. They're going to think that I'm weird and fucked up and I didn't want them to know, and-"

Bonnie cut her off with a hush. She knew that Marceline would regret it later if she started taking things out on her, and Bonnie wanted to comfort her. Not make her angry. That was the last thing that Bonnibel wanted to do.

"I know that she's not your friend, and if she says anything to you about it, she'll have hell to pay from both of us." Bonnie assured her, "Everyone else…they're not going to think you're weird or screwed up. They're just going to worry about you. That's just the illness messing with your perception. If you want, we could just tell them to forget about it."

"But they _won't_ forget about it," Marceline insisted, staring over at the front door, "They'll remember and keep pushing me and I don't want that to happen because it _sucks_ , Bonnie. I don't like people focusing on it like it's their business because it isn't. It's mine."

"Marceline, I'm not going to tell them to just ignore it. If someone said that to me, I probably wouldn't." Bonnie told her, "I _am_ going to tell them that talking about it isn't something you're comfortable with. I'll tell them things that they should and shouldn't do, and-"

"That's not your decision to make." Marceline sent her a glare and shrugged Bonnie's hand from her shoulder, "Get off me."

"Stop being so-" Bonnie cut herself off with a sigh and let her hands fall to her lap. "Fine. You do it. If you don't want me to do anything about it, you can do it yourself."

Marceline turned to her, glare completely evaporated. "What? You're not going to help me?"

"You just yelled at me when I tried to." Bonnie looked over at her girlfriend hopelessly, "I don't want to do something that pushes you and makes you leave again so I resolved to do nothing. Everything I tried didn't work."

Marceline rested her head on Bonnie's shoulder. "I'm never going to leave again."

Bonnie allowed herself a soft smile. "Well, that's one good thing. Would you like it if I went and asked Lady to drive us home? Jake can follow behind in his car so she has a way of getting back."

"Yes," Marceline confirmed, pressing a kiss to Bonnie's cheek, "I'm sorry for snapping at you."

Bonnie gave her a gentle squeeze, "Don't worry about that. It's fine. I'll be two seconds."

Marceline watched as she stood up and smoothed out the pink dress she was wearing. "I'll wait here. Unless you want me to go with you, but I don't think that I can."

"That's alright. Two seconds." Bonnie sent her girlfriend a soft smile and then made her way back into the sitting room.

It was eerily quiet. The happy chatter and laughter that usually occurred when all of her friends were together was completely gone. Everyone seemed to still be taking things in. Finn and Jake both looked confused, like they didn't believe what had just happened. Marshall looked guilty, so Bonnie took that in a positive way. Lady didn't really look anything – she'd already known due to her own guesswork and Bonnie's slip up in March. Gumball, Phoebe, Fionna and Cake were all looking stunned, and LSP looked absolutely _horrified_.

She announced her presence by clearing her throat. "Um…hey, guys. Marceline wants to go, so-"

"Do you want me to drive?" Lady asked her carefully, "I'm going to need someone to drive behind me in a different car so I can come back."

"Yes, to all of that," Bonnie nodded, "If anyone has a car-"

"I'll do it."

Bonnibel's eyes widened and she looked in the direction of the voice, unable to believe what had just happened. "You don't have to, I'm sure that Jake would-"

"No," LSP interrupted her, "I have a car and I want to do it."

Bonnie found that a little hard to believe, but she went with it. Nobody else was offering. "Uh, yeah, alright."

LSP nodded in satisfaction and stood up, looking at Lady, "Well, come on."

"Okay…" Lady seemed as confused as Bonnie, but she just stood up and followed LSP out of the door, Bonnie trailing behind.

Bonnibel sat back down on the stairs next to her girlfriend and sent her a comforting smile. She knew that she wouldn't like the presence of LSP. Not one bit. "Lady's going to drive us home…your place? Or are we going to mine?"

"Mine. I need my bed." Marceline muttered, looking up. Her previously neutral expression twisted and distorted when she saw LSP. "What's _she_ doing here?"

"She's going to follow behind so Lady can come back here afterwards." Bonnie carefully explained. "You wouldn't want Lady to be stranded, would you?"

Marceline just huffed. "I guess. Fine."

Bonnie led Marceline to the car, squeezing her hand three times in an effort to comfort her. Marceline squeezed back four times.

She sat down in the back seat with her girlfriend, aware that she'd probably want someone next to her in case of a late panic attack, and tried to distract her by telling as many silly anecdotes as she could. It didn't really work that well, but she was trying.

She could see the relief on her girlfriend's face when they pulled up outside of her house.

"Thanks for driving, Lady."

Lady seemed a little surprised that Marceline was even talking. "Yeah, no problem. We'll see you guys again before you leave, right?"

Bonnibel was the one to answer that. "Yes, of course. I wouldn't want to leave without saying goodbye."

The three of them climbed out of the car, and Bonnie blinked in surprise when LSP wasn't sat in her car, picking at her nails and waiting for Lady to hurry up. No, she was stood right by Marceline's car.

Then she did another unexpected thing – she looked over and Marceline and sucked in a deep breath. "I'm sorry. For everything."

Marceline blinked. "What?"

"I said that I'm sorry." LSP repeated, "For everything I've done to you since kindergarten. Okay? I'm _sorry_."

Bonnibel looked over at Marceline in disbelief. Apparently her girlfriend hadn't quite registered that, either. "Um…okay?"

LSP continued, "I just feel really bad about it and I have ever since you started being around us a lot and being with Bubblegum because I feel like it was my fault that you ended up all alone and things and that you have an eating disorder and I know it can't fix things but I'm really sorry and-"

"I don't need your pity." Marceline folded her arms across her chest, "You never cared before. Being sick doesn't change your opinion of me. It's just _pity_."

"I never hated you." LSP tried to keep going but Marceline didn't seem all that interested. Bonnibel only contributed another soft squeeze to her girlfriend's hand. "I guess I just did it because in kindergarten you were all tiny and quiet and I thought that it'd be…I don't know, _fun_ to do because I didn't exactly have any friends myself, and then when I actually made some it was something that felt – I don't _know_."

"Cathartic?" Bonnie finally made a contribution. She'd heard of projecting. Her Mom had claimed that's why her old bullies had targeted her. "It means it was like…therapeutic to do. It made you feel better about yourself, didn't it?"

LSP nodded, "Yeah. And I'm sorry that I kept doing it. I always felt bad about it but I couldn't make myself stop until you broke that guy's arm-"

"Wrist, actually." Marceline corrected her, her face stoic and unimpressed.

"Yeah, wrist," LSP nodded in agreement, "I realised that you'd probably do that to me too, and with my luck you'd probably punch my face to disfigure me or whatever and I know that I deserved it so…go ahead. Punch me for everything that I did to you."

"I'm not…" Marceline shook her head in bewilderment. "I'm not going to punch you. I'm not going to forgive you, either, but I can…be civil. I guess. I never have to see you again in like two weeks. Shouldn't be that hard."

"Yeah. Okay." LSP finally smiled at her. It was a little awkward, but still genuine. "Thanks."

Marceline just looked down and Bonnie and nodded to her house. "Can I go inside now?"

"Yeah, go on," Bonnie boosted herself up on her tiptoes and kissed her girlfriend's cheek, "I'll make you a cup of hot chocolate to make you feel better. Yeah?"

"Yeah. Sounds great." Marceline squeezed her hand and tugged her towards the front door, so Bonnie called a little goodbye out to her friends before Marceline pulled her inside and closed the door behind them.

Bonnie kicked off her shoes. "It was sweet of her to apologise, don't you think?"

Marceline just shrugged. "Unexpected, more like."

Bonnie laughed, "Yeah, that too." Noting that her girlfriend still looked a little dazed, she looked towards the living room, "Want to watch Netflix?"

Marceline finally smiled and Bonnie felt her heart jump in relief. "Yeah. That sounds perfect."


	99. ninety-nine.

**Thursday 20th August 2015**

"Marceline?" Bonnie twisted her head around to look at her girlfriend, who was walking back into the front room with a mug in each hand, "What're these tape things?"

Marceline frowned at her and placed the mugs on the coffee table, "What tape things?"

"These," Bonnie held up a black VHS tape with a look of curiosity, "They're unlabelled so I can't tell what they are. They were in the drawer where you said your _Predator_ DVDs would be."

Marceline moved forwards and sat herself down next to Bonnie, glancing into the drawer to see a few other similar VHS tapes. "I don't know. We still have a tape player – it's built in with our DVD player – if you want to see what's on these fossils."

Bonnie turned the tape in her hand over, just in case she'd missed a label by accident. "I mean…it'll probably annoy me all day if I don't find out what's on them. I'm a scientist, you know? I like answers."

Marceline shrugged, standing up, "Put the tape on, then. I don't know what'll be on them. I didn't even know we _had_ any VHS tapes."

Bonnie smiled, sliding the tape into the player after Marceline switched the TV on for her. She waited for it to start working, staring impatiently at the blue screen. After a few moments of that, she stood up and ungracefully flopped onto the couch next to Marceline. "You've got to have _some_ idea what'll be on them."

Marceline sipped on her hot chocolate. "Nope. I mean, if I think rationally about it, it's probably just some old cartoons that Simon taped to calm me and Marshall down when we were kids."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, "And if you think _irrationally_ about it?"

"Irrationally…" Marceline trailed off in thought, "Irrationally, it's the tape from The Ring and we're going to die in seven days. Either that or some other weird found footage thing that's probably cursed."

Bonnie laughed, "Maybe it's Simon, documenting paranormal activity in the house."

"I hope not. I've been living in this house for eleven years. I don't want to find out _now_ that there's some ghost that's been stalking me the whole time." Marceline straightened up as the screen switched from blue to black, with little grey static bits dotted about, "I think it's starting."

Bonnie leaned forwards as the screen came into focus and the image of Hunson Abadeer faded into view. "It's your _Dad_?"

Marceline frowned, mimicking Bonnie by leaning closer, "Why does Simon have a video of my _Dad_?"

"Old home movies?" Bonnie guessed, "I don't know, it could be anything. The date in the corner says November 3rd, 1996."

Marceline let out a soft sigh of relief, "Okay, at least it's not my Mom giving birth. That'd scar me for life."

Bonnie nearly choked on her hot chocolate, " _Marcy_! Was that _really_ necessary?"

Marceline shrugged innocently. "I was just stating facts. It was after I was born, therefore it won't be my Mom pushing me out of her-"

"O _kay_ ," Bonnie interrupted, not wanting to hear the end of that sentence, "Can we just watch the video, please? Your Dad is walking us somewhere."

"Alright, fine," Marceline rolled her eyes, but glanced back at the screen with an unimpressed expression plastered on her face. "I really don't see why this is so interesting."

"It's like…mystery tapes," Bonnie shrugged, "It's cool to find out what's on them. Also, I kind of want to see baby Marcy."

"I _knew_ you had some sort of secret motive," Marceline huffed, rolling her eyes, "I really wasn't that cute. Babies aren't cute. They're ugly."

"Babies are adorable," Bonnie scowled at her, "I love it when people let me hold their babies. They're so cute, with their little squishy cheeks and chubby arms and -"

"Calm down," Marceline interrupted her, "They're not cute. They're ugly and they all look the exact _same_."

"What happened to 'oh, I like kids' from a few weeks ago, huh?" Bonnie folded her arms across her chest and raised a challenging eyebrow, "I _knew_ you were just lying. You hate children."

"I wasn't lying," Marceline shook her head, "I said I liked _kids_. Not babies. If we ever adopt, it's your problem until it turns five."

" _It_? Oh, so our baby is an _it_ now?" Bonnie scoffed, "Wow, good to know that you care about our family."

"I do, but I don't like babies. They're gross." Marceline shrugged, "and I'm just saying that if you think they're so adorable, it can be your problem until it turns five. I don't want to get puked on or have any other…bodily fluids get on me."

Bonnibel sent Marceline her best scowl. "Bonnibel junior is _not_ a problem. The non-existent baby is so offended that she wants you _out_. Little Bonnie junior and I will find another pretty lady to raise her."

Marceline laughed, "Oh, she doesn't like being called a problem, does she? Now she knows how I feel."

Bonnie's demeanour went from happy and light to uncomfortable and guilty in seconds. She tried to ignore how her throat closed over and picked at a loose thread on her jeans, "I'm really sorry, Marce."

Marceline's eyebrows dipped into a frown and she twisted her neck sideways to look at Bonnie. The expression softened completely when she saw the look on Bonnie's face. "Hey, no, I was kidding. I figured seven months is enough time to be able to joke about it."

Bonnibel blinked up at her girlfriend, "You're not upset?"

"I mean, I was at the time you said it, yeah," Marceline shrugged, "But it was _seven months_ ago. I'm totally over that. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be dating you."

"Oh," Bonnie's face broke out into a soft smile and she pulled Marceline in for a hug, "I love you."

"I know you do," Marceline squeezed her around the waist, "I love you too."

"I'm sorry about everything I said," Bonnie whispered into Marceline's shoulder, "I didn't mean any of it. I don't think that you're a problem or an inconvenience. I don't think that I'd be better off without you, because I know for a fact that I wouldn't be. And you were right. I _am_ a bad person."

"You're not," Marceline's cold fingers played with her hair, "Bon, you're amazing. You're the best person in the galaxy."

"No. That's you." Bonnie prodded Marceline in the side, "You're the best. I can be horrible when I want to be."

"Everyone can," Marceline pulled back a little bit to meet her gaze, "I mean, have you forgotten the first month of our friendship?"

Bonnie let out a laugh, "Yeah, good point."

"Exactly," Marceline pressed a kiss to her cheek, "Don't beat yourself up about things you said in the past. I'm over them. Forgive and forget."

"Okay," Bonnie mumbled, "Alright."

Marceline sent her a reserved grin, "Come on, nerd. Smile or I'll punch you."

Bonnie flashed her a sardonic smile and elbowed her girlfriend in the side, "Fine, no need to get violent about it."

"Says the girl who just elbowed me?" Marceline's eyebrow quirked upwards, "Hypocrite."

Bonnibel just kissed her, "Shut up and let me fawn over baby Marcy, okay?"

"Fine." Marceline huffed and rested her head on Bonnie's shoulder, dipping her hand into the other girl's popcorn bowl. She glanced up at the screen and rolled her eyes at the shot of the two babies in her mother's arms. "I can't even tell which one I am."

"I think you're the smaller one on the left." Bonnie tilted her head to the right as though that'd give her a better view, "The cuter one."

"Naturally you'd think I'm the cute one." Marceline supplemented this with another eye roll. "You love me. You don't love my brother. You're biased."

Bonnie completely disregarded her comment, "Your mom is really beautiful. You look a lot like her."

Marceline blinked in confusion, taken aback by the sudden compliment. It wasn't long before her expression melted into a smile and she mumbled a tiny, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Bonnie turned and kissed her girlfriend on the cheek, "What was her name?"

Marceline's gaze swept over her face, as if she was searching for some sort of motive underneath Bonnibel's smile. "Rachel."

"That's really pretty," Bonnie started tracing patterns on the curve of Marceline's wrist, following the lines of her veins. "She seems really amazing."

Marceline just nodded and watched Bonnie's fingers. "It's my middle name, actually."

"Rachel?" At Marceline's nod, Bonnie continued, "I didn't know that. I'm surprised you never told me. I didn't think you had a middle name, if I'm being honest."

Marceline laughed lightly. "Well, yeah. My brother has one. Why would they only give one twin a middle name? That'd just be weird."

"Good point." Bonnie traced up Marceline's palm and then locked fingers with her. "If I ever manage to make a time machine when I'm older, I'm going to go back to this day for the sole purpose of squeezing your pudgy little baby cheeks. You look adorable. Maybe say hey to your Mom. Mine too."

"If you ever make a time machine, we're going back in time so I can punch my thirteen year old self in the face." Marceline told her, "I was so weird. Significantly weirder than I am today."

Bonnibel smiled to herself, "Do you ever wonder what your thirteen year old self would think of you now? I do."

"She would think that I'm a lot cooler than I actually am." Marceline said, " _And_ she'd probably run away screaming when I'm like 'hey guess what we're bisexual'."

Bonnie laughed, "Thirteen year old Bonnie would be stunned by how comfortable I am with my sexuality. The number of friends I have would probably overwhelm her, too. And the really hot girlfriend."

Marceline flushed bright red. "You think I'm hot?"

"Of course," Bonnie bobbed her head in confirmation and allowed herself a soft smirk because _yes,_ Marceline was actually blushing, "You're the hottest girl I've ever seen."

"Thanks." Marceline mumbled down at her knees and looked back up at the television to see that Hunson was showing them his old action figure collection. Incredibly uninteresting. "Um – so, how are you doing? Like, with…everything."

Bonnie shrugged, "I don't know. I think I'm alright. There's kind of a…normalcy right now. Living without her sucks but – I don't know…"

"Recovery is a slow process. You lost your mother. I know how much that hurts." Marceline looked Bonnie over, but she didn't look like she was about to cry. That was a good sign. "You've done amazingly for these past few months, and you'll keep doing amazingly, because you're strong. And even if you're a science nerd and you wear frilly dresses all the time, you're the most punk rock person I know. Including me."

Bonnibel beamed and squeezed Marceline tightly around her midriff. "Thanks, Marce. And I _don't_ wear frilly dresses all the time. I'm not wearing a dress right now," she let go of Marceline to gesture over her sweater and shorts, "See?"

"This is just a rare occasion," Marceline insisted, "Usually you dress like a literal princess. Where do you think I got the nickname from?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up. People appreciate my pretty dresses. LSP envies them. It's great. You should appreciate them too."

Marceline snorted, "Yeah, because I'm the type of person that envies fancy dresses. Come on. You and I both know that casual Bonnie is more my speed."

"Are you saying you don't _like_ me when I wear dresses?" Bonnie feigned offence, "Rude."

"That's not what I said at _all_ ," Marceline opened her mouth to continue, but paused with a soft frown dipping her eyebrows, "Hey…your friends were right. We _do_ bicker."

Bonnie laughed, "You've been dating me for…ignoring the big gap, nearly a _year_ , and you didn't notice the casual girlfriendly banter?"

"Well, I mean, not really," Marceline admitted, looking down at her feet, "I was kind of busy marvelling at the fact that _you_ were with me."

A soft _aw_ reverberated at the back of Bonnibel's throat. "That's so…why would it be such a shock that I love you? I mean, I kind of _have_ to, the amount of time we spend together."

Marceline let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know, because you're so smart and pretty and perfect and I'm all awkward and broken and it's just kind of confusing as to why someone like you would want to be with me."

"You're not broken." Bonnie was quick to invalidate that, "You _can_ be kind of awkward at times, but so can I. Being awkward isn't some kind of fatal flaw. We're awkward _together_."

Marceline shook her head. "I'm still messed up. Even if I try to fix myself, it never works. I don't -"

" _Hey_ ," Bonnie interrupted, "Nobody, and I mean _nobody_ insults my girlfriend. Not even my girlfriend can do that. You're _not_ messed up. Just because you're sick doesn't mean that you're… _unworthy_ of having someone love you. And _yes_ , I'd like it if you knew how amazing you are, but it's okay that you don't just yet. One day you will."

Marceline sighed. "You don't know that -"

"I _do_." Bonnie wouldn't allow any self-deprecation. Nope. Not happening. "Because I'm a genius. Remember? I know everything."

"How are you doing this?" Marceline frowned at her, "How are you dealing with me while the whole thing with your Mom is still upsetting you? Like, mine died _eleven years ago_ and I'm still all messy and sad and -"

"If you say broken, I'll tape your mouth shut." Bonnie warned, "Because _you're not_. And I'm _not_ fine with things. I never will be. I lost my Mom, my best friend; that's not something you get over in just a few months. That still doesn't make me lose my ability to comfort you. In fact, it makes it stronger, because I _lost_ you because I didn't comfort you and I don't ever want to lose you again. I'm serious. You're not allowed to die before me, okay?"

"I don't think that's something I can control, Bonnie." Marceline pointed out, fiddling with her fingers. "I don't have that much power over life and death."

"Well, I don't know…don't do things that you could die doing." Bonnie shrugged like that was the simplest solution. "Even though we're probably going to be one hundred and married with two kids by then, you're not allowed to go before me."

" _One hundred_?" Marceline repeated, sending her an incredulous look. "After knowing me for eighty-three years, you'll probably want me gone. I'll just be telling you annoying jokes in the old folks' home and it'll irritate you to the point where you'll snap and smother me with a pillow in the middle of the night."

"We won't be in the old folks' home." Bonnie shook her head, "Our kids will take care of us. Bonnibel junior will be a doctor by then and will buy us a house that we can live in until we die. Our other daughter…let's call her 'Unnamed' for now, will cook for us and care for us."

"I like how the old folks' home is the part you deny." Marceline laughed, "Not the part where you smother me with a pillow."

"I figured that was implied." Bonnie shrugged, "I wouldn't do that. Bonnie junior and Unnamed would be sad if I killed their mother. I'll be pretty sad too if I killed the love of my life."

"I can't take you seriously when you refer to one of our children as 'unnamed'." Marceline shook her head, but kissed Bonnie on the cheek. "We can call her…I don't know, Thor or something."

"Bonnie junior and _Thor_?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow before her expression melted into a smile. "I like it."

Marceline laughed. "Our kids are going to be awesome."

"Teach them how to play music, yeah? I'll teach them German and some science if they're interested." Bonnie smiled, glancing over to the television. "And if we – oh my _god_!"

Marceline frowned and followed her gaze, her face flushing when she saw herself on the screen. She looked to be about three and was sitting on a piano bench with her Mom, inquisitively tapping at the keys. "I don't remember this."

"It's cute," Bonnibel's smile widened as Marceline was grabbed around the midriff and pulled onto her Mom's lap.

" _Now, Marcy, do you want to learn to play the piano like me_?" Bonnie beamed even more at little Marceline's eager nod and bright smile. She even tapped at a few of the keys enthusiastically.

" _Yes I do. Can I be as good as you, though?"_ Marceline raised her eyebrows and Bonnibel's jaw dropped in surprise.

Bonnie whipped around to Marceline, "Oh my god. You're all… _English_."

"I told you, I was born in England. Lived there until I was four." Marceline reminded her. "I had the accent, you know."

Bonnie frowned as little Marcy spoke, ' _I don't get it, Mum'_. "Well…where did it go?"

Marceline rolled her shoulders back in a shrug. "I don't know. You're the scientist. Shouldn't you have the answer to that?"

"That's _linguistic_ science." Bonnie pointed out, but then shrugged, "I don't know. I guess it's because you were influenced by Americans at such a young age. Like, it's unlikely that Phoebe's accent will change."

"I guess so," Marceline smiled, "Linguistic science isn't your thing then, eh?"

"Not really," Bonnie replied, "I prefer the whole…experimentation side of chemistry. That's why it's my favourite science, since there's so much more to be discovered. I hope to be the one that discovers it, actually."

Marceline hummed in response and drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch as she stared over at her younger self and her mother, a sad smile on her face. "Fifteen years ago. It's weird."

"Was this the first time you ever played music?" Bonnie asked.

"I think so. I don't even remember this." Marceline murmured as she watched herself haphazardly pressing keys and then looking up at her Mom for approval, "I wish I did."

She jumped a little bit when she heard her _Dad_ ' _s_ voice behind the camera. " _You're doing great there, Marcy. Maybe you're the next Beethoven."_

"Next Beethoven, huh?" Bonnie turned to her with a smirk, "I could see that."

Marceline snorted. "I couldn't. I'd prefer the next Joan Jett, please. Or Pat Benatar."

"I've heard of Joan Jett." Bonnie smiled sheepishly. "Just not the other one. It's kind of weird that your Dad is encouraging you, though."

"He used to be cool. Before Mom died, that is." Marceline picked at a thread on her sock, "Although I was closer to Mom, it was after her death when our relationship was…strained. I asked Simon why that was. Apparently he's against me playing music because I remind him too much of Mom and he doesn't like it. I'd rather remind him of her and make him uncomfortable than remind him of himself and be his best friend."

"That's a good thing, that you're like your Mom," Bonnie reinforced her, "You two look scarily alike and she seems really amazing. Even your Dad seems cool in this, comparing you to Beethoven."

"Yeah. It confuses me that he's saying things like that," Marceline shrugged, "I don't know. I didn't think he even knew who Beethoven was, to be honest."

"Either way, it's a compliment," Bonnie reminded her, "I think he assumed you'd take a…classical route. Judging by this, anyway."

"Mom was a classical musician, mostly. She played violin, piano and a little bit of guitar." Marceline commented, "But no, classical isn't really my thing. I can play it, but I generally choose not to. Most of the classical musicians at our school are dickheads, though. They hate me because I'm better than them."

Hearing Marceline make vaguely self-loving comments about herself was kind of odd, Bonnie had to admit, but she didn't mind. It was nice to hear her girlfriend feeling confident about her talents.

"You're better than all of the 'musicians'," Marceline laughed when Bonnie put air quotes around that last word, "at our school. They'll look on Twitter in twenty years and the first thing they'll see is how amazing your band is and then they'll hate themselves for being so bitter."

Marceline smiled, elbowing Bonnie in the side as lightly as she could. "Yeah. Thanks, Bon."

"You don't need to thank me." Bonnie said, "Thank yourself. You're the one with all the amazing musical talent. I just like to remind you of that sometimes."

"Still," Marceline shrugged and looked back over at her Mom's image on the screen, "Thanks."

Later, she realised she hadn't been very sure who she was thanking.


	100. one hundred.

** Tuesday 25th August 2015 **

“I feel weird,” Bonnie announced, sprawled across her suitcase on her stomach. She pushed her hair from her face and glanced up at Marceline, waiting patiently as her girlfriend pulled the zipper to a close, “Do you feel weird? I feel _really_ weird.”

“Not particularly.” Marceline flopped on the bed and sent her a relaxed smile. “Why do you think you feel weird?”

“I don’t know,” Bonnie rolled over, pushing herself from the suitcase and landing next to her girlfriend, “I think it might be because everything seems so…fast.”

Marceline pushed herself up on her elbow and her teeth did the thing that made Bonnie’s heart overcompensate, where she bit the corner of her bottom lip in thought. “I really don’t understand what you mean. Fast?”

“Like,” Bonnie pushed herself onto her side to face her, “I don’t know. It doesn’t really seem that long ago that I was sat on this very bed, thinking about how my first day of school would probably go horrifically.”

“I don’t think things have gone that fast.” Marceline took her weight from her elbow and rested her head on Bonnie’s pillow, “Feels like decades ago to me.”

“Decades, huh,” Bonnie hummed in thought, “You know, the first thing that my friends invited me to was a High School Musical marathon. Then we ended up not doing that and they gave me a tour of the town, and we ran into you with your bandmates. And I remember thinking how adorable you looked in your cute little cat sweater. I think that was the first time I caught myself indulging in a little Marcy-appreciation.”

“You were thinking that?” Marceline rolled over to stare at the ceiling, “Weird. I remember thinking _oh my god, she’s actually talking to me_ , and then because I didn’t think you’d ever like me back I was mean to you.”

“No, you weren’t _that_ mean to me on that particular encounter.” Bonnie curled her fingers through her girlfriend’s cold ones. “Do you remember the time you walked me to German class?”

“You’re going to have to be a _little_ more specific there, Bon,” Marceline told her, “I walked you to all of the classes we didn’t share last year before...things.”

“It was before we were friends, really,” Bonnie replied, “I found out you could take German and switched up my classes. It messed with my timetable for junior year and I couldn’t find the room, and you knew where it was. That ring a bell?”

“Vaguely.” Marceline squinted, looking up at the ceiling as though a complicated equation was written up there. “Did this meeting end on a good note or a bad one?”

“Fairly bad,” Bonnie let out a soft giggle as Marceline cringed, “You told me to stay away from you. No violent threats, but you said you didn’t want to be associated with me, which I have to admit, kind of stung. Later that night when I was tutoring your brother -”

“ _Oh,_ I remember now!” Marceline exclaimed, turning to look at her with a toothy grin. “You came up to my room and I remember that inwardly I was freaking out. I think I said something that upset you and then you asked me why I hated you. I really wanted to be like ‘I don’t hate you, I have a huge crush on you, marry me please’.”

“I probably would’ve been a little confused.” Bonnie laughed, “Probably about why you were using elementary school techniques to convey your feelings.”

Marceline scowled, “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“Well, you know when boys would shove a girl over because they had a thing for her?” Bonnie waited for Marceline’s nod, “It was like that. You insulted me because you liked me. Logic.”

Marceline rolled her eyes, “Oh, whatever, like you’re so good at handling your feelings.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Bonnie folded her arms across her chest, “I don’t go around telling my _crush_ that I’m going to punch her lights out.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me that you liked me when I flirted with you like every _ten seconds_.” Marceline reiterated with a smug smile, and Bonnie had to admit that she had a point. “Like, you’re supposed to be _smart,_ but you didn’t notice how much I flirted with you.”

“I _am_ smart.” Bonnie scoffed indignantly. “I found it hard to believe that an attractive girl – who I thought was _straight_ for the first two months of our friendship – was flirting with me. It was like, even if you turned out to be queer – which you did – I still didn’t think it would happen. I thought you were just being nice to me.”

Marceline laughed, “My ‘nice’ and my flirting are two _very_ different things.”

“I didn’t know how to differentiate!” Bonnie defended herself, “You refused to go near my friends at this point, so I couldn’t compare the way you acted around them to the way you acted around me. Your interactions with Keila weren’t much help, either. You two are comfortable enough with one another that you’re always touchy-feely with her.”

“Yeah, but I started hanging around your friends in _May_.” Marceline pointed out, “You didn’t tell me for another month, and even when you did, you didn’t think that I liked you back.”

Bonnie huffed. “I told you, your flirting isn’t that hard to distinguish from your platonic gestures.”

“I held doors open for you, always hugged you, and told you how pretty I thought you were. I smiled around you more than I did around anyone else. All sorts.” Marceline listed, reeling examples off effortlessly. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out. Lady noticed it.”

“Yeah? Well, the only people that had ever flirted with me were Ricardio and Braco.” Bonnie tried defending herself again, “They were upfront about their flirting. You weren’t. You were subtle about it, and you were the one that I really liked.”

“Okay, sorry I’m not a sleazy straight boy, then.” Marceline held her hands up in surrender, “I thought you preferred subtlety. Keila didn’t think I was being very subtle, though.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“You can ask her later. I’m sure she’ll answer.” Marceline skirted around the question and stood up, looking at Bonnie’s suitcase. “Are you ready to put that stuff in the car? Then we can set off and say goodbye to everyone and then get to the airport in good time.”

“Saying goodbye,” Bonnie repeated, her gaze flicking around her bedroom. Once they left, that’d be it. This wouldn’t be her bedroom anymore. “We’re really leaving.”

Marceline sent her an odd look that she had trouble deciphering. “Uh, yeah. You’ve known that we were leaving today for ages.”

“Yeah, but…now that it’s actually here, I find it hard to believe. This is it.” Bonnie ran a hand across her pink duvet and let out a wistful sigh. “I love it here.”

“We’ll come back to visit around Christmas.” Marceline sat back down again and hooked an arm around Bonnie’s waist, pulling her closer. “Maybe even Halloween. It’s not like we’re going away forever. I couldn’t do that. I need to see Keila.”

Bonnie frowned at her feet. “This time in twenty-four hours, we’ll be living together. In an apartment. In New York.”

“Yeah,” Marceline nodded, “We will be. We’ve established this. Are you having second thoughts?”

“No, no, not at all,” Bonnie quickly shook her head. Living with Marceline was something she’d wanted to do for a long time. “But I really love it here. I had more fun in one year and a half here than I did in the seventeen I spent in New York.”

“It’ll be different this time, though. You won’t be going to a homophobic religious school. You’ll be going to the college of your dreams.” Marceline assured her. “You don’t ever have to deal with the bitches that pushed you around when you lived there last, and you _won’t_ be alone.”

“I’ll have you.” Bonnie added, biting down on her bottom lip. She looked up to her girlfriend with a smile. “Yeah. I can do this. Let’s go and say…see you around to everyone.”

“See you around, huh?” Marceline smiled and placed a gentle hand on the small of Bonnie’s back, escorting her out of her room. “I like that a lot.”

-

“Okay, that’s it,” Lady squeezed her as tightly as she could, “You’re not leaving now. You’re trapped. I’m never letting go.”

Bonnie laughed, as despite her warnings, Lady pulled back. “Very funny. I can only stay for a little while. Marceline and I still need to visit Keila.”

“Invite her here!” Lady spun around to Marceline and nearly snapped her in half from the massive bear hug she gave her. “You’re not allowed to leave, either. I’ll trap you both somehow.”

Marceline returned the hug in the most awkward way imaginable. “I doubt you’ll manage that. I could climb out of a window or something.”

Lady rolled her eyes and grabbed them both by the wrist, dragging them into the living room where the others were. Over the chorus of hellos, she said, “So yeah, Marceline, text Keila. Tell her my address.”

As they sat down on the couch, Bonnie cast a glance at her girlfriend. She seemed fine as she typed out a message on her phone, but Bonnie assumed that things would be more awkward. They hadn’t seen their friends since Marshall had told everyone about Marceline’s eating disorder, and Bonnie had expected her girlfriend to be quiet and reserved. Maybe she wasn’t because they were leaving.

She still hadn’t expected her to act as if nothing had happened.

Actually the thing she expected the _least_ was how her friends were doing the same thing.

“Hey, guys,” Finn beamed at them as he usually did, “What time is your flight out?”

“Six. We’re setting off for the airport at around one so we can get there in good time.” Bonnie told him, “I like having plenty of time when I’m travelling. I take that from Mom, apparently. That and my idea for a career path.”

Marceline smiled. “You’re going to be an amazing doctor.”

“You want to be a doctor?” Jake asked her, “I could see you doing that.”

“Really?” Phoebe’s face dipped into a frown, “I think you’d be a good teacher. You’ve got that…motherly thing. If you get what I mean.”

“You know, Marceline said that the other week,” Bonnie looked over to her girlfriend, “Not the teacher thing, the mother thing. I like that. Maybe when I’m older. More mature.”

“You’re the most mature person we know,” LSP said, “You and Gumball, anyway.”

“I can be immature at times,” Bonnie easily replied, looking to Marceline, “Just-”

“Not _distastefully_?” Marceline raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Come on, Bon. They’re right. You’re kind of a square.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Bonnie commented. Judging by the way her friends looked at her, they’d expected something along the lines of an offended remark which would gradually evolve into bickering. “I distinctly recall you telling me that I’m ‘your square’ on New Year’s Eve last year. Being your square doesn’t sound all that bad.”

Marceline scowled at her. “You’re not supposed to tell people that I say things like that. They’re supposed to be scared of me.”

Jake laughed, “Scared of _you_? _Please_.”                                                                 

“Yeah,” Finn chimed in with his own laugh, “You’re as scary as…a kitten.”

That did nothing to make Marceline’s scowl subside. Instead, she turned to Bonnie with a much softer version of the glare she’d sent her the first day they’d met. “What nasty things have you been telling them about me?”

Bonnie smiled, “I didn’t tell them anything. All they know is that you’re my girlfriend and I love you. You changed their opinions all by yourself. Congratulations, Marce. You’re nice.”

Marceline muttered something along the lines of _fuck no_ , and Bonnie’s smile only widened. She slung an arm around Marceline’s shoulders and gave her a soft squeeze, kissing her cheek for good measure.

Lady raised an eyebrow. “You do realise that it’s kind of hard to find you intimidating when you’re all _smitten_ for Bonnibel, right?”

“I’m not _smitten_.” Marceline was quick to shoot that down. “I just…love her. Okay?”

Bonnie smiled again. She used to ignore the way her breath caught in her throat and her stomach clenched and how her diaphragm jumped whenever Marceline said that. Used to. Now she revelled in it.

“I love you too.” Bonnie squeezed her girlfriend’s hand. “I always will.”

A snort came from the doorway. “You two are so cheesy. It makes me want to puke.”

Marceline rolled her eyes. “Fuck off, Keila.”

“You were the one that invited me here.” Keila pushed herself from the doorframe and jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll leave if you want.”

Marceline scowled but outstretched her arms in Keila’s direction. “Come here.”

Keila’s face broke out into a grin and she squeezed herself between Marceline and Bonnie on the couch, wrapping an arm around the both of them; to Bonnie’s surprise. “I can’t believe you two are moving away. You’re all grown up.”

“Keila…we’re only like, a year and a half younger than you.” Marceline pointed out. “You only just turned twenty a few months ago, and we’re both going to be nineteen in a few months.”

“Shut up with your technicalities.” Keila rolled her eyes, “You’re still a cute little five year old, alright? Maybe a nerdy twelve year old. Or an ‘emo’ thirteen year old.”

If looks could kill, the look Marceline sent Keila would’ve probably had her dead in seconds. “Please don’t mention my _phases_ , alright?”

“Bonnibel has a right to know, if she’s going to be living with you.” Keila sent her a teasing smile, but squeezed her softly. “I wouldn’t. You know that. Unless you don’t let me visit you.”

Bonnie smiled, “As much as I’d like to hear these stories, I think we should do it when it’s just us three. If _me_ knowing is mortifying enough for her, I don’t think she’d want everyone else to know.”

Marceline scowled. “I hate you sometimes.”

“I’m your best friend. You’re supposed to feel like that.” Keila messed up Marceline’s hair, which only made her scowl more. “But more importantly, you have to _love me_ most of the time.”

“I do,” Marceline said, “with some reluctance.”

Lady smirked at her. “You know, this whole ‘Keila is annoying’ routine isn't fooling anyone. We know how much she means to you.”

Finn nodded, “Yeah, and we know what you’re like around someone you care about. We see you with Bonnibel all the time, remember.”

Keila nudged her, smirking. “Yep, see. Your nerd friends know you well.”

While Keila went about with teasing Marceline some more, to the raven haired girl’s displeasure, Finn grabbed Bonnie’s attention by holding out his phone in her direction.

Bonnie sent him a warm smile. “What’s up, Finn?”

“You said you’d give me your Skype name so we can video chat.” He explained, dropping his phone into her palm. “I want to be up to date with all of your New York adventures. The only people I’m going to be able to talk to physically are Fionna, Cake and Phoebe. Everyone else is leaving.”

“Marceline and I will video chat with you. I’ll give you her screen name as well,” Bonnie typed them both out on his phone, “I promise we’ll talk regularly.”

“Are we done with the sappiness yet?” Marceline’s cold fingers slid through Bonnie’s, “I want to watch a movie and relax before we have to go to the airport.”

Bonnie laughed, “Yeah, sappiness is over. For the most part.”

Marceline breathed a feigned sigh of relief and turned back to everyone else. “Alright then. Movies.”

The goodbyes were awful. Bonnie didn’t know how she managed to get through them.

After they’d finished watching a movie – Disney’s _Big Hero 6_ – she’d realised that it was time for them to go. That wasn’t how she ended up sat in the back of her dad’s car with her face hidden in Marceline’s neck, sobbing her heart out. No, it was the goodbyes.

She knew she’d talk to her friends again, obviously. That wasn’t what had upset her so much. It was the way everything was so cheerful. Lady had hugged her and made her promise to call the second they arrived in New York. She’d said the same thing to Marceline, with the addition ‘take care of her’ and a nod in Bonnie’s direction. Finn and Jake had sworn her to an online Mario Kart rematch, and Marshall had told her to take care of Marceline, which she assured she would.

Everyone else was just as easy. Bear hugs from everyone. LSP hugged _Marceline_ , much to the latter girl’s displeasure, but she withstood it for Bonnie’s sake. Ending on an argument wasn’t the way either of them wanted to leave. There weren’t tears from any of her friends.

Keila, on the other hand, had been kind of a mess. She’d refused to let Marceline leave, and claimed she’d hide in her suitcase. Although Marceline had taken her into a different room and they’d had a long talk about something Bonnibel hadn’t been invited to hear.

(Although Marceline wouldn’t admit it, they’d both cried. A lot.)

After that, Keila seemed alright. She’d still told Marceline she had to visit as regularly as possible, and buy a pull-out couch so Keila could stay. Keila had hugged Bonnie and told her that if she didn’t look after Marceline, there’d be trouble, a threat Bonnie only took half seriously.

Then they’d left. Peter had picked them up, accompanied by Simon and Hunson, and they’d left. That was when Bonnie broke down. She hid her face in her girlfriend’s neck and cried, letting out all of the emotions she’d pent up.

Because the truth was, she didn’t want to leave. She liked it here.

Arriving at the airport was even worse. She spent most of the car ride hidden in Marceline’s neck or holding her hand, Hunson sending questioning looks, but once they’d arrived and she realised _this is it_ , she willed herself to keep it together. Marceline was incredibly helpful – even though her dad was there, she still held Bonnie’s hand as they walked into the airport.

Peter, Simon and Hunson stayed with them until they had to go through security, and Bonnibel found it hard to say goodbye. She didn’t want to leave her dad on his own, but he’d assured her that he’d be fine and would have company from his work friends.

Simon hugged Marceline tightly. “I’m so proud of you. I’ll see you at Thanksgiving, alright?”

“Yeah, Simon,” Marceline squeezed him back, “Thanksgiving. And I’ll video chat with you, once Marshall teaches you how to use a webcam.”

Bonnie laughed, “We have a lot of video chat requests. It’s going to be hard keeping track of all of them.”

“We’ll make a list,” Marceline resolved. “High priority and low priority.”

Before Bonnibel could come back with a response, Hunson spoke. His voice was rigid and emotionless, as usual. “Marceline.”

Almost immediately, her girlfriend went from being happy and open to tense. “Dad.”

Bonnibel caught the stunned look on Marceline’s face when her dad pulled her in for a hug. Honestly, she wished she could’ve had it on camera. “I know that you’re going to go far, and although I don’t think that music is practical,” cue eye roll from Marceline and an encouraging nod from Simon, “it makes you happy. You’re going to be fine. I know that Bonnibel is a responsible young woman, and it’s nice that you’ll have a friend to live with.”

“Yeah,” Marceline hugged her dad back in the most awkward way imaginable, “She’s a good friend.”

Bonnie sent her a knowing smile. “You’re a pretty good friend, too.”

After Marceline hugged Simon again, they waved goodbye and headed through security. The second she was out of Hunson’s view, Marceline leaned down and kissed her. “I’ve been dying to do that.”

Bonnibel smiled and squeezed her hand, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Sorry, I’ve been kind of a mess since we left Lady’s. That was probably a really watery kiss.”

“It was a great kiss,” Marceline assured her, “Cheer up, alright? Things will be fine. I’ll be there to look after you.”

“I know. You’re so amazing.” Bonnie murmured and looked up to the board that was displaying their flights. Her eyes fell on _New York_ and she found it hard to believe that she didn’t want to get on the plane. Yet, the last time she was about to move, she hadn’t wanted to leave. “You’re the best.”

“Come on, what are _you_ even worried about?” Marceline slung an arm around her shoulder, “You shouldn’t forget about your plan. College, med school, wife, kids. All that stuff.”

“It’s not even that,” Bonnibel sunk down into a chair in the waiting area and pulled her book out of her backpack, “I never had as much fun in New York. I miss home already and we’ve barely even left. I don’t want to go back without Mom, either.”

“You’re not going back without her,” Marceline jabbed her sternum, “She’s right there. Always with you.”

Bonnibel smiled softly, “Yeah. She is. And you’re here. I think I would’ve backed out if you weren’t here.”

“Good to know I fit into the college-med school-wife-kids plan,” Marceline sent her a teasing smile, “We’re going to be awesome, Bon.”

“Just- promise me that when you’re a super-famous musician,” Bonnie paused to listen to Marceline’s gentle laugh, “that you won’t be away for tour too long.”

“I promise,” Marceline beamed as Bonnie rested her head on her shoulder, “I’ll never be away for too long.”

With that assurance, Bonnie let herself relax, and closed her eyes. Marceline was right – they’d be perfectly fine. She’d been through a lot in the past year; her first party, her first relationship, being outed, her first breakup, and she’d lost her mother. Moving back to New York would be nothing compared to that. Starting college would be nerve-wracking, but that was all. She’d settle in.

Because she’d gone through all of that other stuff with Marceline. And she’d go through everything else with her, too. Compared to everything that had happened in the past year, this would be a piece of cake. Moving? That would be easy as hell.

Especially with Marceline by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's that. This fic has been a huge part of my life for the past two years and I appreciate every single one of you who took the time to read this. There won't be a sequel, I think 400K+ is enough to let these characters rest. If you have any questions about this at all, message me on my tumblr (laurenjauregvii) and I'll be sure to answer them :)
> 
> Also, if you like my work in general, follow me on my wattpad (laurenjauregvii) to keep up to date with it and stuff. 
> 
> Thanks again and adios.


End file.
